The Western news. [volume] (Libby, Mont.) 1933-current, 1943-03-04
Japanese Women
Trained and Ready
By Robert BelIaire
(WNU Festure-Through special arrangement
with Womsns Home Compsnfon.)

More than in any other nation at
WARMTH the single exception Of
Soviet Russia-the women OF Japan
are today carrying the main burden
of fighting on the home front.
The war work Of Japanese women
has released at least 100000 able
bodied men for military service.
Probably another 1000, 900 men have
been made available for vital war
production jobs because women have
replaced them in nonessentiai posi-
tons.
Not only are Japanese women hit |
harder than the women OF other ma
tons by government demands for
sacrifices in the standard of living;
they are also more active in front
line combat duty" That is the way
the japanese government describes
their work in civilian fre-fghting
squads which acombat incendiary
bombs such as those dropped on
Tokyo by Jimmy Doolittle's raiders
last year
Hundreds of thousands of jap
anese women are working in NUM-
tons plants, road construction crews
and auxiliary police work. Thou
sands of others work on trains and
streetcars. Some work as stevedores
on the same docks where American
prisoners of war have been put to
work.
Yai-san, cook in my Tokyo home,
headed one of the thousands of neigh
borhood firehghting squads which
the authorities hope will save them
from being burned out when Japan's
enemies carry out mass incendiary
bomb attacks against Japan.
First Alder In Every Home.
At least one woman in every
household has been trained to fight
incendiares and administer first aid
to the wounded And the training has
gone far beyond theory. For four
years millions OF Japanese women
have actually been tackling real
bombs, tossed into the streets from
army trucks during highly realistic
maneuvers.
They are taught to operate and re-
pair emergency water pumps, scale
high walls without ladders, climb
ropes up the walls of four and five
story buildings. They are trained
to carry wounded down fire-truck
ladders from smoke-filled buildings.
Among these women are many ex-
perts in handling the high explosives
with which they intend to blast out
antifre lanes around burning areas
to prevent fires from spreading.
All Of us who saw the Doolittle raid
on Tokyo were impressed by the fact
that the dozen incendiary bomb fires
which broke out before our eyes in
the capital were brought under con-
troll within a few hours. The job
was done largely by these predomi-
nantly female fire-fighting units. Be-
cause 1t wasn't mass bombing at
tack, the Doolittle raid was by no
means the final test. But whenever
it comes, these women are trained
and ready.
To conserve manpoWer, transpor-
tation and marketing facilities, the
Japanese today eat about one-third
as much as they ate 10 years ago.
AT first glance you might expect
this to simplify the task of home
making for Japanese women. But
they have even less time TO them
selves now.
Jap Rationing.
Today they must spend from two
to four hours daily standing in queues
in front of their local food shops
hoping to be able to cash in their
ration tickets before the meager
stocks are exhausted.
For two years the authorities have
prohibited the sale of any materials
containing cotton, wool, rayon, liner
or silk The wearing of prewal
kimonos by women also has beer
outlaWed, on the theory that theil
riotous colors are out Of keeping
with the grim times. Consequently
Japanese women today clothe them
selves in the only material available
to them-artifcial cloth made from
wood pulp. They soon discovered
to their chagrin, that this materia
disintegrates when washed, won
hold press and is haven for every
species Of wondering insect.
III order to simplify production O
ready-made clothes for women
manufacturers now are limited tt
one standard pattern and only three
sizes-small, medium and large
into which every figure has to b.
fitted.
Japanese women once were among
the worlds heaviest users of cos
metics but today extremely few Jap
anese women appear in public will
painted faces. Most Of them prob
ably would like to use bit OF pow
der, rouge and lipstick but these cal
no longer be purchased in Japan.
The generation Of Japanese girl
growing up during the war may no
miss their permanents and lipstick
because they can no longer see west
ern beauty standards in American
motion pictures. But something NOR
vital was lost when Tokyo banne,