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:

• What the Iwakura Mission is
• The factors that led Japanese officials to decide to send young girls to the U.S. to be educated
• The incredible life of Sutematsu Yamakawa
• The complicated figure that is Umeko Tsuda
• The difficulties Shige Nagai, Sutematsu Yamakawa, and Ume Tsuda faced after returning to Japan
• The importance of portraying historical figures "warts and all"
• Janice P. Nimura's upcoming book, Sister Doctors, which is about pioneering 19th-century doctors Elizabeth and Emily Blackwell
• And much more!