The Crown Prince and His Quaker Tutor

ON OCTOBER 1, 1946, I set sail for Japan, to tutor the Crown Prince....

In the spring of 1946...In the course of a reception at the Imperial Palace, the Emperor suddenly turned to Dr. George D. Stoddard [head of the American Education Mission] and asked him if he could get an American tutor for his son, the Crown Prince....

The next day two or three Japanese gentlemen called on Dr. Stoddard at the Imperial Hotel to discuss the terms and arrangements for the American tutor. It was to be a woman, "a Christian but not a fanatic," and not an "old Japan hand," but one who came fresh to the country....Her age...should be about fifty, but Dr. Stoddard persuaded them that she might well be younger. She was to have a house, car, servants, secretary, and salary of $2,000....

I was at that time working for the American Friends Service Committee, writing reports, articles, and appeals. I am a Quaker, and every Quaker, I think, wants to work at some time for the Service committee... One morning late in May Samuel Marble...came in to talk to me...and said without preamble, "Would you consider having your name suggested as tutor to the Crown Prince of Japan?"

The idea was so extraordinary, so far from any [of my] plans, and I felt myself so inadequate and inappropriate, a quiet Philadelphia Quaker at the most elaborate and mysterious court in the world, that my instant reaction was to say no. Positively No....

In the end my answer was that if Friends thought I could be useful I could not refuse to have my name suggested but that I would not lift a finger to get the job.

THAT DAY I WENT to the palace for the first time....It was a twenty-minute drive from our house to the Palace and in the clear light of day I could see the appalling destruction that follows war. As soon as we left the little oasis of trees and gardens in which our house stood, we were in the midst of a flat waste in which squash vines clambered over the foundations of houses that were gone, or piles of twisted iron and broken stone waited to be carted away. Here and there a burned safe stood alone on its concrete base or a stone lantern tilted over what had been a garden. In the midst of the waste people were living, some in the stone storehouses where they used to keep their treasures, some in new little wooden shacks, some in huts made of rusted iron and tin. I was puzzled to see a woman emerging from a hole in the ground, and realized with a pang that there was a low roof over it and that she was living there. For many months I was not able to look at those wasted gardens and makeshift homes without seeing vividly in my mind the planes at night, the fire, the terror, the running people, the loss, and the sorrow....

I saw the Crown Prince for the first time together with his father and mother. The occasion was without precedent.

I said that I had come to Japan with friendship in my heart and in hopes of making some small contribution to the cause of peace among nations; I spoke of the honor and privilege of teaching their son and my determination to do my best for him.

Windows for the Crown Prince
by Elizabeth Gray Vining
Charles E. Tuttle Company
1952, 1989

Elizabeth Vining was awarded by the Japanese Government the Third Order of the Sacred Crown for her work.  Upon her return to the US, the Crown Prince was tutored by Esther Rhoads, principal of the Friends Girls School in Tokyo.

Obituaries of Elizabeth Vining

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