JAPAN: Larger Girls

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In Washington many an inquisitive glance has been cast toward the tiny, exquisite person of Mme. Katsuji Debuchi, wife of the newly appointed Japanese Ambassador to the U.S. It is known that Mme. Dubuchi in her home wears the flowered silken kimonos of Japan's ancient mode, and that her hair is often coiled intricately in fashions ordained by a remote Japanese coiffeur. Certain insufficiently informed persons deduced there from that Mme. Debuchi was an old school Japanese woman, that she opposed the modern trend of her countrywomen toward emancipation.

Potent denial of such deductions came (Continued on p. 19) (Continued from p. 75) last week from Mme. Debuchi who showed her complete awareness of modern Japan by speaking to correspondents thus:

"The Japanese girl of today is much larger and stronger than the women of my generation. My own daughter, who is 14 years old, will be taller than either her father or myself, and I feel certain that this is due to her enthusiastic entrance into all sports. In Japan the girls are showing enthusiasm for tennis, basketball, swimming and pole vaulting. Perhaps the most remarkable spectacle of these days is to see a party of Japanese girls climbing Mount Fiji. Ten or fifteen years ago this was unheard of.

"The increasing freedom from old established customs and traditions, and the number of women now earning salaries promises radical changes in the life of our nation."

But most surprising was Mme. Debuchi's declaration that not only do Japanese women engage in business but that many of them have become taxicab drivers.