IntroductionThe representation of women in Japanese cinema has been varied. Director Kenji Mizoguchi described in his films "an ambivalent attitude towards women... a mixed attitude of flattery, pity and fear towards women". Ozu Yasujiro, in films such as I Was Born But… (1932), presents female characters who are passive and unable to keep their family together once patriarchal power fails. Sharp contrasts are the films of Naruse Mikio whose heroines "are active and thinking women". The films of contemporary Japanese director Kore-eda Hirokazu are different in that each contains a progressive or conservative portrayal of women. All cinematic representations by these directors either contribute to perpetuating negative stereotypes of women thus reinforcing negative sexist ideologies, or provide positive and compassionate views towards women. Kore-eda's diverse portrayals are unique in that he consistently uses the same narrative motifs and themes throughout his films, but each has markedly different female characters representing different social concerns. Inspired by real events, Kore-eda's 2004 film, Nobody Knows, portrays a negative view of a mother who leaves her. children entrusted to the care of their twelve-year-old son while he leads another life elsewhere and without anyone's knowledge. The mother's real-life events were far more horrific than Kore-eda's watered-down adaptation; nevertheless the female figure constituted a negative comment on various aspects of Japanese society. The mother, Keiko, played by a Japanese actress known as You, is childish and unpredictable. Keiko can be fun and relating to her children one moment, and then, all of a sudden, act antagonistic towards them the next... middle of paper... Robot Manoids: Robo-sexism in Japan ”. Body Society 16(2010) 2 1-36.—."Robo Sapiens Japanicus: Humanoid Robots and the Posthuman Family."Critical Asian Studies 39 (2007): 369-398.Rubin, Gayle. “Trafficking in Women: Notes on the “Political Economy” of Sex.” Toward an Anthropology of Women, edited by Rayna Reiter, 157-210. New York: Monthly ReviewPress, 1975. Ruddick, Sara. "Maternal thought". Feminist Studies 6 (1980): 342-367. Russell, Catherine. The cinema of Naruse Mikio, Women and Japanese modernity. DukeUniversity Press, 2008.Schilling, Mark. “Interview with Kore-eda Hirokazu”. Film Criticism 35 (2011): 11-20.Therstorm, Amy McCreedie. "Lineage and Heritage of Japanese Women." Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. October 2005.Tong, Rosemarie. Feminist Thought, 3rd edition. New York: Westview Press, 2009.