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Jiyū Fujin

A page from the Jiyū Fujin magazine.

Jiyū Fujin [Freedom Women], Vol. 3, No. 2, February 1948

“My View of an American Town” is a report by a Shizuko Uraguchi, the editor of this women’s magazine, about her visit to Washington Heights. These were some of her impressions:

  • “In this American town, houses surround an oval-shaped lawn, creating a sense of community -- unlike Japanese houses that are surrounded by bushes and fences, creating a sense of isolation.”
  • “The kitchen was so well organized and so beautiful that it seemed symbolic of an efficient life. . . . . The only thing on the kitchen counter was Cosmos in a flower vase.”
  • “They say that these are simple, quickly constructed houses. But they make us, as Japanese, realize how poor the living conditions in Japan are right now.”

 

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Each year, the staff of Special Collections & University Archives at the University of Maryland creates exhibits that showcase materials from the University's collections. To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the official naming of the Gordon W. Prange Collection, this year's featured exhibit is Crossing the Divide: An American Dream Made in Occupied Japan, 1945-1952.  The corresponding physical exhibit of Crossing the Divide will be on display in the Maryland Room Gallery in Hornbake Library North, University of Maryland, through July 2019.

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The Gordon W. Prange Collection is the most comprehensive archive in the world of Japanese print publications issued during the early years of the Allied Occupation of Japan, 1945-1949.  It is located in Hornbake Library North on the University of Maryland’s College Park campus.

For general information about the library and our collections, contact us.

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