The pathetic words of the little song are expressive of conditions resulting from the social dumping which earned the Japanese spinning industry such a bad name before the war. Everyone believed that these conditions had been reformed with the end of the war. Then, is the Ōmi case the only instance of labor abuses still remaining?

Ayako Oba, an expert working in the Women's and Minors' Bureau of the Labor Ministry, thinks it is.

"The working conditions of women in at least 10 spinning mills have been completely reformed and there are no longer violations of the basic labor laws," she says.

"These improvements may have been made out of consideration of the fact that the Japanese spinning industry, which earned itself such a bad reputation by social dumping before the war, is now being closely watched by competitors he world over and mill owners can no longer afford to get up to any tricks if they want to stay in the international market.

On the other hand, the opinion of a non-official specialist in women's labor problems is that the Ōmi case is but one of many.

"The hard labor and living conditions which have appeared to an especially marked degree in the course of Ōmi's postwar rise from a small, insignificant mill to a large enterprise comparable to the Big-Ten spinning companies, still remain firmly rooted, though in varying degrees, in the Japanese spinning industry as a whole," claims Chitose Shimazu.

“Although the number of mill girls has decreased by 27.5 per cent during the last two years," she continues, "the output per capita has increased 50.4 per cent. Admittedly, this may be largely accounted for by the great strides that have recently been made in the modernization of mills, but rationalization merely causes the mill girls to become overworked and fatigued through having to handle machinery of high speed efficiency."

The view of this expert is that although wages have been raised to a normal or near-normal level and welfare facilities have been set up in the industry, the strain of work has greatly increased and "the traditional exploitation of the mill girl is being perpetuated under the guise of modernization.”

“What has particularly astonished me," says Mrs. Shimazu, "is the sharp increase in gynecological ailments which has recently become apparent among mill girls. Although figures do not appear in the official statistics because of shyness on the part of the girls, the fact is that working discipline causes many cases of cystitis and pyelitis, which i[n] turn give rise to gynecopathic troubles. As a result, accidents, hysteria and fear psychosis are on the increase, and from my experience, I know that one or two suicides a year take place at every mill.

"It is quite common at all mills for girls to be victimized in some way or other if they don't attend the weekly classes in mental training, nor is it exceptional for supervisors to record the number of times the girls have occasion to leave the shop during working hours and the length of time for which they are away. A raise in pay, moreover, depends on how much one is liked by one's superiors."

Mrs. Shimazu concludes that "the present exploitation of mill girls has its roots in the dormitory system, just as It did in the past."

However, Mrs. Oba does not agree with this view.

"I think Mrs. Shimazu's ideas may be a little prejudiced," she says. "From the viewpoint of ideal standards, the present working conditions in spinning mills may leave much room for criticism, and to be sure, the girls' work is by no means easy. However, the former 10-12 hour working day has now been reduced to an eight-hour day, and the girls are free to come and go as they please after working hours, whereas in the old days their movements were subjected to rigid supervision.

"There is need for a correct evaluation of progress made since the war. It is asking too much to expect everything to improve at once, you know."

All the same, Mrs. Oba gives only, "about 80 marks out of 100" for overall labor conditions existing in mills throughout the country, including the Big-Ten.

While admitting that various abuses resulting from the dormitory system are reminiscent of "Joko-Aishi," Mrs. Oba prefers to reserve her judgment on this point.

"It is quite possible that the mills may be conducting mental training classes because they believe that this training imparts a measure of discipline to the community life of the young mill girls," she points out, "and it is very difficult to determine the right and wrong of the matter. There are some people who claim that the girls' morals have gone to pieces since the war because the dormitories have been made self-governing.

However, apart from disagreements arising from a difference in standpoint–whether to concentrate on present abuses or to place the emphasis on relative improvements–the opinions of Mrs. Shimazu and Mrs. Oba do not show a very great disparity.

"So long as the poverty of the rural communities, the source of a never-ending supply of new manpower, continues to exist," Mrs. Oba declares, "it will be well nigh impossible to bring about any basic improvements in the working conditions of mill girls, including the dormitory system.

It is most important that the girls themselves reach a stage of enlightenment where they can't put up with their present working conditions. But as things stand now, because of their indigent upbringing, the girls regard even the poor food and hard work of the mills as being better than life at home in the country.

"The dormitory life of nurses is far worse in some respects. Japanese women workers have only just begun to awake to their position. They can't hope to get everything at once," Mrs. Oba concludes.

Staff Writer. "Mill Conditions In Japan Still Remain Moot Issue," Nippon Times (Tokyo), Aug. 3, 1954.