"Enjoy tackling difficult tasks" (2)

Continued: how Nakamura Teru paved the way to winter climbing and economic independence for women.

In the hardscrabble years after the war’s end, Nakamura translated school textbooks for the occupying forces, and also worked as an interpreter for a US Army court. In 1949, she became a legal and political advisor for the Kantо̄ Civil Affairs Division, but soon resigned. As Japan’s economy revived, the business world was again beckoning.

Nakamura Teru (l.) leads a women's expedition to New Zealand in 1961.
Image from the interview by Ogura Nobuko (in the driver's seat).

 
In the early 1950s, she joined LaBelle, Japan’s first lingerie manufacturer. Soon afterwards, her eye was caught by a magazine article about a fashion institute that was part of the City University of New York. Writing directly to the course directors, she was accepted for a six-month management course but “became so engrossed” that she ended up studying sales promotion and design as well, spending two years abroad. “I think my husband's understanding made that possible,” she later said 

After returning to Japan, she became a fashion advisor and designer for three companies, and also started her own company, Duchess, to sell lingerie of her own design. 

On the summit of Mt Sealy in 1961.
Image from the interview by Ogura Nobuko.

And she kept climbing. Sometimes, she was the first woman to climb certain Japanese peaks. In 1961 (aged 57), she led an all-women's expedition to New Zealand, comprising mainly “old girls” of the Waseda University Mountaineering Club. Over about five months, the five women climbed Mounts Sealy and Walter in the South Island, as well as Egmont and Ruapehu in the North Island. They were warmly welcomed, and played a role in promoting goodwill between the Japanese and Kiwi mountaineering communities.

On the summit of Mt Damfool in 1961.
Image from the interview by Ogura Nobuko.

In 1970, Nakamura’s husband Nobuhiko passed away from cancer. Deeply affected by her loss, she was also involved in a traffic accident. “However, after recovering, I began to live life positively again,” she later recalled. In 1979 (at 75 years old), she went trekking in Nepal for three months, and after returning to Japan, published a book explaining how anybody could follow her example. In 1988, now aged 84, she was an advisor to an expedition to the Indian Himalaya but, starting to feel her limitations, decided it was time to give up mountaineering. 

Visiting Ed Hillary in New Zealand, 1961.

The following year, in 1989, she accepted an offer to take care of Japanese exchange students in Adelaide, sold her house in Hayama and moved to Australia alone. After living there for 10 years, she returned to Japan in 1999 and died in 2009 at the age of 104.

One March, a few years before Nakamura passed away, two of her climbing companions from the New Zealand trip came to visit her at her care home in Yokosuka. One of them, Ogura Nobuko, later wrote up Nakamura’s reminiscences in an online interview on which this post has heavily relied. This is how Ogura-san concludes: 

In late March, when we heard that the cherry blossoms were blooming earlier than usual, I met with Tо̄ya Keiko, a member of our group, at Zushi Station … We talked with Nakamura-san in the lounge on the third floor. For a 101-year-old, her eyesight, hearing, and mental acuity were all excellent, and I could sense the dignified spirit of someone who had lived life so positively. Even now, she enjoys flower arranging and calligraphy, and she reads English and Japanese newspapers every day. She is interested in social issues and cares about young people these days. In the early Showa era, amidst societal discrimination against women, she learned English, became a successful professional woman, and climbed mountains despite various hardships, paving the way as a pioneer in many fields. She was a remarkably calm and quiet person, yet possessed an incredible vitality that seemed to be hidden within her. During the visit, [those of us] who had been with her on the New Zealand expedition, shared our memories. We mentioned how she had been a strict but supportive mentor, pushing us to become truly international figures … It was a day that truly reinforced her constant messages: "Enjoy tackling difficult tasks, because anyone can do easy ones," and "If you truly want to do something, you can usually accomplish it." 

References

Kawasaki Yoshimitsu, Yama to Keikoku illustrated history of Japanese mountaineering (目で見る日本登山史), Yama to Keikoku-sha, 2005. 

Miyashita Keizо̄, Nihon Arupusu: Mitate no Bunkashi, Misuzu Shobо̄, 1997.

Ogura Nobuko,* “元気に100歳 本気でやれば、何でもできる 101歳の人生記録”, downloaded April 2016. 

*Ogura Nobuko (b. 1932) was a member of the New Zealand expedition led by Nakamura Teru in 1961. In her student days, she was a member of the Waseda University Mountaineering Club – the first woman ever to join the much-storied association. In 1975, inspired perhaps by Nakamura’s example, she founded a mountaineering club, the Shiran-kai (“purple orchid society”), primarily for women in their 60s and 70s. The club’s premise is that hiking keeps you young. To that end – and to provide mental stimulation – Shirankai members take it in turns to organize and lead hikes. “Once you have this experience, you naturally develop empathy and consideration for others, as well as independence and judgment skills,” Ogura-san says. 

More about the Shiran-kai (Japanese language)