This exhaustive bibliography contains more than 2,300 annotated entries on the lives of women in Japan. It includes books and book chapters, articles in scholarly journals and popular magazines, and published conference papers. The authors have diligently researched databases, bibliographies, and indexes, and have based their detailed annotations on a close examination of the works cited. The volume lists works published in English from 1841 to the present, and a particularly significant feature is the inclusion of literary works by Japanese women. The book is further balanced by material on non-Japanese women living in Japan. All materials are available in the United States through standard interlibrary loan sources.

A valuable introduction provides detailed instructions for using the volume. The bibliography is divided into a number of broad sections on the public and private lives of women, and entries in each section are grouped in more specific categories covering home life, politics, education, religion, careers, the arts, and other areas. The sections on literature briefly introduce the lives and works of poets and prose writers, listing their individual works available in English translation. A concluding section provides access to reviews and overviews of scholarship on women in Japan. The extensive author, title, and subject indexes make this book of tremendous value to researchers in a wide range of disciplines.