Source: Two women recalling their girlhoods working in Japanese textile factories, circa 1900
From morning, while it was still dark, we worked in the lamplit factory till ten at night. After work, we hardly had the strength to stand on our feet. When we worked later into the night, they occasionally gave us a yam. We then had to do our washing, fix our hair, and so on. By then it would be eleven o'clock. There was no heat even in the winter: we had to sleep huddled together to stay warm. We were not paid the first year. In the second year my parents got 35 yen,* and the following year 50 yen.
Soon after I went to work in the factory, my younger sister Aki came to work there too. I think she worked for about two years, and then took to her bed because of illness. At that time there were about thirty sick people at the factory. Those who clearly had lung troubles were sent home right away. Everyone feared tuberculosis and no one would come near such patients. Aki was also sent home, and died soon after. She was in her thirteenth year. Aki had come to the factory determined to become a 100-yen worker and make our mother happy. I can never forget her sad eyes as she left the factory sickly and pale.

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