Book excerpt: Three young women arrived in Tokyo from the small towns of rural Japan with nothing but a burning ambition and the vague knowledge that somehow, their lives would be different. With so many odds stacked against them, what were the chances that their ambitions would eventually be realized? And at what cost? The fourth woman, Emi is from an affluent family in Tokyo but her privileged life did nothing to lessen the odds stacked even higher against her. This is the tense, smoldering story of four young Japanese professional women from diverse backgrounds and a big score to settle with their female unfriendly society, whose lives converged in Tokyo where they met by chance and started the ‘four pillars.’ Well educated, vibrant and ambitious, the four women, Suzue, Sachi, Tomoko and Emi are bonded by their common struggle to break out of the system which traditionally placed Japanese women as the coffee and tea serving ladies of the corporate world. This gripping story is set against the backdrop of vibrant, contradictory and pulsating Tokyo, the capital and heartbeat of Japan and the way life is really led in a country where traditions and extreme modernity co exist in perplexing harmony. Through the stormy and sometimes racy maze of boozing at Tokyo’s many bars and discos to the string of men that weaved in and out of their lives to the tune of Suzue’s ‘expiry date’ song and quieter moments of just crashing out of the limelight and bonding with each other, the four self styled pillars depend on each other for the therapeutic support and healing from the spiritual and mental scars of constant corporate and societal warfare. They are truly “soulmates” in Tokyo. Together and yet apart, each woman has her own secret yearnings and dreams and having forced their way into the boardrooms of Japan, what lies ahead for them? Will and can the parallel lines of their ambitions and personal lives finally converge or travel forever, open ended and unresolved? Through the turbulent lives and experiences of these four women told with plenty of satire and bitter sweet humor, this book also gives the reader an honest look at modern Japanese society as it struggles to co exist with die hard traditional practices, prejudices and mindset. This book has a lot of insight into life in Japan as it actually is and in particular the growing number of young professional women who want more out of life than their traditional roles. It’s very real, it’s life in Japan and the fractious struggle of young women of modern desires against die hard traditional values.