5 pioneering Japanese women in STEM fields

While Japan has made some progress in terms of gender equality, there is still much that can be done. Japanese workplaces still discriminate based on gender and expect women to take lesser roles or different career paths than men.

In no place is this divide more noticeable than in STEM. While opportunities for women in general lag behind other parts of the world, the situation is especially bad for STEM. According to the Japanese Cabinet Office’s White Paper on Gender Equality, only 10.2% of engineering researchers are women. This number is somewhat better for other STEM fields; however, in total only 15.3% of Japanese researchers are women.

Yet, there are Japanese women in modern history that have achieved firsts and paved the way for others after them. We share some of the notable women who have broken STEM barriers both in education and in their careers.

Sada Orihara

Sada Orihara was the Tokyo Institute of Technology’s first-ever female student. She studied in the college’s Department of Dye Chemistry when women on college campuses were virtually unheard of. When she entered the school in 1931, she was the only woman in her entire class year.

Before that, she studied science at Ochanomizu University, known as Tokyo Women’s Higher Normal School. Orihara eventually went back to teach there as an assistant professor. She was making strides in both her career and family life when the United States declared war on Japan during World War II.

Her hard work eventually led to her promotion to professor. However, she eventually decided to retire and devote herself to her family. Sada Orihara’s support of her husband’s career still led to notable achievements, such as establishing Osaka University’s Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences.

Michiko Togo

Sada Orihara helped pave the way for future students at Tokyo Tech. Michiko Togo’s family already had an extensive background in science when she joined the school. Her maternal grandfather, Kunihiko Iwadare, founded Nippon Electric Company and worked with Thomas Edison.

Togo wanted to become an engineer to help Japan rebuild after World War II. She managed to pass Tokyo Tech’s competitive exam in 1947. At the college, she worked alongside combat veterans in the engineering department. Yet, some of her biggest challenges came from adjusting to a school with few facilities or support for women. This included, embarrassingly enough, not having a women’s bathroom on campus. After graduation, she decided to go to the United States, studying at Pennsylvania’s Bryn Mawr College. It was there she met her future husband. She returned to Japan to support him in his missionary activities. However, later in life, she still made time to attend seminar series at Tokyo Tech, as well as gather historical documents related to the college.

Katsuko Saruhashi

Becoming the first woman in Japan with a Ph.D. in Chemistry was only the beginning of Katsuko Saruhashi’s highly accomplished career. She became interested in molecular behavior at a young age, and much of the work she did later in life involved measuring CO2 and nuclear fallout in ocean water.

After World War II, the United States continued testing nuclear weapons in Bikini Atoll. The crew of a Japanese fishing boat in the area became sick, and Saruhashi was part of the team investigating the contaminants in the seawater. Her research found that the entire Pacific Ocean would be contaminated by nuclear fallout if the USA’s tests continued. This led to both the United States and the Soviet Union stopping nuclear testing.

Saruhashi also made efforts to support women scientists, co-founding the Society of Japanese Women Scientists in 1958. The Saruhashi Prize, honoring female scientists, was also named after her. It was established in 1981.

Chiaki Mukai

Chiaki Mukai became the first Japanese woman in space at the young age of 32. Before becoming an astronaut, she earned doctorates in medicine and physiology and was working as a heart surgeon.

Originally, she had no plans to be an astronaut as she felt it would be impossible as Japan lacked a space program when she was younger. She was inspired by early astronauts such as Yuri Gagarin, which may have influenced her later life decision to go into space.

After some time working as a surgeon, she was chosen by the National Space Development Agency of Japan for a space mission, though she ultimately did not fly on it.

Mukai did join the Space Shuttle Columbia for a mission in 1994, taking part in several experiments on board. Her second mission was in 1998, where she conducted experiments related to medical and materials research in a microgravity environment.

Yukiko Ogawa

Born in Aichi, Yukiko Ogawa is a researcher at the National Institute for Materials Science in Tsukuba. Dr Ogawa discovered the world’s 1st magnesium alloys exhibiting shape memory and was awarded the L’Oreal-UNESCO For Women in Science International Rising Talents. #WomeninSTEM pic.twitter.com/k3gphEnP3v

— CelebratingWomeninJapan (@womenofjapan) December 14, 2018

A more recent and up and coming woman in STEM, Yukiko Ogawa studies materials science. The young researcher has already attracted attention, receiving awards for her work in this field, primarily focusing on magnesium alloys. In 2018, she won the L’Oreal-UNESCO for Women in Science International Rising Talents award. Ogawa conducts her research at Ibaraki Prefecture’s National Institute for Materials Science and won the award for her contributions to a new kind of shape memory material. This material has applications for various fields, including aerospace and automobiles.

A childhood fascination with creating objects, as well as inspiration during her undergrad years, led her to materials science, believing that materials “form the foundation of society” because they affect the performance of all products.

Japan still needs to make significant progress in terms of gender equality for all fields. The women featured in this article show that every step forward makes a difference. Whether it’s groundbreaking research, receiving prestigious awards or simply being the first to attend certain colleges, they help create a better future for all women who come after them.