Fusa Tomita

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Fusa Tomita
Member of the House of Representatives
In office
1946–1947
ConstituencyKyoto
Personal details
Born10 October 1893
Matsuoka, Japan
Died19 July 1954(1954-07-19) (aged 60)

Fusa Tomita (Japanese: 冨田ふさ, 10 October 1893 – 19 July 1954) was a Japanese physician and politician. She was one of the first group of women elected to the House of Representatives in 1946.[1]

Biography

Tomita was born in Matsuoka in 1893. She attended Tokyo Women's Medical College and became an obstetrician and gynecologist. She worked at Kyoto Imperial University Hospital [ja] and later became president of Tomita Hospital, as well as director of the Kyoto Philanthropic Society.[2] She also ran a geisha house.[3] During World War II she was involved in the Patriotic Women's Association.

After the war, Tomita joined the Liberal Party and was a candidate for the party in Kyoto in the 1946 general elections, the first in which women could vote. Running on the slogan "What's wrong with geishas?",[3] she was elected to the House of Representatives.[2] After the election she was charged with door-to-door canvassing during the election campaign and was fined 500 yen. She attempted to run as a Democratic Party candidate in the 1947 elections, but was rejected.

She died in 1954.

References

  1. ^ Otsuka Kiyoe (2008) Japanese Women's Legislative and Administrative Reforms in the Postwar Era Bulletin of the Faculty of Education, Kagoshima University
  2. ^ a b Analysis of the 1946 Japanese General Election United States Department of State, 1946, p109
  3. ^ a b Geisha House Owner Elected to Jap Diet Courier-Post, 12 April 1946