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Revision as of 00:11, 24 December 2024 by LEvalyn (talk | contribs) (adding more details from the research)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff) 1993 biography of Ōyama SutematsuAuthor | Akiko Kuno |
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Translator | Kirsten McIvor |
Published | 1988 (Japanese) |
Published in English | 1993 |
Unexpected Destinations: The Poignant Story of Japan's First Vassar Graduate is a biography of Ōyama Sutematsu, written by her great-granddaughter Akiko Kuno. It was first published in Japan as Rokumeikan no kifujin Ōyama Sutematsu: Nihon hatsu no joshi ryūgakusei (The Lady of the Rokumeikan, Ōyama Sutematsu: Japan’s First Female Study Abroad Student), and the Japanese edition was a bestseller. An English edition translated by Kirsten McIvor was published in 1993. The Japanese edition was published by Chūō kōronsha, and the English edition by Kodansha International. Kuno based the biography primarily on forty letters written by Ōyama to Alice Bacon.
Development
Akiko Kuno began to research her great-grandmother's life in 1980. A friend, Nucy Meech, was interested in the first Japanese woman to graduate from an American university; on learning that it was Kuno's own relative, Meech contacted Vassar College for more information, and Vassar's office of Alumni and Alumnae of Vassar College (AAVC) sent Kuno several newspaper articles about Ōyama. After placing an advertisement in Vassar Quarterly seeking information, Kuno found that many papers from Ōyama foster family the Bacons were available at Yale University, and that her letters to Alice Bacon had been preserved by Bacon's descendant Jill Bryant. Kuno travelled to San Francisco in July 1982, and visited several stops from Ōyama's journey with the Iwakura Mission, using Kunitake Kume's published diary Beio Kairan Jikki as her guide.
References
- ^ W., G. (1 September 1993). "She Was A First for Japan". Vassar Quarterly. LXXXIX (4): 33.
- ^ Doan, Natalia (2024-08-29). "The Iwakura Mission: Networks, Knowledge, and National Identity". Journal of American-East Asian Relations. 31 (3): 225–235. doi:10.1163/18765610-31030002. ISSN 1058-3947.
- "Unexpected Destinations: The Poignant Story of Japan's First Vassar Graduate by Akiko Kuno". www.publishersweekly.com. 1993-08-02. Retrieved 2024-12-23.
- Kuno, Akiko (1993). Unexpected Destinations: The Poignant Story of Japan's First Vassar Graduate. Kodansha International. pp. 14–15.
- Kuno, Akiko (1993). Unexpected Destinations: The Poignant Story of Japan's First Vassar Graduate. Kodansha International. pp. 16–17.
- Kuno, Akiko (1993). Unexpected Destinations: The Poignant Story of Japan's First Vassar Graduate. Kodansha International. p. 13.
- Kuno, Akiko (1993). Unexpected Destinations: The Poignant Story of Japan's First Vassar Graduate. Kodansha International. p. 18.