Women's Association of Airakuen, which launched the beauty salonYou can see the record of the day on YouTube.

Lecturer Yoko Suzuki (Yoko Suzuki, Curator of Okinawa Airakuen Exchange Center)

Since its opening in 1938, the women of Airakuen have refrained from publicly expressing their intentions. Around 1950, Airakuen's literary works appeared in a new Okinawan literary stage, and women in the garden stood side by side with men at singing and haiku parties. Under such circumstances, the women formed a women's association and set up a beauty salon. We will trace how women acquired and managed the beauty salon in the post-war Airakuen autonomy under the isolation policy.

Outline of the event

Saturday, February 19, 2022 from 14:00 to 15:30 (scheduled) Zoom distribution

Advance application system: Capacity 100 people (first-come, first-served basis)

Participation application reception period: From the end of the talk on Saturday, December 18, 2021 until 12:00 on Saturday, February 19, 2022 (applications will close once capacity is reached)

Reception start time on the day: 1:45 p.m.

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Report on the women's association of Airakuen, which launched the beauty salon

Lecturer: Yoko Suzuki (Curator, Okinawa Airakuen Exchange Center, Yoko Suzuki)

The first online museum talk in 2022 was a report on the activities and significance of the women's association formed in 1950 at Okinawa Airakuen.
One of the achievements of the women's association is the establishment of a beauty salon in the sanatorium. This fulfills the desire of women to dress beautifully, but at the same time, for men in the garden and autonomous organizations, they have "goed out" or "escaped" to perm outside the sanatorium. The purpose was also to "lead" them.
In this lecture, while introducing abundant materials, support for Airakuen by the military government public health and welfare department manager score brand, negotiations with the autonomous organization "Kyoaikai", Mito Arakaki who was a writer and the first beautician in Okinawa He also talked about relationships with other organizations inside and outside the sanatorium, such as connections with children, and introduced the history of women who lived in the sanatorium.
We received many questions and impressions from the participants. We will prepare archived videos from The National Hansen's Disease Museum YouTube channel later.
We will continue to provide talks on the Issues related to leprosy from various perspectives, making use of the opinions received in the questionnaire.

From the questionnaire

• Listening to today's story, I was able to realistically think of everyone who wanted to perm, dress up, and lived there with the same feeling as I did, even though I was in a harsh environment. Thank you for your valuable story.
• I learned a lot by talking about themes that are rarely taken up using abundant materials. The content of the presentation even made me think that there is room for a major rethinking of conventional perspectives, such as women's activities in the Issues related to leprosy, self-government, and literary activities. I look forward to such projects in the future.
• I have been interested in Airakuen since I visited it once and was very impressed with it, so I am glad that you have the opportunity to learn about and touch Airakuen from Tokyo. The content is also interesting, and it seems that the enthusiasm for the autonomy of the women's association at that time, the United States, Japan, society, gender, etc. was. What impressed me most was the fact that the beauty salon was a women's association (especially the girls' association?), Who had to take on the role of "caregiver" even within the facility because they were probably relatively healthy. It means that he was moving for freedom, moving the autonomy in the Inside the sanatorium and going out of the park.
• At the same time as I was reminded that the place called Airakuen is an "isolated" world in the society of Okinawa Island, the famous writers of Okinawa such as Tatsuhiro Oshiro and Mitoko Arakaki, and Naha are famous. Today's report, which tells us the fact that the connection with the beauty salon formed a part of life in Airakuen, seems to ask how important it is to dig up the past and how to live as an individual. ..

… We have received many other answers. Thank you very much.

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≪Contact us≫
The National Hansen's Disease Museum Museum Talk Manager mt@nhdm.jp