略歴
Biographies Hugh Borton (1903-1995) was a Quaker, Columbia University professor and president of the East Asian Institute, and president of Haverford College. He worked on Japan in a variety of capacities over the course of a long career in government and academia. Before his first trip to Japan as a missionary in the 1930s however, he was urged by Ambassador and Consul General in New York, Setsuzo Sawada, to “listen and learn” upon his arrival in the country. Borton took the advice to heart and became one of the most influential American academics helping to shape policy towards Japan after the end of WW2. Hugh Borton (1903-1995) Gordon Bowles (1904-1991) […]
Timeline – Quakers
Timeline 1885 Inazo Nitobe converts to Quakerism in Baltimore, Maryland. 1885 1887 The first dedicated Quaker school for girls in Japan is established in Tokyo, named “The Friends Girls School”. 1887 1900 Umeko Tsuda founds Tsuda College (originally known as the Women’s English School). 1900 1902 Michi Kawai attends her first YWCA camp in Silver Bay, New York, sparking a lifelong association with the organization. 1902 1911 Inazo Nitobe is named an inaugural exchange professor for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and delivers a series of lectures at Columbia University in New York City and other American colleges. 1911 1918 Tokyo Woman’s Christian University is established by Inazo Nitobe, […]
更なるストーリー
Additional Stories Esther Rhoads and Licensed Agencies for Relief in Asia (LARA) Beyond the advancement of women’s education, Quaker educators were heavily involved in humanitarian work in Japan. Esther Biddle Rhoads, a Columbia University graduate and Principal of the Friends Girls School in Tokyo, was one such individual. As a commissioner of Licensed Agencies for Relief in Asia, or LARA, Rhoads was responsible for coordinating emergency food, clothing, and supplies for tens of millions of Japanese citizens facing dire conditions after the end of WWII. Esther Rhoads Esther Rhoads’ first arrival in Japan, 1917 Esther Rhoads came from a prominent Quaker family in Philadelphia who were friends of Inazo Nitobe […]
戦後の政策
Postwar Policy After the end of World War II, Japanese society underwent a number of changes in its government, economy, industry, and, of course, education. Many of these changes were overseen by the American occupation forces and the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers, or SCAP. However, the Occupation’s relationship with Japan was not simply one of conqueror and conquered. In truth, there was a great deal of cooperation between SCAP and Japanese citizens who often found unique opportunities to implement their own ideas within the framework of the Occupation. Two of these individuals, Michi Kawai and Ai Hoshino, were women educators with ties to the Quakers and to New […]
苦難の克服
Surviving The Storm Tsuda College Emergency Committee In the early 1900s, one of the few institutions of higher education for women in Japan was Tsuda College (originally known as the Women’s English School) in Tokyo. The school was named after its founder, Umeko Tsuda, who was educated in the U.S. and possessed close connections to the Quaker community. Tsuda College opened in the year 1900 and was a truly pioneering institution as one of the only places in Japan that provided women with advanced vocational training in fields other than domestic work. Over the next twenty years, the school grew in prestige as an elite institution of learning and produced […]
変革への呼びかけ
Calls for Change In 1872, the Japanese government issued the “Gakusei” order requiring all children in the country to receive a primary education. Secondary schools followed shortly thereafter and Japan’s university system gradually became more robust. However, these developments were not enjoyed equally by male and female students. In the beginning, female attendance at primary school lagged far behind male attendance and for many decades after the edict, the schools themselves were generally gender-segregated. Furthermore, secondary schools for girls usually served limited purposes and only prepared them for careers in teaching (at the primary school level), domestic work, or the arts. And finally, at the university level, there was virtually […]
Introduction – Quakers
Introduction The Religious Society of Friends, whose members are widely known as Quakers, is well known for its indelible impact on the history of the United States. From founders like William Penn, to presidents such as Herbert Hoover, women’s rights leaders Lucretia Mott and Alice Paul, and even cultural icons like James Dean, the legacy of Quaker contributions is etched into the physical and cultural landscape of America. What may be more surprising for some to hear is that the legacy of the Religious Society of Friends is not limited to the United States, nor to western Europe where the movement began. Indeed, Quaker contributions can be seen all over […]
太平洋を越えたフレンズ
Courtesy of Tsuda University ArchivesCourtesy of Tsuda University ArchivesCourtesy of Keisen JogakuenFrom the collection of Steve Sundberg, OldTokyo.com Previous slide Next slide Friends from Yonder Shores Quakers, New York, and Women’s Education in Japan Sweet, poignant memories surged through me, of a ‘cherry-tree of yonder shore’ growing in my mother’s village…To the many who have crossed to Yonder Shore, I make sincere acknowledgement for the help they gave me in different ways. If the story of my life brings the East and the West, particularly Japan and America, even a little closer to mutual understanding and appreciation, the greater credit is due to the friends along my path who have […]
古本武司氏（ニューヨーク日本歴史評議会理事）と「フレッド・コレマツの日」決議
(Mr. Takeshi Furumoto, pictured front row, fourth from left in military uniform.) Takeshi Furumoto, one of the founding members of the Japan History Council of New York, was born in northern California’s Tule Lake War Relocation Center in 1944. He served in the Vietnam War and suffered from PTSD upon his return to the U.S., where he nevertheless established a successful career in the NY and NJ real estate business. After experiencing anti-Japanese discrimination in the late 1980s and early 1990s, he received a distinguished service medal from the State of New Jersey for his services in Vietnam, at which point he began to speak out about his experiences to […]
岡本徹氏（ニューヨーク日本歴史評議会理事）によりデジタル博物館の資料が 地元の学校で利用される
Mr. Toru Okamoto, Board Member of the Japan History Council of New York, recently promoted the use of the Digital Museum of Japanese History in New York among young students from the Japanese Children’s Society. Over the course of three classes during the month of October, 2022, students at the Society’s Port Washington school reviewed the Digital Museum’s special exhibit “Japanese Eyes on America: 150 Years Since the Iwakura Mission to the United States”. The Japanese Children’s Society students engaged with the history of the Iwakura Mission and its two-year journey around the globe from 1871-1873. They examined a variety of questions about the Iwakura Mission such as: “What sort […]
