A woman with demons

"This biography of Kamiya Mieko offers an intimate portrait of a prominent female figure in twentieth-century Japan. Yuzo Ota corrects the myths about Mieko, portraying a far more complex and intriguing figure than her popular image as a philanthropic doctor who worked with leprosy patients despite tuberculosis, cancer, and opposition from her family. Through an exploration of her writing, Ota focuses on the earlier part of Mieko's life and the ways in which her life challenges the traditional western representation of Japanese women in the earlier part of the twentieth century."--BOOK JACKET.