A letter from Thomas Goetz in Japan
July 2012
That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world.
Philippians 2:15 (King James Version)
My name is Thomas Goetz. I have lived in Japan since 1989, in Sapporo, Japan, for 16 years, where I teach English at Hokusei Gakuen University and am active in educational, church, and civil affairs. In this letter I would like to share a few pictures of where I serve and talk about the history of Hokusei Gakuen University within the context of the social history of mid-19th century American culture that was prevalent in upstate New York.
To begin with, the word “Hokusei” that defines our school means “North Star.”
The left character means North and the right means Star.
Hokusei Gakuen was established originally as the Smith Jo Gakko, or Smith School for Girls, 125 years ago by Sarah C. Smith and other Presbyterian missionaries. Sarah Smith lived in Japan nearly 50 years and in addition to founding the first girls school in Sapporo was decorated by the Emperor of Japan with the Imperial Crest for her outstanding work in women's education. It was Sarah Smith who selected the motto: Shine Like Stars in a Dark World. It comes from Philippians 2:15. In her day especially, the social context of Japan and that of Paul's world was not all that different. Christianity was a minority religion in the ancient Mediterranean world, and in Japan. The world around Paul, Sarah, and many Christians in Japan was as familiar as a home, but oftentimes, alienating.
Sarah Smith with her award from the Emperor of Japan in recognition of her contributions to women’s education
Before she started her school for girls, Smith was involved in starting Sunday Schools in neighborhoods that did not have churches. It was not uncommon for people who were opposed to Christianity to surround a house where a Sunday School lesson was being held and scream so loud that everyone inside could hear unmistakably that Christianity was a foreign religion and that Japanese had better not touch it. Since these hecklers never entered the home, it was useless to call the police—no crime was being committed. And so that was her world. Smith had to live within but concurrently apart so as to get anything done.
Living apart from the world, in fact, was normal for Smith. Born in upstate New York, in Elmira, she was orphaned by the age of 6 and received her education in various orphanages and boarding schools. One cannot answer who her teachers were in her formative years—that data just does not exist—however, when one looks at the social history of influential women in the United States at that time, one cannot miss Elizabeth Cady Stanton, women's activist and suffragist, who together with a handful of other women and a few men wrote the Women's Declaration of Independence in 1847 in Seneca Falls, New York, merely 60 miles from where Sarah Smith would be born only 14 years later. It is reasonable to infer that given her early years in boarding schools and career accomplishments, Smith must have come under the influence of more than a few teachers and friends inspiring her to develop herself for a career path for missionary service in Japan. Career choices for women in the U.S. at that time were somewhat limited to motherhood, school teaching, and nursing. In Japan she could become a school administrator with significant authority over her school’s curriculum.
Elizabeth Cady Stanton
There are three notable girls schools in Japan: Hokusei Girls Junior and Senior High (Protestant), Fuji School for Girls (Roman Catholic: JHS-university) and Otani School for Girls (Buddhist: k-university). Of the three, Hokusei Girls are known for being more likely to speak out, take a stand, be stubborn, and question authority. Is this a matter a mere coincidence or the legacy of America's feminist suffragist movement?
I believe the latter.
Another reason that gives credence is that Smith, after some years of service in Tokyo and Yokohama, was transferred by recommendation of the male Presbyterian missionaries Ballah and Heburn to Hakodate, Hokkaido, not that far from Sapporo, for “heath reasons.” She would later move to Sapporo by way of the port city of Otaru. Considering that she lived most of her years in Japan during a time when living conditions were tough (winters on the island of Hokkaido were—and are—brutal) and that she was in her 90s when she died, one might wonder if she did indeed have some serious disagreements with her male counterparts. Such cannot be ruled out, nor proven, since she never kept a diary, nor were any ill references recorded in annual reports.
The decades have come and gone like waves on a beach, and the tides of U.S.–Japanese relations have come in and gone out as history moves forward, but Smith's intent and dream for her girls and women’s education still applies for all of Hokusei’s students, now male and female alike: to be educated so as to be useful in society, like stars that are to shine in dark places.
To God be the glory.
Tom
The 2012 Presbyterian Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 200
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