The Education of Young Women at the Tokyo YWCA before World War II

Abstract

  In 1905, the World Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) established the YWCA in Japan with a local chapter based in Tokyo. Primarily concerned with working women, the Tokyo YWCA formed the Working Women's Division, which provided activities that could be considered as social education practice for young working women. This paper examines the existing bulletins of the YWCA of Japan and the Tokyo YWCA from the pre-war period in order to determine who these “working women” were, the nature of the activities offered by the Tokyo YWCA Working Women's Division, and the impact on this demographic. Furthermore, through the reconstruction of “a history of social education practice,” this paper investigates the programs implemented by young working women in an organization known as the “young women's association,” especially during the period when concepts regarding “young adult women” were still not established in Japanese society.