Other|Military Conflicts

When Imperial Japan Let 5 Women Leave The Country For The First Time, The World Was Never The Same

Noelle Talmon
Updated June 15, 2019 12 items

During the 17th century, the third shôgun, Tokugawa Iemitsu, isolated Japan from the rest of the world because he feared outside influences would cause problems between the shôgun and the feudal lords. He didn't want trade, weapons, or other religions to interfere with the ruling of the Tokugawa shogunate.

During the Victorian era, Japan was still ruled by the shôgun, and had continued to cut itself off from the rest of civilization without interruption. In 1853, Commodore Matthew Perry of the United States Navy, sailed four ships into the Tokyo harbor and demanded the country open its ports and start trading with other nationalities. Japan did not have a navy to defend itself, so it was forced to comply, and thus opened up to other countries.

In order to better familiarize itself with Western ways, the Japanese government launched the Iwakura Mission between 1871 and 1873. They sent 100 statesmen and scholars to study politics, education, technology, and other issues in order to modernize and pull itself out of isolation. Among those traveling to the United States were five young Japanese women. They learned English, grew close to their foster families, and became some of the most successful women of their time.

If you think the Iwakura Mission is fascinating, check out the state of Japan after World War II and some of Japan's strangest trends.

  • The Girls Were Chosen At Random To Travel To The United States

    The Girls Were Chosen At Random To Travel To The United States

    According to Janice P. Nimura, author of Daughters of the Samurai, the five girls who were chosen to travel to the United States as part of Japan's Iwakura Mission were picked randomly. They didn't apply to travel to America or go through an official approval process - often their families signed them up without consulting them at all.

    Nimura explained during an interview with the Japan Times:

    “There was no aptitude test to see whether they were fit — by pure chance they happened to have the intellect, the grit and the charm to be successful.”

  • As A Child Sutematsu Yamakawa Aided In Battle Before Moving To The United States

    As A Child Sutematsu Yamakawa Aided In Battle Before Moving To The United States

    When she was eight years old, Sutematsu Yamakawa's samurai family supported the ruling Tokugawa shogunal government. During the siege of Wakamatsu, Sutematsu and other women and children supported the battle from inside the Aizu castle while the men fought imperial forces outside. During the clash, Sutematsu was hit by a piece of shrapnel and had a permanent scar on her neck. Ironically, General Oyama, whom Sutematsu would later marry, was a member of the opposing imperial forces. He liked to joke with his wife that she was responsible for the shell that him him during the battle.

  • Sutematsu Yamakawa Was The First Japanese Woman To Receive A College Degree

    Sutematsu Yamakawa moved to America at the age of 11. She lived in Connecticut with Dr. Leonard Bacon, who was an antislavery activist and minister. She enrolled at Vassar College in 1878. She became president of her class during her sophomore year, graduated magna cum laude, and was ranked third in her class. She was the first Japanese woman ever to earn a college degree.

  • Sutematsu Yamakawa Became A Nurse & Princess

    Sutematsu Yamakawa Became A Nurse & Princess

    Sutematsu Yamakaw struggled to remember how to speak her native language after spending so much time in America. While she communicated in Japanese with her friend Shige Nagai, another one of the girls sent to the United States as part of the Iwakura Mission, Sutemasu was never again fluent. She returned to Japan following college graduation and married Count Iwao Oyama, Japanese Minister of War, in 1883. He was raised to the rank of prince and as such she took on the title of Princess Oyama. She was a volunteer nurse for the Japan Red Cross Ladies’ Volunteer Nursing Association and the Ladies’ Patriotic Association and used her nursing skills in 1904-05 during the Russo-Japanese War.

  • Two Girls Left America After A Short Time

    Following the defeat of the Tokugawa Shogunal government, Sutematsu's family was left with very little means to support itself. When given the opportunity to send their 11-year-old daughter to the United States, they agreed. She went with four other girls:
    Umeko Tsuda, 6, Shigeko Nagai, 10, Ryo Yoshimasu, 14, and Tei Ueda, 14. The night before Sutematsu left for America, her mother changed her name to "discarded pine." It alluded to the fact that these girls were considered expendable, and not all of them were expected to do well in their new country. The two oldest girls, Ryo and Tei, had a difficult time adjusting. They became ill and were so homesick that they returned to Japan within one year. Little information about these teens survived, and even the remaining three girls didn't remember much about them.

  • Umeko Tsuda Was Just 6 Years Old When She Moved To America Without Her Parents

    Umeko Tsuda Was Just 6 Years Old When She Moved To America Without Her Parents

    The government sent Umeko Tsuda to the United States in 1871 at the age of six. She was the youngest of the five women whom ambassador Tomomi Iwakura took to America so they could learn the ways of the Western world. The reason she left Japan at such a young age was because her father wanted her to go. He had visited the United States four years earlier and was so fascinated by the country's advancements and its use of technology that he wanted Umeko to be exposed to it as well.