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 […]
ニューヨーク日本歴史評議会設立２周年記念声明
The Japan History Council of New York was created in December 2020 to establish a Digital Museum of the History of Japanese in New York and the region. The goal of the Museum is to collect, preserve, and disseminate this rich and varied history from the mid-nineteenth century to the present. The Council continued to pursue this mission in 2022 with the following accomplishments: Looking ahead, the Digital Museum is currently developing its second exhibit, a study of the fascinating connections between the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) and Japan. A panel will discuss this history in Philadelphia in March 2023. The Council is grateful to its sponsors for their […]
Foreign Dignitaries
Exchange Students President Grant President Ulysses S. Grant (April 27, 1822 – July 23, 1885) left a strong impression on both the Iwakura Mission and the Meiji Emperor of Japan. Grant would have a number of interactions between the Iwakura Mission in 1872 and the core leadership of the Meiji government in 1879 during his 74-day visit to Japan, where he dialogued with the Emperor and the upper echelons of the government elite. Grant held a keen interest in developing America’s diplomatic ties with greater Asia and had specific soft-diplomacy aims of his own when the Iwakura Mission arrived at the White House. As such, though the Iwakura Mission was […]
Exchange Students
Exchange Students Sutematsu Ōyama Sutematsu Ōyama (1860 – 1919) was one of five girls sent with the Iwakura Mission to receive an American education. She initially lived in New Haven, Connecticut, before moving to Poughkeepsie, New York to attend Vassar College. In addition to graduating magna cum laude, she became the first Japanese woman to obtain a college degree. She also obtained a nursing degree before returning to Japan in 1882. Despite her inability to read or write Japanese, she rose through the ranks of society and obtained the title of princess. She also helped found several schools for women, one of which would later become Tsuda University. Source Shigeko […]
