Beate Sirota Gordon passed away on Dec. 30. She was 89.
In 1946, when Article 24 of the Japanese Constitution was being written — and finding herself to be "the only woman in the room," as she put it with inveterate modesty in her memoir titled in those words — she played a key role in formulating that article which established full rights for women in all matters dealing with marriage and family.
I had the good fortune to correspond with her in 2008 and '09; and in our exchanges, she revealed some personal facts about her upbringing in Japan that shed light on her insight into this country's culture and mores.