Asian Descent > Japan Archives

Senbon Matsubara warriors

DNA tests on 105 sets of human remains from the Battle of Senbon Matsubara in 1580 showed that 35—exactly one-third—of these Japanese warriors were female.

Fumiko Yoshitada

Co-inventor of the rice cooker

Ono no Komachi

Ono no Komachi was a poetess of great renown during Japan’s Heian Period (794-1185 CE)

Queen Himiko was a 3rd-century CE ruler of the territory in ancient Japan known as Hsieh-ma-t’ai or Yamatai, later to be known as Yamato. Considered by the Chinese as the ruler of all of Japan or Wa, given her state’s power, she exchanged diplomatic embassies with the ruling Wei dynasty.

Dr Teruko Ishizaka

Working with her husband, she co-discovered allergen-specific antibody proteins called immunoglobulin E (or IgE), publishing their findings in 1966

Tatsu’uma Kiyo

Tatsu’uma Kiyo built her family’s sake business into an empire in the 1800s

Bernice Akamine

Hawaiian sculptor, glassblower, and installation artist

Gwendolyn Mink

Gwendolyn Mink is an historical political scientist who has written about racism & nativism in US labor’s political formations at the turn of the 20th century; women & gender in 20th century US social policy history; and gender, race, and low income motherhood in the contemporary politics of poverty policy.