Gomokumeshi and 2017 exchange students

Abstract

　Otsuma Women’s University will celebrate its 110^th anniversary in 2018. Gomokumeshi, the autobiography of the founder of Otsuma, Mrs. Kotaka Otsuma, details Otsuma’s history as well as Otsuma’s principle of the education for women, for which it has earned the reputation of raising “good wives and wise mothers”. Gomokumeshi has been widely read not only by pupils and students, but faculty and administrative staff members. Additionally, from 2016, Gomokumeshi was listed as one of the mandatory readings for the exchange students who came to study Japanese language and culture at Otsuma. This article points out the following: why they chose Otsuma to study Japanese language and culture; the aspects of the exchange students’ Otsuma life; their views of, and reaction to reading Gomokumeshi; and the overall significance of studying at Otsuma. In conclusion, although the exchange students were unsatisfied with Otsuma’s particularly small Japanese language study program, as well as paucity of interaction with Japanese Otsuma students, many of them were happy with the overall experiences at Otsuma, which is strategically located in the centre of Tokyo, and which would have allowed them to experience Japanese cultural events. It was clear that the exchange students were considerably impressed by the fact that Otsuma was established by a married Japanese woman who overcame all the struggles and challenges.