Motoko Hani

is considered to be Japan's first female journalist.

Born into a former samurai family, Hani was born Matsuoka Motoko In 1901, she married a co-worker, Hani Yoshikazu. Together, they founded a new magazine called Fujin no Tomo (Women's friend) in 1908. An association of readers of that magazine was established in 1930 which still existed as of 1999. In 1921, the couple founded a private school for girls, Jiyu Gakuen. Hani considered the other women of her household, her grandmother and mother, to be naïve, because they were illiterate. Hani was close to her father (who was a lawyer), but her father became estranged after her parents divorced. Her father's estrangement bothered her very deeply. which stressed women as caretakers and obedient wives. Women's education focused on “womanliness” and preparation for marriage.

Personal life First marriage Hani married in 1892, but the marriage was short lived. According to her autobiography, she married in order to save the man she loved from a lifestyle she deemed vulgar; she married him to change him, but it didn't work. She kept her divorce a secret from her family; after the failure of her parents' marriage, her own divorce was the second most painful emotional crisis of her life: "I have always feared that this painful episode of my life, of which I am ashamed even today, might jeopardize the effectiveness of my public service. Not for a moment, however, do I regret my decision to liberate myself from the enslaving hold of emotion, for my life had been rendered meaningless by the selfish and profane love of another".

She wrote an autobiography in 1928 titled Speaking of Myself.