Rei Kimura

A Note from Ichiyo Rei Kimura

Behind every face is a life and a story... The Japanese 5,000 yen note circulates round the world and changes hands every minute but has anyone really stopped to look at the face on this note? Take a closer look and you will see the face of a young Meiji era Japanese woman looking serenely out at a 21st century world she has never known nor ever dreamt she would be a part of someday. What is the story behind this face that moved Japan so much as to put it on a Japanese legal tender, an honor accorded to no other Japanese woman? 'A Note from Ichiyo' is the story of the turbulent life, struggles and achievements of Ichiyo Higuchi, a young Japanese female writer of extraordinary talent and the tongue in cheek ability to effortlessly cut through all the rigid constraints of being a woman in a man's world and ended up having the world, including some of the most prominent male writers, at her feet, grudgingly so but still at her feet! This is the story of Ichiyo Higuchi whose face is now immortalized in the 5,000 yen Japanese legal tender, it is truly a testimony of one woman's determination, courage and faith to defy all odds, even from beyond the grave.