A high attendance in classes ranging from aromatherapy, beadwork and flower arrangement to exotic languages and cooking, offered at department stores and community centers all over Japan, is a sign of a new trend among women in their late 20s and early 30s.
It seems many women in this demographic are taking creative courses with the distinct aim of making career changes. While earlier generations of women took these types of lessons purely for fun or self-improvement, today's young working women have given them a new importance. Many of the women participating in these classes are doing so to raise their self-esteem and establish a potential connection to a new career which reflects their interests more accurately.
Television and print media have done much to accelerate this trend. Some prominent housewives, like Harumi Kurihara, have emerged as successful karisuma shufu, mavens of good living who specialize in food coordinating, table design and interior coordination, presenting a new generation of women with new options.