Japanese rural girls heading to collective employment after graduating from junior high school (1957)

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On the morning of March 21, 1957,
Kagoshima Station was bustling with junior high school students leaving for various jobs.
The girls, having just graduated from junior high schools within Kagoshima Prefecture,
headed toward their workplaces still dressed in their school uniforms.
Today marks their first group,
sharing bittersweet farewells with their parents and siblings.
"Goodbye, Mother."
"Goodbye, my school."
The thought of leaving their parents' side
to work in a far-off land
fills their young hearts with excitement.
These are people departing for collective employment
at spinning mills in areas such as Osaka or Nagoya.
As night fell, everyone grew exhausted from their first long-distance journey.
After running nonstop for 26 hours, the train approaches Osaka the next morning.
With hearts fluttering with both hope and anxiety, the girls prepared for their arrival.
From here, they will scatter in groups to their respective workplaces.
At a spinning mill in Tajiri-cho, Osaka Prefecture,
senior female workers welcomed them.
In this way, these girls took their first steps as working women.
Since they were born around 1942,
those girls would be about 85 years old now.