1. Tsuda Umeko was a Japanese educator who founded Tsuda University.
20 Facts About Tsuda Umeko
1. 2.
Tsuda Umeko was the daughter of Tsuda Sen, an agricultural scientist, and at the age of 7, she became Japan's first female exchange student, traveling to the US on the same ship as the Iwakura Mission.
3.
In 1871, Tsuda Umeko Sen was involved in the Hokkaido colonization project under Kuroda Kiyotaka, and raised the topic of western education for women as well as for men.
4.
Under Kuroda's sponsorship, Tsuda Umeko Ume was volunteered by her father as one of five women members of the Iwakura Mission.
5.
Tsuda Umeko arrived in San Francisco in November 1871 and remained in the United States as a student until she was 18 years old.
6.
Tsuda Umeko lived in Washington, DC from December 1871 with Charles Lanman, and his wife Adeline.
7.
Under the name of Ume Tsuda Umeko, she attended the middle-class Georgetown Collegiate School, where she learned English.
8.
Tsuda Umeko excelled in languages, math, science, and music, especially the piano.
9.
About one year after arriving in the United States, Tsuda Umeko asked to be baptized as a Christian.
10.
Tsuda Umeko experienced cultural problems adjusting to the inferior position of women in Japanese society.
11.
Tsuda Umeko was hired by Ito Hirobumi, who would soon serve as the first prime minister of Japan, to be a tutor for his children.
12.
Tsuda Umeko was assisted from 1888 by a friend from her days in America, Alice Bacon.
13.
Tsuda Umeko returned to the United States and attended Bryn Mawr College in Philadelphia from 1889 to 1892, where she majored in biology and education.
14.
Tsuda Umeko made numerous public speeches about Japanese women's education and raised $8,000 in funds to establish a scholarship for Japanese women.
15.
Tsuda Umeko published several dissertations and made speeches about improving the status of women.
16.
Tsuda Umeko later changed her name to Tsuda Umeko in 1902.
17.
The school faced a chronic funding shortfall, and Tsuda Umeko spent much time fundraising in order to support the school.
18.
In 1905, Tsuda Umeko became the first president of the Japanese branch of the Tokyo YWCA.
19.
Tsuda Umeko's grave is on the grounds of Tsuda College in Kodaira, Tokyo.
20.
Tsuda Umeko's activities were based on her philosophy that education should focus on developing individual intelligence and personality.