This picture was taken in Atami, a resort and vacation coastal town on the Izu peninsula south of Tokyo. Atami was not firebombed, but like most of the older recreational and resort areas, was entering a period of economic boom. The picture shows women doing heavy labor, a hangover from the wartime period, when women workers replaced men in many home-front activities. Here they are erecting a new building— actually a bar or tearoom—and they are performing like a crane—pulling ropes on pulleys to lift the cornices.

From: Bennett, John W. Doing Photography and Social Research in the Allied Occupation of Japan, 1948-1951: A Personal and Professional Memoir, 2002, http://library.osu.edu/sites/rarebooks/japan/2_1_photos.html.