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Beate Sirota Gordon

I've been reading theis book my sister borrowed from the library of Japan Foundation (located at Summitmas building on Jl. Sudirman), it's entitled 'The Only Woman in The Room - A Memoriam of Beate Sirota Gordon'. Now who is (was) Beate? She is the daughter of a Russian parents, her father, Leo Sirota, was a well known pianist, and the mother was a lively housewife. Until Beate was 5, they lived in German.

The family having a head of the family as a popular pianist, they have realtives who were in the famous artist circle of that time. Beate's mother generously throwing parties, that the house become one of the place to held art discussions.

At the beginning of 1900's World War I broke in Europe, having Jewish and threats from Nazis, the Sirotas moved to Japan, because one of the audiences from Leo's tour season, a Japanese offered him to teach piano lessons at Imperial Academy.

Years goes by, Leo decided to put Beate to a women college in Amerika. When she was in the second year, the second World War broke, when Japan bombed Pearl Harbour. The money her father left at the bank would only last for six months, so she tried to get a part time job at CBS listening post, transcribing short wave radio programs from japanese radios, then as full time propaganda program manager at the CBS, then a research expert for Time magazine.

On December 1945, after America bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the World War II ended, she tried to go back home to Japan, by applying to Military Department with position as a research expert, since civilians are not yet allowed to go to Japan. That was am easy entry for her, since she lived in Japan before and knows the language. Coming home to Japan became happy and sad moments, because she learned that her parents eventhough savely living in Karuizawa, a district specialized for international civilians, they suffered from malnutrition and illness, like any other.

Working for Ocupation, in February 1946, Beate was chosen to be one of the team members to wrote the draft for Japanese new Constitution, since she was a woman, she was assigned to write articles about women equal rights to men, and she also asked to work on the articles about education rights for children. There she was, an only-twenty-two years old girl, with seniors from the US military, like General Whitney, General Kades, and many others, working a draft for a nation new constitution, that may influence the next social position and civil rights of women and children.

Wow, eh?

posted by wida @ 8:46 AM