The Bluffton news. [volume] (Bluffton, Ohio) 1875-current, 1939-07-27
Nippon's Westernization
Brings Emancipation
and New Duties

Washington. D. c.-WNU Service.
Everywhere in Japan you are
confronted with women work
ing at all manner of jobs.
Only in two places do you
miss her = in jobs requiring
skilled manipulation of machin-
cry, and in government and pro-
fessional positions. Everywhere
else, bowed often under the
weight of a child on her back,
she cheerfully bears her full
share of the work of the nation;
frequently the heavier end of
the load is hers.
One reason for her undertaking so
many outside occupations is that
homemaking appears minor prob
lem of japanese women. Houses
are fragile wooden structures, un-
painted, with sliding paper windows
and partitions. The tiny one or two
rooms with matting-covered floors
are bare of furniture and decora-
ton except for chests of drawers
and the single scroll hung in re-
cess.
Low, individual, traylike tables
and few saucers and bowls for
dishes are brought in from the en-
trylike kitchen at meal time. Beds
are simply quilts pulled from the
cupboards and laid on the floor at
night. s~~~-s~ss~s.->ss'szyasssIs ss$sEasyss-
Japanese Conserve Time.
A minimum of time and labor is
required to get the family started
every morning. Bed quilts are
rolled up and put away in a closet.
Chopsticks and bowls are ripsed out
IL Ssssg bot M 8E s2se water and left left
little time. Fish and rice are the
staples. Fish is often eaten raw,
and rice may be cooked at any
time and set aside in wooden tub
to be served cold. Vegetables are
| few. Peas are cooked in the pod,
and the big white carrots and cab
! bages are picked. In slack sea
sons they are cut up and salteo
down in large wooden buckets ano
kept ready for instant consumption
The country woman, after giving
the family quick breakfast of rice
pickles, and hot tea, ties the baby
on her back and makes for the
fields. With kimono tucked up, she
engages in any kind of farm labor
| Sometimes she works alone, more
often side by side with husband OF
| son.
Rural Life Busy.
AS you wander through the coun
try in the Kyoto-Nara region dur.
ing the rice-harvesting season, yol
come upon one family after another
working on the small farms of two
or three acres. In one group the
small children play on a mating
spread out on the ground. A young
| man threshes at a handmade de-
vice, his mother sits the rice on Z
large round sieve, his wife carries
| up bundles of rice from the drying
racks, and his sister drags away
| the stalks.
In shop houses lining city streets
woman does her full share of work
| With the ever-present baby on hel
back, she switches from house
| work to shop duties. She arrange.
the shop, keeps it tidy, and waits OF
customers. Every village and city
| has a multitude of markets witt
| open-air stalls.
| Woman's work begins when shs
| is young. Everywhere one sees Lit
tie girls, their backs bent under
the weight of the family baby
School releases no girl from labor
At the end of a day of hard study
girls push back the seats and sweel
and tidy the schoolroom. Other.
sweep up the playground. Six year,
of primary school are compulsor,
throughout Japan. In low woodel
rambling buildings the children ar,
crowded so or go in a room. 1t i
arduous to learn the intricate char
acters and to trace them with brusl
pen and thin paper.
Girls Start Work Early.
Despite all the wearying work
only half of the 5000 characters nee
essary to read the newspaper ar,
mastered at the end of the 81,
years. When the six years of pri
mary school are finished, the girl
must find work. Many girls ente
that institution rather new to ia
pan, the department store. In some
the girl wears a kirnono, but il
many she dresses in western style
| She works in every department
women's and children's clothes
| shoes, caps and hats, candy, sta
tionery, notions, or what not
| As one enters theater or motto
picture house, again one sees youn