“The Manchurian Daily News” described the situation as follows: Because of the harsh educational conditions, Domoto was disappointed and discouraged by the difficulties and once returned home. However, Domoto received a letter from a group of female students, saying, “You have returned to Japan, but if you are unable to come, we will all go with you to Japan to welcome you. If you still cannot come, we will all go home and not come to school.” The letter was signed by 50 female students. Therefore, Domoto went back to school （December 13, 1939）. As for Domoto’s background, her father passed away early, and her mother worked to raise the children. Her family was poor and could not send her to university. Therefore, she went to a teacher training school where there were no expenses. The reason she came to Manchukuo and became a teacher was to support her elderly mother. At the time, it was common for women from wealthy families to go to girls’ schools and marry early. On the other hand, young women with excellent grades but poor families went to normal schools. For these women, becoming a teacher was not only a way to earn a living, but also a means of self-realization.94早稲田教育評論 第 36 巻第１号female students warmly interacted with each other.In addition, Domoto had a moderate personality and was passionate about the students. As a prefect, she ate, exercised, worked, and slept with the students, and had a great deal of contact with and influence over them （Sobud, 2005）. She would get up once or twice in the middle of the night to take care of the students, such as covering them with futons. Although Domoto herself was poor, she nursed sick students with medicine and water. When students from poor families did not have money to go home for vacations, she paid for their transportation out of her meager monthly salary.Domoto scrimped her living expenses and sent money to her mother every month. Domoto’s mother was illiterate, but she taught herself to write letters so that she could communicate with her daughter. Domoto wrote letters to her mother every day （Sobud, 2005）. Whenever she got a letter from her mother, she would become so happy that she would jump with joy. The students would gather around her and ask, “How is your mother? What is written in the letter? What is written on it?” Gradually, the students began to care about Domoto’s mother. Although Domoto and the female students were in a hierarchical relationship as teacher and student, there existed a bond between them as equals, as daughters thinking of their mothers who lived far away.It was because of Domoto’s passion for teaching that the students mastered daily Japanese terminology, learned to write short sentences, and even performed simple plays in Japanese. Domoto was strict about correct pronunciation in class. As a result, students who were taught by Domoto were able to speak Japanese very well. At the school, most of the teachers were Japanese. The majority of the classes, including Mongolian literature classes, were taught by Japanese teachers. Furthermore, all the students were boarding students, and shared living space with Domoto. Thus, they lived in an environment where they used Japanese all the time, which greatly improved their Japanese language skills.At Domoto’s suggestion, the students wore uniforms. The upper garment of the uniform was a navy blue shirt with a skirt as the lower garment. The students stitched the uniform by hand under
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