was a Japanese businesswoman, banker, college founder and late in life, a Christian speaker and writer.
Early life Mitsui Asako was born in Kyoto, the daughter of merchant Mitsui Takamasu. She recalled, as a girl, feeling left out of the education her brothers enjoyed, and being determined after marriage to find a way to learn mathematics, economics, and literature, among other topics. She hired tutors and read independently. "I set myself to the task with the consent of my husband, who was skeptical of my ability and indifferent to my ambitions.""Woman Banker" Boston Daily Globe (March 10, 1918): SM19.
Career After an economic crisis, Hirooka Asako moved beyond her traditional life as a wife and mother to rebuild her husband's family's lost fortunes.Edith Wilds, "Madame Hirooka, the Invincible" Everybody's Magazine (May 1919): 96. She took charge of a coal mine, started a savings bank, started a life insurance company, and invested in Korean agricultural properties.George Gleason, "Can Japanese Be Christians?" The Missionary Review of the World (June 1921): 460-461.
In 1911, Hirooka Asako converted to Christianity. She wrote for popular women's magazines, with the signature line, "nine times falling, nine times rising again." She spoke at church-run events. She was one of the leaders of the YWCA Summer Conference in 1912, with Kawai Michi, Emma Kaufman, and several others.Margaret Prang, A Heart at Leisure from Itself: Caroline Macdonald of Japan (UBC Press 2011): 128. At her summer home near Mount Fuji, Hirooka kept a retreat house for Christian preachers."Madame Hirooka" Missionary Voice (May 1918): 146.
Raicho Hiratsuka, a student at Japan Women's University, which Hirooka helped to found,"Japan Women's Universities Go Urban for Survival" The Japan News (May 4, 2016). recalled her scolding the students for studies she deemed too "theoretical"; she thought the young women should pursue a more practical education.Raichō Hiratsuka, In the Beginning, Woman was the Sun: The Autobiography of a Japanese Feminist (Columbia University Press 2010): 73.
Personal life and legacy Mitsui Asako married Hirooka Shinjirō in 1866. They had a daughter, Kameko. Hirooka Asako died in 1919, aged 69 years, in Tokyo,Edith Curtis, "A Woman Leader in Japan" Life and Light for Woman (April 1919): 181-184."A Memorial Service for Madame Hirooka" Missionary Herald (August 1919): 353-354. from influenza, during the worldwide epidemic."The Y. W. C. A. in Japan" Sydney Morning Herald (31 January 1920): 7. via Trove
A period drama based on the life of Hirooka Asako, Asa ga Kita, appeared on Japanese television in 2015 and 2016. It starred Haru as Hirooka Asako."Haru Cast in NHK's Next Asadora Drama, 'Asa ga Kita'" Arama Japan (2015).
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