Japan Station: A Podcast About Japan by JapanKyo.com
Society & Culture:Places & Travel
16 The Women of the Iwakura Mission (Janice P. Nimura)
In this episode of the Japan Station podcast we're learning about the amazing story of the first group of Japanese girls to study in the U.S.
Janice P. Nimura is the award-winning writer of the book Daughters of the Samurai: A Journey from East to West and Back. In Daughters of the Samurai, Nimura recounts the epic real-life story of a group of Japanese girls who in 1871 were sent to be educated in the U.S. in hopes that this would eventually help Japan in its relentless push to become more like the Western powers of the time. The book specifically focuses on the transnational journey of three girls: Shige Nagai (later Baroness Shigeko Uryū), Sutematsu Yamakawa (later Pricess Sutematsu Oyama), and Ume Tsuda (later Umeko Tsuda). Although of these three it is Umeko Tsuda who is best remembered today as a pioneer of women's education in Japan, all three women did important and inspiring work after their return to Japan despite the many cultural and societal hurdles they had to overcome.
In this episode we discuss:
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