Discover how women in Japan’s prominent Matsukata family were leading lights in global citizenship. Through much of the twentieth century, they bridged—and transcended—divisions and differences between their country and the United States. Guests Dr. Carol Gluck, Mimi Oka, and Sarah Schelde explore how, through their unique background, these women enlightened education, religion, diplomacy, and the arts.
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Podcast guests
Mimi Oka graduated from Harvard University with a bachelor’s degree in government. Her family was introduced to Christian Science in Japan, through a friendship with Miyo Matsukata that has spanned three generations. Her career has included investment banking, writing, art, and cooking. Today she is a Christian Science practitioner and teacher.
Dr. Carol Gluck is the George Sansom Professor of History at Columbia University, specializing in the history of modern Japan, international history, and public memory. Her books include Japan’s Modern Myths: Ideology in the Late Meiji Period; Words in Motion: Toward a Global Lexicon; and the forthcoming Past Obsessions: World War II in History and Memory. Former President of the Association for Asian Studies, she now chairs Columbia’s Committee on Global Thought, as a founding member.
Sarah Schelde is an archivist at The Mary Baker Eddy Library, where she processes and preserves historic materials within the Library’s Special Collections—including the Mary Baker Eddy Collection. She has a bachelor’s degree in history from the University of Pennsylvania and master’s degrees in library science and history from Simmons College. Her historical focus includes the colonial and early national period of American History, particularly the history of women and religion in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.