Farm life proved to be very difficult for many Japanese Americans in the San Fernando Valley, most working from sunrise to sundown. Many women juggled three full time roles: mother, wife and farmer.

"The women folk worked really hard. You know the saying they have about women…the work is never done. That was absolutely true. Using my mother as an example, she woke up early, made breakfast for everybody. If there was hired help…she had to make them breakfast and send them off to work and as soon as she finished that, out to the fields she went. Then come home half an hour early so she could prepare for lunch…So the women worked really hard I have to give them a lot of credit for that."

~Ritsuo Takeuchi.

--
Children in the Field 1939

Photo contributed by: Bill Watanabe
Names of people: Kinichi Watanabe, Kimi Oshiyama, Kinjaro Watanabe, and Takeshi Watanabe
Date: 1939
Place: Shadow Hills, CA, U.S.A.
Photograph by: Unknown
Photo size: Unknown
Description: A picture in the Watanabe flower fields in Shadow Hills with Watanabe boys and neighbors daughter Kimi Oshiyama.

© California State University, Northridge 2008
For more information about this project, please contact:
Edith Chen, Professor Asian American Studies Dept.
18111 Nordhoff St., JR 340
Northridge, CA 91330-8251
edith.chen@csun.edu
818-677-4966
Nancy Takayama
San Fernando Valley Japanese American Community Center
nt.high.mtn@juno.com