Tsuda Umeko—featured on Japan’s newest banknote—is widely known in Japan as a pioneer of women’s English education. Yet a remarkable chapter of her life remains largely unknown: during her second stay in the United States, she studied biology at Bryn Mawr College and was regarded as a promising young scientist.

Drawing on letters and archival materials, this book reveals how Umeko immersed herself in the emerging world of biological research, why she ultimately stepped away from research, and what her choices suggest about gender, opportunity, and ambition in her time.

By reframing Umeko not only as an educator but also as a woman shaped by scientific curiosity, this work offers a fresh and compelling perspective for readers interested in women’s history and intertwined development of science and education.

About Editors and Authors

Born in Japan in 1948, FURUKAWA Yasu obtained a Bachelor of Engineering degree from the Tokyo Institute of Technology. He received a Ph.D. in the History of Science from the University of Oklahoma in the United States in 1983. He held the position of Professor of History of Science at Tokyo Denki University and then at Nihon University. He served as president of the Japanese Society for the History of Chemistry from 2011 to 2016. Currently, he is a visiting fellow at the Graduate University for Advanced Studies (SOKENDAI), Japan. In 2018, he was awarded the John and Martha Morris Award from the Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry in the UK. In 2022 he received the Mainichi Publishing Culture Award, and in 2024 the History of Science Society of Japan’s Special Award.

Table of contents

Acknowledgements 
Prologue 
Chapter 1: A Young Japanese Girl in America
Chapter 2: Bryn Mawr College and Biology 
Chapter 3: Becoming a Biologist 
Chapter 4: Behind the Scenes at Joshi Eigaku Juku 
Chapter 5: From Juku to Daigaku
Epilogue