Press and Quotes

“As I lost my mother at a year old, I couldn’t image her. However I could meet her in this film. Thanks. I really appreciate.” (Sayuri Kuranishi --Tsuruko’s daughter)

“Though Tsuruko Haraguchi is not alive now, we can feel Tsuruko’s personality everywhere in the screen.” ( [Kinema Junpo] Cinematic Review)

“It is incredible unique that Izumi is discovering a woman’s footage happily and expectedly alone with only video camera.” (Yoshio Shirai-- Film Critic)

“Well-made plot! Izumi used the method of documentary and drama to approach Tsuruko’s life. We are impressed with the quality of the work. ” (Sachi Hamano-- Film director)

“This is a new documentary film I have never seen. I am very interested in Tsuruko Haraguchi and Izumi director. ” (Sumiko Haneda-- Film director)

“We are fortunate in having such a fantastic woman in Japan. And I felt a strong family bond between parent and child.”(Tamao Ariyoshi-- Author)

“This film is the valuable material to investigate into women’s history and Psychological history in the 1900s.” (Masako Kato--Professor of Aich Shukutoku University)

Materials, Newspaper and Magazine articles is here.

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　Synopsis

Tsuruko Haraguchi was a pioneer among female psychologists. In the early 1900’s, when the world was undergoing dramatic changes due to the industrial revolution, Tsuruko arrived in New York City to study at Columbia University. She not only traveled alone in 1907, but was the first Japanese female to earn a doctorate in psychology, and she did it in just five years.

During her stay at Columbia, she studied under great psychologists, Edward L. Thorndike, James M. Cattell, Robert S. Woodworth and met and married Takejiro Haraguchi, who later became a professor at Waseda Univ. in Tokyo. After a honeymoon in England, they returned to Japan in 1912. Upon her return, Tsuruko worked diligently in her studies, constantly lecturing in her academic circles, writing in response to the media, and ignoring the slight fever she had contracted in New York. Tsuruko and Takejiro had two children but in 1915, at the age of 29, she died from tuberculosis.

What did she see and feel in the new world?  Tsuruko recorded her days at Columbia University in a book entitled “Happy Memories”(First published 1915).  This  book, written almost 100 years ago, is full of the fresh sensibilities of a young and ambitious woman in her mid-twenties.  She wrote with wit and humor, and her honest innocence and fearless personality transcended time, even attracting the readers of today. Tsuruko’s fearless willpower and self-sufficiency made readers aware of the strength of the women in the Meiji era, deeply encouraging the modern day challengers who struggled for self-fulfillment.

Tsuruko’s work in mental fatigue, international studies, female independence, and the new form of married couples greatly influenced the dawn of the women’s rights movement in Japan. Unfortunately her studies have all but been forgotten. These contributions are far too important to be lost in the historical passage of time. 

Construction of the film
-The time frame is from her birth to her departure for New York:  Tsuruko was born in Tomioka-city, Gunma Prefecture, to
a family of general merchant dealers.  She graduated from
Ichinomiya Primary School, Takasaki High School, and Japan
Women’s University.

-The story will follow “Happy Memories, ”the book of her days at
Columbia University.

-The focus will also be on the last three years of her life in Japan to
include: her marriage which was called “new married couple,”
her study of psychology, childbirth, illness, and her death.

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　About Etsuko Izumi

Statement

　I set out to make this film with the intention of bringing to the world her example of female independence, and her achievements in psychology. In the year of her death, she published a book, “Happy Memories”, reminiscences of her time as a foreign student. With her sharp eye and a burning sense of self-actualization, she gives a detailed account of the life of a foreign student in the U.S. of 100 years ago. With her memoir as a basis, I followed diligently in her footsteps with a video camera, and made her life in New York come alive. I was also able to photograph letters of hers that have never been released. I am indebted to many for their assistance, among them Tsuruko’s daughter Sayuri Kuranishi  and son-in-law 　　 Masatake, universities in Japan and the United States, her home town of Tomioka, Gunma Prefecture, and the city of Troy, New York. I would be very happy were everyone to become aware of the life of Tsuruko Haraguchi.　(Etsuko Izumi)

Biography:
　

Etsuko Izumi

Born in Tokyo. Etsuko Izumi received a BA in literature 　from Waseda University in Tokyo and worked as an assistant director for a documentary company before going independent. To date she has written and/or directed more than 100 government and corporate films/videos, as well as many on such issues as women's independence and medicine.

She established her company, Tess Planning, in 1994, after working as a freelancer.  She received a scholarship from a corporate foundation, in summer 1998, at the age of 50, to study film making at New York University. 

Izumi publishes Cinema Journal, specializing in reviews of Asian movies since 1987. 

She also co-authored a book, Movies Are Twice as Interesting When Seen from
Women’s Viewpoint, in 1993.

Major Filmographies and Awards:

Why We Japanese Women Live in New York (2006) -- Stories of four Japanese women who live in New York

People Who Advanced Japan’s Civil Engineering (2003) --Stories of Japanese and foreigners who contributed to Japan’s civil engineering development; received
Japanese Civil Engineering Congress’ highest award

Earthquake Preparedness in Tokyo (1997) -- Lessons learned from the 1995
Hanshin Earthquake; won the highest award of the International Disaster
Prevention Film Festival in Spain

Middle-Aged Groupies (1989) -- Stories of middle-aged women who chase a popular male singer; selected for the best script in Japan’s most prestigious movie script content

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　Cooperation
Tomioka-City, Gunma Prefecture

Tomioka Silk Mill

Ichinomiya Elementary School, Tomioka-City

Takasaki Girls High School, Gunma Prefecture

Ozakisan Komyoin

Japan Women’s University

Columbia University

Schermerhorn Hall

The C.V. Starr East Asia Library

Teachers College of Columbia University
　 　Whittier Hall
　　 Gottesman Library
　 　Union Theological Seminary of Columbia University

The City of Troy NY
Troy Public Library
Rensselaer County Historical Society
Japanese American Association of New York

Ito-City Historiographical Office

Tsudajuku University
Waseda University

Japanese National Diet Library

Chiyoda-ku Public Library, Tokyo
Kamakura Museum of Literature

Yokohama Archives of History

The Brooklyn Daily Eagle

New York Public Library

YWCA of New York City

Contact:

Tess Planning  http://www.sepia.dti.ne.jp/tess/tess/

Address: 4-9-2 Kamishakujii, Nerima-ku, Tokyo 177-0044, Japan

Tel and Fax: 81-3-5991-3486

E-mail: cinemajournal@mb.point.ne.

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 　（C）2007 Tess Planning All Rights Reserved