Kikue Ide 1922

Ms. Kikue Ide was a Durant Scholar studying at Wellesley College, part of the Class of 1922. Before coming to Wellesley, she graduated from Toyo Eiwa Girl's School in Tokyo in 1915. In her time at Wellesley, Ms. Ide also acted as the chairperson to put on two Japanese plays with other Japanese students. Funds raised from these plays were donated to Wellesley College. In 1922, she married Noboru Asami (a student at Columbia University), with the ceremony being held in Houghton Chapel on Wellesley College's campus. Ide went on to attend graduate school at Columbia University (Phi Beta Kappa), receiving an MA in History in 1923. 

Studies at Wellesley: History and English Literature 

Other Institutions: Toyo Eiwa Girl's School (graduated in 1915), Columbia University (graduated in 1923)

After Wellesley...

• Married Mr. Noboru Asami at Wellesley College's Houghton Chapel, which was published in the New York Times (see photos below). Bridesmaids at the wedding included fellow Japanese Wellesley students Matsuyo Takizawa '23, Yuki Domoto '24, and Yoshi Kasuya '23

  • The couple had one daughter and one son

• Became a successful teacher

  • Music, Education, and Domestic Science at Lamberth Christian Training School in Osaka, Japan

  • Civics, English, and Economics at Kobe College in Japan

  • English language and literature at Baika Women's College in Japan

• From 1927-1929, she worked at the Japan-America Society of Kansai in Osaka

• Japan's official delegate for the First Pan-Pacific Women's Conference held in Honolulu, Hawaii

  • Advocated for women's rights in Japan while discussing the political, legal, and social status of women

  • Chairman of the Government Section

  • Had her speech concerning the political, social, and legal status of women published in the New York Times 

Kikue Ide passed away on March 19th, 1944 in Hanoi while visitng her daughter.