SEPARATING THE WHEAT HEADS FROM THE STRAW 16 AT THE LOOM 16 A FAMILY AT WORK IN A RICE-FIELD 28 TRANSPLANTING YOUNG RICE PLANTS 28 SPINNING COTTON THREAD FOR WEAVING 32 AT WORK IN A KITCHEN 32 CARRYING FAGOTS 44 BABY-TENDERS 44 AT WORK IN A SILK FACTORY 82 O HAMAYU (GEISHA) 92 MATSUYAMA WORKING GIRLS' HOME 156 GIRLS IN THE MATSUYAMA HOME 156 PREFACE Japan is rapidly swinging into the current of an industrial civilization imported from the West. How is this movement modifying her ancient civilization? And, especially, what effect is it having on her homes and on the character of her manhood and womanhood? These are questions of profound interest to students of national and social evolution. While many works on Japan consider these questions more or less fully, they do so almost exclusively from the standpoint of the effect on men. So far as is known, no work studies the problem from the standpoint of the effect on women, who, it may be incidentally remarked, constitute one half of the population. One book, indeed, that by Miss Alice M. Bacon, on _Japanese Girls and Women_, describes the homes, lives, and characteristics of Japanese women. This important work should not be overlooked by any who wish to know Japan thoroughly. Yet Miss Bacon's study is largely confined to the higher and upper middle classes, who, though important, constitute but one section of the women of Japan. To understand Japan it is also needful to know the lives and characteristics of the working classes. Especially important in the eyes of those who study social development is the transformation that is taking place in the Japanese home because of the influx of Occidental industrialism. The purpose of this book is to give some information as to conditions prevailing among working women, which conditions have called for the establishment of institutions whose specific aim is the amelioration of the industrial and moral situation. Two classes of workers have not been considered--school-teachers and nurses.