Nobu Jo

Nobu Jo (城ノブ, October 18, 1872 – December 20, 1959) was a Japanese Christian philanthropist, based in Kobe. She was head of the Kobe Woman's Welfare Association, and gained international attention in the 1920s for her suicide prevention campaign of signage and personal intervention.

Early life Nobu Jo was born in Ehime prefecture on October 18, 1872. She was the daughter of a doctor. She was educated at a Christian mission school in Matsuyama. alt=A black-and-white image of a tall signboard with Japanese writing (larger at the top), next to train tracks. There is a train visible in the distance. One of Nobu Jo's rail suicide prevention signboards, placed alongside railroad tracks near Kobe; from a 1921 publication.

Career Jo was founder and head of the Kobe Woman's Welfare Association (Kobe Fujin Dojokai). She was known for her suicide prevention campaign. Beginning in 1916 near Suma,

Jo and her organization also started a kindergarten, and assisted domestic violence survivors. She sheltered hundreds of women from abuse in a Kobe residence she established for the purpose, and once telling an angry man with a knife, "You may have your wife back just as soon as you become a decent man and deserve her." "Her efforts are untiring, her sympathies wide, her methods effectual, as she carries on her work of saving women from suicide", declared an Australian newspaper in 1936. Jo grew deaf with age, was injured in a fire during the war, and was described as "frail" and "lame" by visitors in her later years.

Personal life Nobu Jo was married in 1903. She died in 1959, aged 87 years.