Jeannee Lo spent two years researching the lives and conditions of contemporary Japanese women working in the offices and assembly lines at Brother Industries in Nagoya, Japan. In 1988, Ms. Lo received her B.A. in East Asian Studies from Harvard University, where her research thesis, on which this book is based, won an award of summa cum laude, as well as the university's Hoopes Prize for outstanding work by a senior. She is presently a copy editor at Look Japan, Ltd. in Tokyo.