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, who is appointed the first president.

1918
1920
Narcissa Vanderlip accompanies her husband, Frank, for her first trip to Japan where she becomes connected with Japanese feminist circles.
1920
1923
The Great Kantō Earthquake—one of the largest natural disasters in modern Japanese history—destroys Tsuda College’s facilities along with much of Tokyo.
1923
1924
Anna Hartshorne establishes the headquarters of the “Tsuda College Emergency Committee” in Philadelphia and recruits Narcissa Vanderlip to lead the New York branch office.
1924
1926
The New York branch of the Emergency Committee raises over $200,000 (roughly $1.7 million today), 40% of the total needed to rebuild the school.
1926
1928

Ai Hoshino receives a Masters degree from Teachers College, Columbia University in New York City.

1928
1929

Michi Kawai founds the Keisen School for Young Women, the predecessor to modern day Keisen University.

1929
1932
Construction of Tsuda College’s new campus is completed and its main building christened “Hartshorne Hall”.
1932
1943-1944
U.S. State Department officials including Quakers Hugh Borton and Gordon Bowles begin drafting plans for reforms to the Japanese education system in the event of an allied victory in WWII.
1943-1944
1945
The Empire of Japan surrenders and the position of Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers, or SCAP, is created. Japanese society begins to undergo a series of changes in its government, economy, industry, and education, overseen by the American occupation forces and SCAP. Kawai and Hoshino join SCAP to promote women’s education throughout the country.
1945
1946
The 1946 U.S. Education Mission travels to Japan. The head of the mission was New York State Commissioner of Education George Stoddard, and the staff (composed of 27 official members) included fellow New Yorkers Virginia Gildersleeve, president of Barnard College, and George S. Counts, a professor at Columbia University. The mission was further assisted–and in many ways guided–by colleagues from the Japanese educational system.
1946