Biographical note

Fumie Kumagai, Ph.D., is Emeritus Professor of Sociology at Kyorin University, Tokyo, Japan. She obtained a doctorate from the University of New Hampshire at Durham under the direction of Professor Murray A. Straus, a founder of sociological studies of family violence. Subsequently, she served as a project assistant for Prof. Straus on the U.S. National Family Violence Survey, and is well versed to family violence studies through a life course perspective. She has extensive experience in the West as a student, college professor and researcher. Her overseas experience affords her a unique cross-cultural perspective in the field of families and demography, social issues, and intercultural communication. In discussing Japanese society, culture, and families, she acts as a “voice in the wilderness” insisting it is vial to pay close attention to regional variations rather than taking Japan as a whole. She has authored 22 books, of them five in English, and numerous articles both inJapanese and in English.

Masako Ishii-Kuntz, Ph.D., is Professor of Graduate School of Humanities and Sciences at Ochanomizu University, Tokyo, Japan. Prior to her present appointment, she was a faculty member in Sociology Department at the University of