Clara Whitney was born in 1861 in New Jersey. On August 3, 1875, when she was fifteen, she arrived in Japan from America with her family. Her father, William Whitney (a descendant of inventor Eli Whitney) had come to Japan to start a business school; her mother, Anna, hoped to be a missionary. The family remained in Japan for five years, then Clara's father's health forced them to return to America. However, in 1882, they returned to Japan (Clara's father died en route and her mother died a few months afterward).
In 1886, six-months pregnant, Clara married Umetaro Kaji, the son of her father's benefactor, the Japanese stateman Katsu Kaishu. Together they had six children. However, when Umetaro's father died in 1899, they separated. In 1900 Clara returned to America with the children. Clara Whitney Kaji died in 1936.
Related story: Yukichi FukuzawaPosted by M Sinclair Stevens
August 03, 1975
Share Your Thoughts
Clara's Diary: An American Girl in Meiji Japan
Clara A. N. Whitney
Edited by M. William Steele and Tamiko Ichimata
Introduction by M William Steele
Kodansha International Ltd . Japan. 1978.
(Note: Tamiko Ichimata is the great-granddaughter of Katsu Kaishu.)