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In this Japanese name, the surname is Kawai.

Kawai Michi (河井 道, July 29, 1877 – February 11, 1953) was a Japanese educator, Christian activist, and proponent of Japanese-Western ties before, during, and after World War II. She served as the first Japanese National Secretary of the YWCA of Japan and founded Keisen University.

Early Life

Kawai was born on July 29, 1877 in Yamada City in the Province of Ise to Kawai Noriyasu, a Shinto priest. When Kawai was still a child, her father lost his job and chose to move his family to Hakodate, in Hokkaido, where the government was encouraging people to settle. There she began attending a newly-established boarding school in Sapporo, run by a Presbyterian missionary named Sarah Smith, called Kokusei Jogakko (North Star Girls’ School).

At this school, she began learning Japanese composition and writing, arithmetic, and English. Other subjects, such as botany, Japanese literature, zoology, the Chinese classics, and algebra and geometry were added in time. Some classes were taught by professors from Sapporo Agricultural College (later to become Hokkaido University), such as Nitobe Inazō.

In 1895, shortly before turning 18, Kawai spent a year helping to start up another girls' school in northern Hokkaido, experience that would prove useful later in her life.

Study in the United States

Upon her return to Kokusei Jogakko, Nitobe Inazō encouraged Kawai to travel to the United States to study. She first spent time in Tokyo studying with Tsuda Ume and was awarded a scholarship from an American committee which Tsuda had founded in Philadelphia. Kawai moved to the United States at the age of 21 and enrolled in an American preparatory school. She entered Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania 1900, graduating in 1904.

While in the United States, Kawai became involved with the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) which worked to better women's lives through the promotion of social and economic change. Talk more here about the YWCA, the 1902 summer conference, and Caroline McDonald

Return to Japan

After graduation she returned to Japan, teaching at Tsuda Ume's girls' school Joshi Eigaku Juku (Women’s English School), which would later become Tsuda College. There she taught English, translation, and history. She also became one of the founding members of the Japanese YWCA along with Caroline McDonald, whom Kawai had met at a conference in the United States in 1902, becoming the first National Secretary (a position referred to as the General Secretary), of the Japanese YWCA in 1912.

In 1916, Kawai chose to turn her attention full-time to the YWCA, giving up teaching. What did she do then? Anything about her activities?

Foundation of Keisen University

In 1927, Kawai founded a Christian school for young women. She named this school Keisen Jogaku-en (Fountain-of-blessings Girls’ Learning-garden), which later shifted its focus from secondary education to become Keisen University. Talk about its curriculum and goals

Kawai also founded an additional girls' school, Keisen Girls’ Agro-Horticultural College, during World War II. Talk about the troubles founding? Or leave out completely? This school has subsequently been folded into Keisen University.

Continuing Cultural Outreach

Simultaneously continuing her work as a Japanese Christian, in 1941 Kawai attended a meeting of the Foreign Mission Boards of North America and Canada, representing Japanese Christian women. While in California, Kawai was awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Science from Mills College in California. In her biography, Michi wrote, “‘This is a gesture of American goodwill to Japan at this critical moment,’ said my soul to me, ‘therefore accept the honor, not for yourself, but for your country, and pledge yourself to stand for the cause of peace and friendship in this hour of tribulation.’”