The Dilemmas of Working Women ia a collection of 5 stories about Japanese women (& men) living their lives, working their jobs, and facing their internal and external worlds. It was first published in Japanese in 2000 and has now been translated to English, but these stories felt as relevant as ever to me.
The stories explore the mundanity of adult life and the lost feelings one can have when things aren't quite going well. Planarian and Here, Which is Nowhere were my favorite stories. The former is about a woman struggling to want to work after surviving breast cancer, still feeling the health and mental effects of that endeavor, while her family doesn't understand why she isn't acting like she's better yet. The latter is about a mother whose children are outright avoiding her and who has taken up night shifts at a local store to help keep their family afloat financially.
These stories capture a very real feeling of the arbitrary callousness and everyday pains of living in our modern society that one becomes exposed to once entering the working world.
There is a line in the back of the book where some commentary is offered that perfectly explains the enchantment these stories have. This writing "beguiles us into total sympathy with her characters even as she allows us to view them critically as well." The characters may do things you would never do, but you feel like you understand how they go there and why they made that choice.
A genuinely lovely reading experience, one that I was so grateful to have had. I recommend this book to any working adult.
Thanks to HarperVia and NetGalley for the e-ARC of this wonderful book!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️☆ (4/5) – The Dilemmas of Working Women by Fumio Yamamoto is a sharp and thought-provoking collection of stories exploring the realities of working women in Japan. With wit and insight, Yamamoto captures the challenges of career, relationships, and societal expectations in a way that feels both deeply personal and widely relatable. A must-read for fans of contemporary feminist fiction.

The Dilemmas of Working Women by Fumio Yamamoto is a striking, introspective collection that captures the complexities of womanhood, work, and societal expectations in Japan. Each story presents a different facet of the working woman's experience—ambition, burnout, caregiving, loneliness—rendered with quiet poignancy and sharp observation.

Yamamoto’s writing shines in its ability to balance humor and melancholy, portraying characters who wrestle with rigid workplace hierarchies, gendered expectations, and the weight of invisible labor. From the woman who secretly dreams of abandoning corporate life to make stuffed animals, to another who, recovering from illness, yearns for the effortless regeneration of a planarian, these stories explore the contradictions of modern life with both wit and depth.

What makes this collection stand out is how deeply personal yet universally relatable it feels. While these women navigate uniquely Japanese workplace customs and social norms, their internal conflicts—about self-worth, success, and personal agency—resonate far beyond cultural boundaries. The prose, beautifully translated, retains the nuance and emotional weight of the original, making for a read that is both thought-provoking and deeply affecting.

Originally a bestseller in Japan, The Dilemmas of Working Women remains just as relevant today, offering a refreshingly feminist perspective in a society often defined by its patriarchal structures. These stories don’t offer easy resolutions, but they do provide something more valuable: a space for reflection, recognition, and perhaps even a bit of rebellion.

A collection of distinct, memorable stories stories that give readers a vivid glimpse into the lives of four women (and a fifth, indirectly via a male character's perspective - at first I didn't like this choice, but now I think it was an interesting way to close the collection). My favorite was Here, Which is Nowhere, followed by Planarian, but I enjoyed all of them; the common themes are ambivalence, identity, and what it means to make a living.

I recently read a series of articles on translation in The Drift, and I really enjoyed the translation "style" of these stories - the language was subtly but definitively strange, and didn't feel overly flattened for English-language readers. Lastly, we all judge a book by its cover, and this cover is perfect! Looking forward to carrying this at the store.

Really loved this book because while it is a hard read in places, there is something comforting about the fact that most women face the same struggles.

This book was a major disappointment for me as I was highly anticipating enjoying it. I found each story to be bland and not relatable. I just felt as though I didn’t understand the point

Wonderful slice-of-life contemporary stories about women and work, set in Japan. The stories are so relatable and contemplative - they are simple stories with complex emotions. I feel that a lot of women in the modern world are experiencing similar thoughts and challenges about the workplace and society depicted in these stories - it is not a surprise me to me that some of these are based on real references! I also think the women in the stories process their thoughts and feelings about life’s difficulties in a dynamic way that still allows them agency in their lives. Although Japan , this known as a patriarchal society, this work is refreshingly feminist.

From the first story about the newly divorced, burnt out woman who now just wants to make stuffed animals all day (me too, girl) to the story of a lady recovering from cancer and wants to come back in the next life as a planarian, all the stories have a lot of introspection and intention.

I usually provide a leeway for translated lit, since there are always things that cannot be translated but no need to be wary on this point - this book is very well written and translated.

Special thanks to HarperVia and NetGalley for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest, independent review.

contemporary womanhood in Japan, now available in English for the first time. This collection of five interconnected stories examines the tension between societal expectations and personal autonomy, all through the eyes of women who refuse to conform—whether by choice or circumstance.

Each protagonist wrestles with the rigid structures of work, relationships, and self-worth, offering wry, biting perspectives on the contradictions of modern life. In Naked, a woman finds unexpected freedom in retreating from the capitalist grind, while in Planarian, another protagonist dreams of the effortless regeneration of a worm rather than endure the vulnerabilities of the human body. These narratives, and the others in the collection, are laced with wit, melancholy, and a deep sense of rebellion against a system that demands productivity above all else.

Originally published in Japan in 2000, this book became a bestseller and won the prestigious Naoki Prize, resonating with a generation of readers questioning traditional norms. Now, in Brian Bergstrom’s deft translation, the stories maintain their humor, urgency, and striking relevance in a world where women’s labor—both professional and emotional—remains undervalued.

Yamamoto’s writing is bold, spiky, and unafraid to expose the absurdity of a system that equates work with worth. The Dilemmas of Working Women is a must-read for fans of feminist fiction, anti-capitalist critiques, and stories of women pushing against the confines of expectation. Nearly 25 years after its initial release, its insights remain as cutting and compelling as ever.

The Dilemmas of a Working Woman is a collection that highlights the quiet resilience of women. The raw emotion and relatable themes that are carried through create a compelling reading experience.

This collection offers the reader a look into the struggles that women in Japan are faced with, while also illustrating the challenges that women experience universally. These are stories about mundanity and normal everyday life so if that isn’t your jive i would not recommend this collection.

It showed the real, perhaps more depressing side of womanhood. I really enjoyed!

thank you NetGalley for the eARC

At times humorous, at times heavy, Yamamoto does an excellent job describing and conveying the realities of the woman in The Dilemmas of Working Women. The writing is beautiful and the storytelling is poignant.

I thoroughly enjoyed every short story in this collection! Yamamoto's writing is beautiful and finds a way to also be gut-wrenching when it needs to be. Each story follows a woman struggling with her identity and trying to find a way to reenter the work force while overcoming the status quo of early 2000's Japan. As an American in 2025, it was interesting to see the parallels and similarities between my current reality to the women in these stories as it's not only hard to obtain a job, but also continue to climb the ladder once you're in the field as well. I can see where if literary fiction isn't someone's normal appetite, this collection could be a bit boring or dull, but I was drawn to each individual protagonist and couldn't put it down.

A Naoki Prize-winning short story collection of five stories about feelings around women and unemployment.

Originally titled Planaria when published in Japan in 2000, The Dilemmas of Working Women includes five slice-of-life stories following ordinary people.

Each story pulls you into the narrator’s inner world where each character carries a different burden: from unemployment to breast cancer to the expectations of a patriarchal society, these stories follow the everyday life of different women and society's perceptions of unemployment.

While they explore the complicated, mundane aspects of being human, when you come to the end it feels like there is no conclusion. Nothing necessarily happens, and you are given a lot to ponder - which is what I find captivating.

NAKED

We follow Izumi, who spends her days doing crafts, reading manga, and drinking coffee now that she has been unemployed for two years.

As people around Izumi encourage her to get back to work, she contemplates if there is more to life than striving to get ahead.

Throughout the story she reflects about her former marriage, and how she was so focused on growing their business as much as possible. While her goal was to save so she wouldn’t have to work when they started a family, she ended up pushing her husband away in pursuit of profit.

“And truly, the life we’d ended up leading had been lonely. Pushing harder and harder to get ahead, to climb higher and higher, I’d devised a way of life for us that had no room for distraction or even emotion.”

PLANARIA

Planaria follows Haruka, who is physically and emotionally recovering from breast cancer.

While the people around her saw her breast cancer over after she underwent surgery, the recovery is not over for Haruka, who still feels nauseous, dizzy, and goes to the hospital for treatment.

While this story may feel inconclusive, it comments on the idea that people generally do not know how to talk to someone who is suffering. They tell them to lighten up, to stop talking about their struggle, to be positive.

HERE, WHICH IS NOWHERE

This is a story about all the tasks women carry.

We follow a mother who works part-time at night, and the unseen labor that she carries in her household: making sure everyone gets fed, the dishes are washed, the mental list of groceries is up-to-date, and the finances are managed.

DILEMMAS OF WORKING WOMEN

“Looking at the salarymen dozing in the train car around me, I thought about how powerful men were, and how pitiful. Just by being born men, they were expected to take the lead both at work and at home.”

While Mito is a working woman, she admits that her boyfriend, a student, doesn’t live up to her own expectation of what a man should be: a person who takes the lead at both work and home.

This is a story about how they bargain with each other, both wanting to be protected but neither wanting to be the protector.

A TOMORROW FULL OF LOVE

This story follows a male narrator, Izakaya owner Majima, as he learns to let go of his own patriarchal expectations of society. He finds it complex that his love interest, Sumie, is free-spirited and unemployed. What he has to learn is to love her for who she is, rather than force her into a box of what he believes she should be.

What the characters in each of these stories have in common is they have a negative perception of themselves. Is that because they are depressed? Is that because society’s expectations are reflected in their thoughts?

Thank you to HarperVia on NetGalley for the ARC.

I felt for some of the themes and related to them but, the women in the stories made me sad and emotional. The women were struggling while being under hard societal expectations for women. The stories were good but this book wasn’t for me. Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

This book is fantastic. I don’t know what to say about it without saying just read it. You will not be disappointed.

Thanks to Netgalley for this ARC book. Perhaps it's because its winter and gloomy, these stories mostly left me sad and depressed. But given the subject matter, especially story number 2, I guess it's to be expected. Sad, chubby, living with her parents - it's sad. On the positive note, they were well written .

Each of these short stories were interesting, and I enjoyed the matter of fact, slice of life feel to the writing style a lot. The characters were wonderfully difficult and hard to like which I appreciated as well, though I did find myself wanting more from the characters by the end of each story. The fact that there was no development anywhere, got to be tedious. Overall, an alright read albeit rather forgettable.

Thanks Net galley and HarperVia for the ARC for The Dilemmas of Working Women.

For a book written twenty-five years ago, this collection of short stories is incredibly timeless. Exploring topics like employment, worth, societal expectations, and success, I couldn't help but feel like Yamamoto was speaking directly to me at a time where I am in the midst of my own exploration of whether my worth is tied to my work. Brian Bergstrom's translation is thoughtfully attempted and excellently executed.

"Naked" is a story about an unemployed woman navigating purpose, meaning, and life outside of work and marriage. "Planarian" focuses on a woman recovering from breast cancer who takes a part-time job at a sweets shop run by a woman she meets at the hospital. "Here, Which is Nowhere" is a story about a housewife juggling exhaustion, a part-time grocery store job, and her family. The title story, "The Dilemmas of Working Women" focuses on a 25 year old woman who contemplates what marrying her college boyfriend would look like while also navigating a male-centric workplace. "A Tomorrow Full of Love" is the only story with a male narrator, a lonely, divorced bar owner. But the focus of the story is on a palm reader who seems to have no attachments to people, place, or the ideas of how someone should live.

One reoccurring theme across all stories is that these women each try to say something and find themselves without words or unable to speak at some point in each story. It makes me wonder what Yamamoto was trying to say about women's ability to speak freely (safely) and perhaps ability to be heard if we speak to the point where perhaps our bodies keep the words from coming.

The Dilemmas of Working Women" offers a poignant and darkly witty exploration of the multifaceted lives of modern Japanese women who grapple with societal expectations while navigating their professional and personal identities. Through a series of compelling narratives, Yamamoto delves into the psychological and emotional challenges women face as they seek fulfillment in a world that often measures worth by productivity and conformity.
Throughout the collection, each of the protagonists grapples with their own spiky, often conflicting identities in a society that perpetuates the idea that work defines worth. Yamamoto artfully critiques the gendered expectations that force women into roles designed by and for men, illuminating the dehumanizing aspects of such societal constructs. The stories resonate beyond Japan, as they reflect a universal struggle faced by women across cultures: the quest for self-identity amidst external pressures.
Overall, The Dilemmas of Working Women is a groundbreaking work that sheds light on the complex realities of women navigating the intersection of work and life. Fumio Yamamoto’s sharp wit and keen observations invite readers to reflect on their own experiences and the societal structures that shape them. This collection is not only a powerful commentary on the challenges faced by modern women but also an essential read for anyone seeking to understand the intricacies of gender, identity, and the quest for personal fulfillment in an ever-demanding world. The book is a testament to the resilience of women, offering both insights and empathy as they navigate their dilemmas with courage and wit.

I found it really hard to get into these stories. They were boring. I did enjoy the dark humor in the rather bleak situations.

While I could relate to a lot of the themes, the women in these stories mostly made me feel exasperated and sad. In some cases the women were struggling with being under the thumb of societal expectations for women, but a lot of the time it seemed like the characters' own passivity was the bigger problem. If we were friends I'd have some choice words for them about getting out of their own way and expecting better of the people around them. Maybe it's because I'm not from the same cultural milieu, but this just wasn't for me.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.