The White Plum

At the age of six, Ume Tsuda (1865-1929) was sent on a mission by the Japanese government to the United States with four other girls. Their task was first to educate themselves in modern ways and Western learning, and then return to bring that gift to their sisters in Japan. When Ume finally did return, ready to carry out her duty, she found a new government quite unprepared to make use of her skills. Undaunted, she devoted the rest of her life to seeking a way to achieve the goal of making modern higher education available to Japanese women for the first time. Eventually she founded her own Tsuda College, which has remained one of the bastions of women’s education in Japan to this day.