قصة الكتاب :
Kōdansha (Kōdansha Bunko), 2006. 349 pp. ¥571. ISBN 978-4-
06-275530-6.
Sakai Junko
Born in Tokyo in 1966. Wrote a column for a magazine while still
in high school. Spent three years working for an advertising agency
before becoming an essayist. Makeinu no tōboe won both the Fujin
Kōron Literary Prize and the Kōdansha Essay Award. The word
“makeinu” was chosen as one of the top ten popular words of the
year in 2004. Her other works include Onna o miru kabuki [Women
in Kabuki], Naita no, bareta? [Did Everyone Find Out You Were
Crying?], and Orību no wana [Olive’s Trap].

Sakai Junko repurposes the word makeinu (loser dogs) to refer to unmarried childless
women over 30, but it does not simply indicate women who are past what is
considered marriageable age. The term tacitly refers to well-educated, high-income
career women who have achieved a measure of success in their work. With satire
and self-deprecation, the book humorously describes why loser dogs come into
being, the lives they lead, and what they think about their position.
The term “loser dog” reflects sharp social criticism. In Japan, traditional ways
of thinking state that men are superior and should go out to work while women
should stay at home. This thinking remains deeply rooted, and men are reluctant
to marry women who are better educated than them or who have a better career
or salary.
However, loser dogs make full use of their abilities and play an active role in
society. They are economically independent and are free to go shopping, eat out
with friends, or take overseas trips whenever they like. Unlike married women,
they do not have to look after husbands or care for children. They can even have
love affairs at their own discretion. Through their lifestyles, they show that the
idea that “unmarried women are miserable” is simply out of date.
Even so, there is still strong social prejudice against women who marry late
or do not marry at all. Sakai writes as if supporting this prejudice, while satirically
skewering the society that creates loser dogs and the discrimination they face.
As well as being a description of the environment surrounding women’s social
progress and changes in their outlook on love, the book is an excellent work of
social criticism and a highly interesting critique of civilization. (CK)