The Buddha in the Attic

This chapter recounts the women’s diverse birthing experiences. These include healthy full-term births, as well as stillbirths and births to frail children with disabilities. There are also more taboo experiences, such as babies being smothered when they are born intersex and babies being born despite multiple attempts to abort them. Although some women are denied help during childbirth by racist white doctors, others find that their doctors waive their fees, and still others recruit Japanese midwives. Many women try to give birth quickly and discreetly so as to return to normal life as soon as possible: “[W]e gave birth behind a lace curtain at Adachi’s Barbershop in Gardena while our husband was giving Mr. Ota his weekly shave” (56). Some women’s babies resemble relatives they left behind, reminding them of life in Japan. Overall, the women experience birth as a too frequent inconvenience, stating they “g[i]ve birth to so many children [they] quickly los[e] track of the years” (57).

As the women’s babies grow into children, the women continue to prioritize the work that enables them to provide for their families. However, regardless of how hard the adults work, they will never be able to buy land in the United States owing to racist laws that prevent Asian immigrants from doing so.