Tamura Toshiko is one of the important Japanese feminist writers in the Taisho and early Showa eras. In this period there were several female writers who visited foreign countries, such as Hayashi Fumiko and Yosano Akiko, and they started to incorporate foreign feminist ideas in their works. Then, their works were highly evaluated as “new” feminist writings in this period.

Tamura Toshiko not only visited, but migrated to foreign countries. She first left for Vancouver, Canada, where she worked as a journalist. After her stay in Canada for 18 years, she went to California and then, went back to Japan.

It was after she was back in Japan that Tamura wrote her migrant experiences in her literary works, such as Small Steps (「小さき歩み」, 1936) and California Stories (「カリホルニア物語」, 1938). Even though these Tamura’s migrant works have not been fully evaluated yet, if we use the recent literary theories, including migrant writings, translation studies and feminism, we will be able to reevaluate them.

Thus, in this analysis, I would like to explore the salient characteristics of Tamura’s migrant works in which she described her experiences in North America. By so doing, I would like to claim that Tamura Toshiko is not only an important Japanese feminist writer, but also a pioneer of Japanese migrant women’s literature in the early 20th century.