Feminism isn't nearly so powerful a force in Japan. It's coming along, but for the most part women are still pretty repressed. I think having your nation flattened and nuked, your cultural constructs shattered, and the ashes rebuilt into a playground for capitalist western powers and your culture transformed into a parody of the west has a pretty considerable effect on the psyche of a people. I really don't hold it against the pillow-huggers; if I had to live like a sardine in a can, slaving away at repetitive factory-labor day in and day out in a culture that off the wall where looking people in the eye is considered the height of rudeness, I might be hugging a pretty pillow at night to feel a little better about my existence too.
One of the best things about novels and poetry is the ability to interpret it; to glean different morals and messages from the content, it meaning something a little different to everyone else. Indeed, the writer could have a specific message in their writings, and if that message is lost in the interpretation that's sometimes a sad fact, but it happens. Laws and constitutions are too open to interpretation, and this is important, as the variety and complexity of situations which the law confronts require laws to be interpreted to remain fair. The integrity of the law, even as it evolves and is interpreted, is maintained by Judges, who interpret the law and make rulings on their interpretations, rulings which can be challenged in higher courts/the court of appeal, but if passed can become the precedent for similar scenarios in the future. Interpretation isn't an inherently bad thing, it's essential for progress... but an evil man can use his interpretation of a religion to convince others to do evil in its name.