A Japanese Encounter with Christianity : The Memoirs of Takeda Kiyoko

Ch. Takeda Kiyoko (1917–2018), better known as Takeda Kiyoko (....), was a remarkable woman, whose life-course defied the stereotypes of modern Japanese women. Her memoirs focus on “encounters”—with the individuals whom Takeda met in her travels to Asia, the United States and Europe; through her involvement in organisations such as the YWCA and World Student Christian Federation (WSCF); and with the progressive Japanese thinkers that were the focus of her research (the response of thinkers of the modern period (from 1867) to Christianity). Some of these encounters were fleeting, others were more sustained. Regardless, the influence was enduring. Takeda Kiyoko’s intellectual world expanded through her involvement with Christian organisations such as the YWCA and the WSCF, and when she went to the United States as an exchange student and worked at WSCF headquarters. Her involvement with the World Council of Churches also entailed extensive travel in Asia as well as Europe, and much engaged discussion on the future of ecumenicism. In the 1950s, she contributed to unofficial diplomacy between Japan and other Asian nations and to restoring friendly relations and mutual understanding between Japanese and other Asian people, including Chinese, Filipino, and Indian.

It offers a first-hand perspective on Japan’s transnational relations with Asia, the United States, and Europe in the fields of Christianity and education which engages with the large themes of nationalism, militarism, gender, and state. It provides insight into the thinking of a clever and compassionate Japanese woman and committed Christian whose life-course was far from typical in twentieth-century Japan. It is the accessible story of a remarkable woman who was well-supported and afforded remarkable opportunities in often chaotic times. Meet Takeda Kiyoko (1917–2018), a remarkable woman, whose life-course defies the stereotypes of Japanese women in modern Japan. Told in her own words, these memoirs focus on “encounters”— the individuals whom she met in her travels to Asia, the United States and Europe, and through her involvement in organisations such as the YWCA and World Student Christian Federation (WSCF), and the progressive Japanese thinkers that came up in her research (the encounter between Christianity and Japanese thinkers of the modern period (from 1867)). Takeda introduces us to her mother, whose thoughts on women’s higher education and marriage were ahead of her times, and to her encounter with Christianity at the Christian girls’ school she attended after Japanese high school. Her intellectual world expanded with her involvement with Christian organisations such as the YWCA, and the WSCF, and when she went to the USA as an exchange student.