Miss Takata went alone to teach in the town of
Mishima which was untouched by bombing . She sought
the help of the mayor who was a Christian friend of
her father buried years before in the family burial
plot nearby . The mayor, happy to help her , allowed
her to open her school in the church.
The American Occupation
Forces were expected in
a week. When word went out that Toshi Takata was
opening a school to teach English, over a thousand
people, mostly adults, came as students. Doctors,
lawyers, college graduates, policemen, all came
crowding into the little church and the school had
to be moved to a large Buddist temple.
The students sat in long rows on the floor. The
diminutive teacher had no books to pass out. She
asked the gathered throng to find any books written
In English, and to bring them to school. The next
day all kinds of books and dictionaries and even an
English Bible were collected. We wonder how they
were put to use.
The adult students were there to learn enough
English to enable them to speak to the Arnericans and
to understan 掬 what was spoken to them. The time was
short before they would meet the military men.
As soon as the American officials arrived they
came to Miss Takata to ask her to interpret their
military orders to her townspeople. She agreed.
Soon she not only interpreted the orders for offic-
ers but also for citizens of Mishima.
Local owners of a factory asked her to go with
the Occupation officers to inspect their factory
which had to be destroyed according to orders. The
owners had expensive machinery in the factory and
they promised Miss Takata a house of her own if she
could influence the officials to save their machin-
ery for them but they did not carry out their pro-
mise. She did not get her home . One owner loaned
her the use of his truck some years later.
Anxious parents questioned her again and again
about the expected raping and looting by the Ameri- ﾍ
cans . Families sent their daughters and young women
to relatives in the country.
After the Occupation Forces left, Miss Takata
moved her school into a house. She also taught in
the Mishima High School during which time she lived
in an apartment near her brother ' s family. It was
in Mishima that Professor Ruth Strickland from In-
diana University first visited her.
How did Professor Strickland know of Toshi Ta-
kata? There was a go-between, Mrs. Ruth Tooze of
Berkeley, California. Mrs. Tooze had known Profes-
sor Strickland for a number of years . They met each
summer at Indiana University when Mrs. Tooze brought
a traveling library. The surnmer of 1947 Mrs . Tooze
came to the University and when she asked about Pro-
fessor Strickland, learned that she had gone to
Tokyo , Japan, in early March of that year as a part
of the American Occupation Forces, her assignment
being to advise and supervise changes in Japanese
schools ・.
Mrs. Tooze then wrote to Professor Strickland
to urge her to meet Toshi Takata whom she had be-
friended at the University of California at Berkely
at the time that Asians were not admtted to Ameri-
can hospitals. The two became friends thereafter
though Toshi often told Ruth Strickland that Ruth
Tooze had dominating ways that frightened her .
As a good go-between should, Mrs. Tooze wrote
to Toshi and urged her to meet Professor Strickland
then in Tokyo. Professor Strickland was housed in
the Dai Ichi Hotel in downtown Tokyo at part of the
Occupation Forces and she wrote to Toshi inviting
her to lunch one Saturday. Later she described
their first meeting and her visit to Mishima.
"It was raining that Saturday and I
stood in the hotel entrance watching for
Toshi when I saw this tiny woman under a
large umbrella picking her way across the
street. I took her up to my room to talk
a bit before lunch. then to lunch in a
special dining room because actu ・lly it
was against 'Occupation' rules to invite
Japanese to eat with us .
"She was not difficult to talk with
though she had used her English relatively
little for some time. Shortly after that
Toshi invited me to spend a weekend at her
apartment in Mishima in the tea country
south of Tokyo , and her father's birth-
place. She had fled there from our bombs
and stayed on there after the surrender
because her school and home in Tokyo had
been destroyed.
"Since we had been ordered not to eat
Japanese food because it was in short sup-
ply (and in case of uncooked things, be-
cause of their peculiar manner of fertili-
zation) I went to the central PX (post ex-
change for the United States service per-
sonnel) and filled a small duffel bag with
tuna, salmon, cookies, candies, cheese and
my weekly ration of cigarettes (one carton
which I usually doled out as tips) and
also my ' husband's' weekly ration of pipe
tobacco- as good as money in some places.
"When I got off the train in Mishima,
there stood Toshi bowing low, and introduc-
ing a man who had brought his jeep to
transport us to Toshi ' s home . We got out
in front of a tall wooden gate in a tall
wooden fence and walked up a short curved
path to an entrance where a panel had been
pushed open. Two High School students of
Toshi ' s who were acting as her maids in
payment for their lessons in English, bowed
with their heads to the floor matting.
Toshi took me into her living room,
hung up my wraps in a cupboard with a slid-
ing door, while the little maids brought a
copper washbowl of warm water and a towel.
Toshi asked if I would care to go to the
toilet. Since I did, she pushed aside the
panel on the far side of the room facing
her tiny garden (a tiny waterfall, shrubs,
barnboo,) and led me along a raised walk to
a sliding door and left me to enter.
"I went in, closed the panel behind
me, and found myself in a cube-shaped room,
walls, but no evidence of exits. After
study ing the situation for moment , I began
gently pushing panels until one opened
into a small room with a floor toilet of
the 'squat' type and a pile of dainty tis-
sue beside it. Both rooms were freshly
painted a delicate green.
"On my return to the living room, the
little maids had fresh, warm water and
soap in a basin for handwashing . It must
have been about five o ' clock by that time.
"Toshi and I sat on silk-covered cush-
ions on the floor with the usual Japanese
alcove (toka noma) which displayed a scrollf ﾊ
a lovely plate on a stand and a vase with
three spriggs of green in Japanese pattern.
Otherwise there was no furniture except a
low square teakwood table.
"Soon the little maids brought hot
towels to cleanse our fingers as we sat,
Toshi comfortably and I not, on the silk
cushions at the table. Bowls of clear soup
with an edible peapod and a bit of fish
were followed by tempra-prepared raw vege-
tables and kite-shaped fish which Toshi
dipped into a bowl of batter , piece by
piece, with her chopsticks, then into a
ceramic container of hot fat in the middle
of the table, the fat heated by a charcoal
fire in a larger container. The cooked
food she served onto my plate. Rice was
served in a separate bowl ・o each of us, of
course, and tea.
"As we were finishing, Toshi said, 'We
must hurry to go to the city hall . ' I in-
quired why and she said, 'Because you are
going to talk to the young people, ' an idea
that had not been mentioned before .
More hot towels for fingers, then my
coat and we were on our way, I inquiring as
we walked as to what I was to talk about
and who would be my audience.
"Tell about young people in America,"
was my assignment. Just then Toshi ' s
houseboy clattered by us ; as we walked and
reached the hall (a barren structure) the
houseboy was putting in Toshi's lightbulbs
in the overhead sockets. Light bulbs were
practically unobtainable at the time and
any left unguarded would instantly disap-
pear .
"The audience filled most of the hall
young people of high school and college age ,
children, mothers with their babies on
their ﾒ backs, the leading industrialists of
the town, and the mayor, really drunk.
"Toshi introduced me and I talked as
best I could about young people, their
lives, occupations, activities and their
aspirations, Toshi interpreting in a loud,
shrill voice. I answered a number of ques-
tions. Then we went back to Toshi ' s place
( passed again by the houseboy with the
light bulbs) followed by a number of young
people who were students or friends of To-
shi. They followed us into the room by
previous invitation and asked questions for
more than an hour .
"I took from my duffel bag a tin of
Hydrox cookies and passed them around. When
Toshi saw me reach into the bag again she
looked distressed and I stopped. I had
been generous enough . Later I learned that
a number of younger children were on the
other side of a paper-covered panel listen-
ing in.
"After the young people left, the
maids unrolled a bedding roll, put on on ・
white sheet and one blue one on it and the
quilted cover used on all Japanese beds .
"Though I had my own negligee I was
provided with a kimono (yukata) to wear to
the bath (at the other end of the house and
used not only by Toshi but by two other
women in the next apartment) . When I ap-
peared in the passage way in the kimono and
my slippers, Toshi and the two girls made a
dive for me, saying, 'No! No! The kimono
is wrong! (I had it lapped right over left.)
A Japanese lady only wears it that way in
her coffin . ' It was lapped left over right .
"That matter attended to , Toshi led
me to the bathroom and directed me to pour
water on myself until I was clean, then get
into the round tiled tub filled with hot
water (Charcoal burning underneath) to en-
joy a soak and get warm. I managed well
until that point but I thought I would be
scalded in the tub so I got into it inch by
inch and I did not stay very long , though
the Japanese think a good long oak in the
hot bath a luxurious treat.
"Then down into my bed. Toshi put a
little teapot of drinking water, a cup and
an old Reader's Digest by my pillow. She
slept in the hallway outside my room (the
same room we used as a living room and a
dining room) and would not move in with me
though I suggested it.
"Breakfast the next morning- strawber-
ries, rice, a bit of fish, tea- was on the
walkway beside the garden in the sunshine.
Following it we went to a nearby school
where Toshi held a small Sunday School for
no more than twenty children. After songs ,
prayer, story, with 'Jesus Loves Me' as the
finale the children were dismissed and the
'mothers' moved forward. I discovered that
they were the Kindegarten teachers of the
prefecture come to hear me talk about Kin-
dergartens in America, ( again a surprise
and an impromptu talk! )
"Following a sukiyaki lunch we walked
out to catch a glimpse of Mt. Fuji between
the masses of cloud cover, then the Jeep
an d its driver reappeared and I was out on
the return train for Tokyo .
"This visit and the luncheon at the
Dai Ichi Hotel were our contacts in Japan
other than notes. I returned to Indiana
University to teach in the summer session,
as I had provised Dean Wright."
A letter from Toshi years later gives her expe-
ience of having Professor Strickland as a guest.
"Doctor Strickland was sent by the
American Government to advise changes in a
new system for Japanese Schools. Through
our mutual friend I met her and she came to
my home to stay in a Japanese house, sleep
in a Japanese bed and have a Japanese bath
which was too hot for her to get in- she
didn't know it was all right to pour water
in to make it the right temperature.
"She was the first American lady I met
who had no prejudice against Japan, nor had
any superiority complex over us. Until I
became acquainted and knew her my knowledge
of American women was mostly with mission-
aries and even among them they u 7sually had
a superiority complex over us . It is natu-
ral that they feel that way because our
civilization was far behind them. But Doc-
tor Strickland had studied our history and
of the old samurai spirit, if not on the
surface of our modern thought. Doctor St-
rickland gave an impression of being more
like a dignified English lady than a modern
American lady .
"When she came to visit me I hired a
city hall and invited all the school stu-
dents of Mishima High School and college.
The hall was full. What amused Ruth St-
rickland so was that we had to bring our
own electric light bulbs with us . It was
after the war but even the city hall had to
be careful with light bulbs. Our houseboy
had to take a few from my home .
"In those days young people didn't
know exactly about the Nmeaning of democracy ,
so Doctor Strickland ' s speech was about
What is Democracy? She spoke very clearly
and they enjoyed their first speech in En-
glish very much. ( I interpreted.) Children
of Mishima had never seen American women
and so when Doctor Strickland came they
were very much excited and anxious to meet
her .
"Later, while she was t.alking to our
grown-ups in my room, the next room was
full of children. Some of them put their
fingers in their mouths to wet the paper
(of the door) in order to rub little holes
so that they peeped in to get a glance of
her. She invited them in.
"Oh, I never forgot their bright young
faces then. They sat quietly on the tatami
(straw mat) with their hands on their knees
in perfect good manners. Doctor Strick-
land's talk was turned to the children."
About the same time Miss Takata was suddenly
approached by another member of the Occupation Forces
as they both waited on a railway platform- and she
never forgot him.
"I'll never forget a sweet memory that
comes to mind. I had gone from Mishima to
shop in Tokyo and had returned to the ex-
change railroad station to await my train
back to Mishima. A nice looking Alnerican
G.I. soldier carrying a big package in his
hand walked toward me and said , ' I'll give
this to you' and handed me that paper bag
package .
"I was very much ・surprised and said,
'What is it?' His answer was, 'Look in and
see . So I Iooked in the bag.
"There was a big chocolate cake. When
I Iooked for him to say 'Thank you ' he had
already gone . Then I Iooked across the
track. There he was waiting for his train
to Tokyo. In fact he was watching me so I
made a low bow and he took off his cap very
gentlemanly. It was only for a few seconds
but warmed my heart very much.
"I couldn't understand why he picked
me as a recipient of such a big cake. There
were other women, pretty and young , on the
platform. I don't think I looked starved
because I was dressed very nicely that
evening .
"I wrote this story to a friend, Marie
Murray, a pupil of Madame Schumann Heink. I
said, 'The boy must have had a mother like
you . ' She wrote back suggesting that such
a sweet story should be sent to the U.S.
Army pape ﾅr, Stars and Stripes so I did. I
didn't know whether it came out in the pa-
per or not."
Friendships once made were not broken. Miss
Takata made friends, as she expressed it , with Marie
Murray in the time of 1929-1930 when she first came
to the United States and on a world trip. It was
now after World War II.- a span of fifteen years with
no renewing of friendship necessary, to make such a
letter and its reply possible.
A strange challenge came during her third year
of teaching in the Mishima High School. She received
word from a stranger that he wished to come to see
her to make a request. He came and asked her to
build a school on a piece of land that he owned in
the city of Kawasaki , a large city adjacent to Tokyo.
She questioned the offer. It was almost impossible
to procure land in large cities of Japan because
there were so many demands for it. This land in Ka-
wasaki, he clearly stated, was to be use ｱd for a
school and he asked Miss Takata to start one there.
She never knew how the man learned of her or why a
school was important to him.
Was this a sign of God's guidance? She deter-
mined to find out what could be done. It took three
weeks for the workmen to clear the small lot of rub-
ble left by bombing. When she established her two
former schools she had money and the guidance of Mr.
X. Now she had little money and must make decisions
alone, but she felt there were those who would help
her .
The small building was placed as far back as
possible on the rectangular lot. The area between
the school building and the street was made into a
beautiful and peaceful garden, its central walk lead-
ing from the street entrance to the building. Japa-
nese gardens are usually carefully closed off from
public eyes but this garden was not usual . Its gate
was opened each morning for the enjoyrnent of passers-
by and for visitors and coming-and-going teachers and
students through the day. It was the only garden for
long distances in the industrial city of Kawasaki.
To Toshi Takata it stood as proof that God still made
beautiful and peaceful the world of nature though it
was surrounded by signs of the war's devastation.
The time was about 1948 and Japan was war-torn,
its people living amid hardship and shortages and
sadness. The garden's beauty and order was especial-
ly meaningful to Toshi Ta ㌣ata ; she remembered that
spring morning in view of Mt. Fuji when after years
of war and suffering she had again felt that God was
near and that she would wait for His guidance. In
the small building by the garden she began establish-
ing what would become the Takata English Institute.
She used her hard-earned teaching skills and her
small amount of money as best she could, plus the ad-
ministrative experience she had gained in her two
previous schools, the English Play School for young
children and the junior college for girls. As she
worked, more and more children began coming, some
from families of wealth and some from poor families.
When quite a nuhber of day-school students were en-
rolled she started a Sunday School for them and the
neighbors' children. She also started a Sunday Serv-
ice for adults.
The outstanding Christian minister, Saneharu
O |jima, and uncle of Toshi, came to give the message
and to help establish the Kawasaki Chapel. He be-
longed to the Presbyterian Church Group of Japan and
had worked independently during the war and since,
so that by 1950 he had established five Christian
churches including the Kawasaki Chapel as part of
the Japanese Christian group . They were independent-
ly Presbyterian.
Those Sundays as he preached to the small Kawa-
saki congregation Toshi watched and listened. Memo-
ries of his past stirred her, memories of him as a
young man, a Shinto priest's son, already a recog-
nized poet, coming to her father to ask advice as to
a life work, and accepting that advice, to become an
outstanding theological student and Christian minis-
ter. He became a writer of many books on Christian-
ity but received no royalty or income from his work.
He and his wife and ysix children lived sacrificially
on what she earned as a midwife. He was put in pri-
son during World War 11 by the Japanese governrnent
and his books were burned, but while there he preach-
ed to the guards and won some of them to Christianity.
And now, alone, an old man outliving his wife and
children, he had established five churches by 1950
and was still preaching.
Toshi wrote of him in later years, "Somehow he
lived without visible support but was very proud. As
an example of that pride , he needed a Bible concord-
ance but could not buy one and urged me to buy one
so that he could borrow it. I felt no need for a
concordance at that time but I bought one anyuay ."
Others came to preach, among them Mr.George
Lang, an American missionary. In a Bible class he
noticed a young man, Hideyoshi Takahashi, and invited
him to become a student of his own Bible School , then
small but now known as the Tokyo Christian College .
The young man transferred and attended two years. He
then went on to Tokyo Bible Seminary for two more
years. When he graduated he became an assistant min-
ister for a few more years. Reverend Toyokichi Mori,
minister of the Kawasaki Chapel, saw the promise of
the young Takahashi and offered him 200,000 yen to be
used for a year of study in the United States. This
amount had to be increased. Through all his years of
study Hideyoshi Takahashi had earned much of his liv-
ing along with that part paid by the Kawasaki Chapel ,
and he continued to do so when the San Jose College
of California granted him a scholarship for tuition
and gave him various jobs that paid for his living
costs. The San Jose College , a part of the Church of
Christ denomination , became his place of study for a
year and for his gradua tion. He came back to be a
minister to the Kawasaki Chapel congregation of about
thirty or forty members, mostly students and young
people. At the present time he is not only the min-
ister but also a teacher in the Takata English Insti-
tute and has supervisory responsibilities that are
carried out in such a way as to have the approval of
the Japanese Prefectural Governor.