At that time, there were many graduates of other girls’ higher schools from various places entering the normal course here as third year students. Then I hit upon the idea of establishing a higher normal course with a diploma from a girls’ higher school as a prerequisite. We established a rule that a minimum of two semesters would be required for graduation within a year. In the first semester, the students could qualify as a full-time teacher of a regular course at an ordinary elementary school, and, in the second half, they could earn additional qualification as a full-time teacher of the specialized sewing course.

In 1927(Shōwa 2), when we first set the specialized section’s minimum study period at three years, we had only four or five students. With this as a basis, we began to plan an upgrade to a women’s technical college.

So, at first, as a matter of urgency, we decided on the location of the school and began to look for a building plot. We had aspirations to establish our school in a city with a large population, convenience of transport, a high standard of culture, and the potential for future development. In the Nagoya of those days, there were already so many different schools that we couldn’t find a way in and had difficulty buying real estate there. So, we turned our eye to Toyohashi, then the second most populous city in Aichi Prefecture.

In Toyohashi — at the time the second largest producer of silk in Japan — smokestacks of the silk mills lined the sky, and, due to the presence of the 15th Division of the Imperial Japanese Army based there, the cityscape was one of silk and soldiers. There were just a few busy streets near the station and a broad field at the center used as a marching ground. Abandoned, uncultivated fields and lightly wooded hills spread in every direction. In Toyohashi, with its convenient transportation system and the fact that the city is the midpoint between Tokyo and Osaka, we expected good things for the future.