Midway (CVA 41) - Naval Cruise Book

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working towards a richer future . . . One of the major elements in the Japanese working force is women, be- cause the customs in Japan tend to prohibit early marriage. Therefore, men of all ages and virtually all women under 2fi or 27 must work. Buses, which in the U. S. are manned by just a driver, are here manned by a driver and a very talkative female guide (known in Japanese as a Gaido ). Department stores provide a girl by each escalator to aid customers in the dangerous task of catching a step. The number of women in such helpful jolw is unlimited. 89

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i 1 m Bli BB Bm Whatever the exact population of Japan is, that is the number of working Japanese. Unemployment, one of the biggest domestic problems in the U.S., is something unknown to Japan for over 30 years. Every day hundreds of people leave the rugged hfe of rural communities and move to the cities, and everyday they are accepted into the industrial work- ing force. After years of this the result is a boom- ing economy and not enough workers, either on the farms or in the factories. and 95 million people

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. . . some in Japan ' s industry is phenomenal. For so much heavy industry to be located in such a small area is incredible, but when one considers that the raw materials are almost entirely imported over water routes of six to ten thousand miles, the rapid industrial growth of Japan approaches the impossible. IQQ% of all steel must be imported. Nearly all fuel must be imported. In fact, almost every- thing but the know-how and drive of the people has to be brought in from abroad. But in spite of this, Japan has progressed from a maker of second-rate paper toys to a manufacturer of precision equipment and heavy steel products which are second to none in quality. Japan ' s shipbuilding industry has grown to be number one in the world in tonnage. And the growth has seemingly hardly begun. It will continue as long as the drive of the people is behind it— which may be a while. 90