Takahashi, Hisako

▪ 1996

      In February 1994 Morihiro Hosokawa exercised his right as prime minister to select Hisako Takahashi to fill a vacancy on Japan's Supreme Court. Takahashi, who was introduced to the media as "a present to the people," became the first woman ever appointed to that prestigious group.

      The amiable bureaucrat and career woman was born in Yokohama on Sept. 21, 1927. After graduating from Ochanomizu University, she did postgraduate work in economics at Tokyo University. In 1953 she entered the Women's Bureau of the Ministry of Labour, where she was immediately named chief of the employment statistics section. She was then reassigned to head the women and youth section, where she was appalled to find that women employees were still required to perform such menial tasks as cleaning desks and serving tea. This and other instances of gender discrimination prompted Takahashi to assume personal responsibility for improving the status of Japanese women. Years later she won a significant victory when the government passed a bill affirming equal rights for women.

      Two years after representing Japan at the 1980 meeting of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Takahashi resigned from government service and became director of the Asian Women's Interchange Research Forum, a government affiliate established to further relations and interchange among women of Asia. This was one of her fondest dreams, bringing women of Asia closer together. The following year she was named president of a related group known as the 21st Century Occupational Foundation. Takahashi, an acknowledged expert in the field of economics, frequently voiced concern about the absence of women in Japan's judiciary system, especially the lack of representation on the Supreme Court. She pointedly noted that in the U.S. two of the nine Supreme Court justices were women.

      That difference was partially obliterated and the cause of women's rights significantly advanced when Takahashi joined 14 male colleagues as a member of the nation's highest court. Although she expressed surprise on learning that the court handled at least 4,000 cases a year, she declared herself committed to reviewing every case with great care.

      The petite new justice was a dedicated calligrapher and had a pleasant disposition and friendly smile behind her steel-rimmed glasses. To keep physically fit, she took up swimming, played golf, and even skipped rope until her dog (and possibly her university professor husband, Shozo) loudly complained. On weekends the couple played tennis for three hours and at their mountain hideaway in Yatsutatake took frequent hikes far from the hectic life they were compelled to live in rambunctious Tokyo. (KAY K. TATEISHI)

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