DESPITE PLAYING A CRUCIAL role in the growth of Japanese immigrant society, Japanese immigrant women are absent from most historical accounts of Japanese immigration. Race, sex, and class factors account for this glaring omission. Apart from works covering the internment of Japanese during World War II, the existing literature in English is mainly devoted to the origins, causes, and development of the anti-Japanese exclusion movement in the first quarter of this century and the adverse repercussions it had on Japanese-American relations.'High-In 1978 I conducted a series of group discussions with retired Issei women living in the Japanese Retirement Home located in East Los Angeles. The discussions consist of weekly sessions of two-hour duration held over a period of two months. I used th opportunity to confirm or revise interpretations about Japanese immigrant women which I had arrived through readings of the immigrant press and other sources. Because of the personal nature of aspects of the discussions, the participants will rema anonymous. Here I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all those wh participated. I would also like to thank Toshiko Sugiyama and Tazuko Shibuzawa of th retirement home, who rendered invaluable assistance, and Emma Gee, who critical read a draft version of this essay.