October 27 - 29, 1953 Excursion to the Thread Mill and A Hike in the Mountains

Diary Entry:  Oct. 27, 1953

"Women's Club excursion to J&P Coates Thread Mill in Osaka.  Took train with Winnie Harbin to meet women of Osaka station.  Went by car for miles to mill.  Japanese-English owned & managed.    Short explanation of milling process with tea.  Then thru mill.  Mostly Eng. machines, much hand labor (dying by hand, for ex.)  Japanese labor laws developed better than English or American.  No child under 15 can work.  Earn from 5000 to 18000y per month.  Dormitories for country girls.  Girls manage dorms & govern themselves.  Mill is gov't. inspected.  Has infirmary.  Air was hot & dusty with cotton lint.  Saw only one mask.  Served tea again with sandwiches & cookies."

Diary Entry:  Oct. 28, 1953

"Rain!  The first in many days.  Mr. Matsushita came to see B about Shikoku trip before he was out of bed.  Interesting man.  Spent last year at U of I.  Jimmy came to play with Bob.  I had some time to read my Journal.  First time since I got here.  Children in all day.  Tea party for ourselves this afternoon.  Children have bad colds.  Letter to Roger."

Diary Entry:  Oct. 29, 1953

"Cut a stencil for B.  Baked a batch of brownies.  After rests went for hike up into the mountains.  Found an old air raid shelter--so damp and musty inside. 

Snapped some pictures of beautiful houses. 

Saw many children with paint boxes & sketch books on excursion.

B took some pictures of the children.  They called hello.  B got a picture of ox & honey bucket cart.

Mr. Jelliffe & Angela came for a bit.  Talked to Teruko-san about futon." 

NOTE:  The photo below is of the same Horai Bashi (bridge) as it is today.  Many thanks to Yuko Ikeda of the Kwansei Gakuin Archives for taking the photo and sharing it!