More Freedom for Women In Country than in City

Waikato Independent, Volume XLIV, Issue 6101, 12 September 1947, Page 7

More Freedom for Women In Country than in City

IMPRESSIONS OP JAPAN

“ Country women in Japan do not seem to be so suppressed as those in the towns. They work in the fields, and appear to be freer,” said Miss Patsy Penty, a V.A., who returned to Auckland recently after a year in Japan. The daughter of Mr and Mrs F. Penty, of Omahu Road, Auckland, she had been stationed at the Sixth New Zealand Hospital at Kiwa. Miss Penty described how a number of New Zealand girls, including herself, were invited by a group of well-born Japanese women in Yamaguchi to give a demonstration of ballroom dancing for their daughters; yet their hostesses were not introduced to the New Zealanders. All the welcoming and talking were done by the hostesses’ husbands, who included the governor of Yamaguchi. “ The women remained on the outer edge of the tea party all the time. Even »when pupils were demonstrating embroidery and dancing, the actual explanations were given by the men,” said Miss Penty. “ The tea party lasted four hours, though we were not allowed to eat any food owing to army regulations, and our dancing demonstration, for which we were partnered by New Zealand men, was squeezed into about twenty minutes.

“But the Japanese thought our old-fashioned and fox-trot, which we did in the formal manner, quite correct and lady-like enough for their daughters, and some dances were organised for them later. They were amused by the word ‘fox-trot’ when it was translated literally.” Miss Penty said that the hospital was situated in the country, and she, like some of the other nurses and V.A.’s, was inclined to remember the season by the flowers, which followed each other in profusion. “The cherry blossom was rather disappointing, I thought; but the the azaleas which followed were glorious, growing wild all over the hills and hollows and beside the creeks. Wild irises followed; aftd the double rose peonies, which were not wild, were exquisite. “Being stationed in the country may have been boring to some of the

New Zealanders, but personally 1 was interested in the crops, the harvest of wheat in the middle of spring, which turned the countryside yellow, and the green lakes formed later by the flooded rice-fields.”

Mementoes which Miss Penty collected in Japan include two beautiful dress lengths; one is of crepe de chine with a white ground on which is patterned purple irises and red sunflowers, and the other is a crimson silk velvet.

Dress materials were scarce, but these came through 8.C.0.F., she said. She also has a string of cultured pearls and a satsuma coffee set patterned with cherry blossom; she bought them in Kyoto. Miss Penty said the cost of all such things was very high. “ Once in about six weeks a gift train comes to the Second N.Z.E.F. area to give us the opportunity of buying things,” Miss Penty concluded.

Democracy’s Methods /Another in,the small party of nurses who returned to Auckland was Sister Diana Griffin, daughter of Mr and Mrs R. Griffin, of Abbots Way, Remuera. On her return to Wellington, Miss Griffifn said she was immediately struck on her arrival in Japan by the coloured roofs. “All the roofs and buildings in Japan are grey and brown,” she said. One of the features of the sightseeing trips was a journey by train through an under-the-sea tunnel linking two islands, which led to Beppu, a thermal resort. The train entered what appeared to be an ordinary tunnel, and then dived downward under the sea. The New Zealanders had Japanese house-girls, with whom they got on quite well. They could speak a Jittle English, but an interpreter was available, if necessary. Miss Griffin remarked wryly that the New Zealanders, being in the army, worked six days a week, without public holidays, whereas the Japanese, because they were “learning democracy,” worked a forty-hour, five-day week!