Transnational Women's Activism: The United States, Japan, and Japanese Immigrant Communities in California, 1859-1920

Following landmark trade agreements between Japan and the United States in the 1850s, Tokyo began importing a unique American commodity: Western social activism. As Japan sought to secure its future as a commercial power and American women pursued avenues of political expression, Protestant church-women and, later, members of the Women's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) traveled to the Asian coast to promote Christian teachings and women's social activism.
Rumi Yasutake reveals in Transnat...