The Tiger and Her Wings

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Japan's first school to teach law exclusively to women was established in 1929. The women gathered there had something about them that could not fit Japan of that era. Inotsume Torako was one of these women. At the schoolhouse that people unkindly called the witches' club, they studied law to pave their own way. In 1938, the country's first female lawyers emerged from among the school's graduates. As one of them, Torako attracted attention and was admired across Japan. Despite triumphantly coming out into the world as lawyers, the country soon plunged into war. The law should have allowed them to go out into the world, but the places where the law could be used were rapidly disappearing. Seven years later, Torako had lost everything after the devastation of the war. The only thing she could depend on to survive was the law that she had once learned. Making up her mind to become a judge, she works hard to set up a family court for children who had lost their parents in the war, as well as for women who found themselves in a difficult position. She and her colleagues passionately attempt to help people with troubles that neither politics nor economics can solve.