Evening star., 1932-12-02
BARONESS PRAISES
EQUALITY IN j. S.
japanese Feminist Sees More
Advantages for Women.
Likes Mrs. Roosevelt.
Special Dispatch to The Star.

special Dispatch TO The star.
NEW YORK. December 2 (NA.NA).
The United States is a better country
for women in most things than Japan,
in the opinion of Baroness 1shimoto,
leading japanese birth-control advocate
and feminist Japan, she asserts, is a
mans country.
Here I notice." she says, that
young married couple. especially when
both work. cooperate in household
duties. The man may possibly do the
marketing or even help the wife in the
preparation of meals. That is not so
in Japan. There the young husband
never helps around the house. He sits
still while his wife Goes the work. He
feels that he could not aid in any
household task without loss of dignity.
II was married at IT, and my hus-
band, Baron Kekichi Ishimoto, who had
taken his degree as mining engineer
at the Imperial University of Toxic, was
much interested in labor problems. So
for three years We stayed in the coal
mining country of western Japan and
lived among the laborers. The baron
studied both the mines and the workers.
AS YOU say here, he was learning the
business.
Family System Different.
But" continued the pretty, slender
Japanese. who was dressed in her ma
tive costume of sandals and kimono,
"the first thing noticed was that while
the men and women worked all DAY
together in the mines. when tney came
home at night the man rested while
the woman did the cooking and the
housework. And, of course, the women
took care of the children and had the
babies I have known OF babies being
born in the mine"
fact that the. whole family system here
Is different from Japan's. IN Japan
the Oldest man Is not only actually but
legally the head of the family, RESPONSE
bic for all its members. The family Is
a unit. controlled by its head. Mar
riages are not made without his con-
sent. He is consulted on any 1nportanL
matter. Baron Ishimoto is now head OF
his family. and the baroness had to get
his permission in writing before secur-
ing a passport to come to the United
States. The baron is now In Man.
chukuo, where he has mining interests.
And. Just as the rest OF his mouse are
largely dependent upon the Will OF the
baron, he. being OF the OLD Samufsl'
owes obedience to the imperial family.
But ROYALTY in Japan Is kept high ano
distant from even the most cultured OF
its subjects.
Mrs. Roosevelt Charming"
"I spoke at the Federation of Wom-
en's Clubs" said Baroness lshlmoto,
"and there l met Mrs. Franklin Roose,
welt. wife of your next President, ana
found in her graciousness and charm.
wish it were possible for our rulers
to mingle with people, as yours may 40.
The Dowager Empress OF Japan is
democratic and interested in social
work. and the young Empress is dong
much for silk culture, even raising her
own silk worms, but whenever they ap-
pear in public, they are hedged oy
formalities and no one Is permlttso
to approach them closely. One could
never know them, as you might know
the wife of your President. l snaA
write my pleasant impression OF MIS-.
Roosevelt, for the japanese papers
"I think our japanese girls nave 10
study harder than the girls over mere,
tine baroness continued. "One reason
is that we are at the point where we
must know both Eastern and Western
customs.
Study Western History.
Japan not only studies Western his
terry, languages and arts, but has been
greatly affected by Western customs:
Women have no political rights and
there is decidedly double standard
of morals, but we, too, have our younger
generation.
mo girl of the older social set would
20 anywhere with young man without
q chaperon and, in fact, the friends
of their brothers are about the only
men outside the family these girls see.
But we have our modern and newly
rich sets. The women in these are not
90 careful of old social customs. They
smoke. rouge their nails and wear what
they believe to be the latest Western
fashions.
Many of these fashions they get
from magazines, sometimes with hu-
morous results. Recent fashion draw
tngs, for example, portray women wear
ing long dresses, and these became
vogue in Japan. When I arrived here,
was glad to see that American wom-
en- had stuck to more sensible clothes" !"
(Copyrtsht, 1882. by North American News
nznPr Alliance. IQc)