September 22, 2019 • 4 mins
On this day in 1939, Junko Tabei, a Japanese mountaineer and the first woman to summit Mount Everest, was born.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This Day in History Class. It's a production of I
Heart Radio. Hello, Welcome to this Day in History Class,
where we dust off a little piece of history every day.
Today is September. The day was September nine. Japanese mountaineer
(00:29):
Junko Tabei, known for being the first woman to summit
the highest mountain on each of the seven continents, was born.
Tabe was raised in Mihadombachi, a small town in northern Japan.
She grew up during World War Two and relative poverty,
and was considered a quote weak child, but she did
not let that label define her. She became interested in
(00:51):
mountaineering when she was ten years old. On a school
field trip, she climbed Mount Asahi and Mount Chaosu, two
peaks that are part of Mountain Nasu, a group of
volcanoes in Japan. She liked how climbing mountains was challenging
but not competitive, a person who could quit in the
middle of the mountain if they wanted to. In nineteen
(01:12):
sixty two, Tabe graduated from Showa Women's University in Tokyo
with a degree in English literature. She planned to teach,
but she soon made climbing a priority and took jobs
to support herself. She worked as a medical journal editor
and joined several mountain climbing clubs. She also married climber
Masanobo Tabei, whom she met in nineteen sixty five, but
(01:36):
the climbing clubs she was part of consistent mostly of
men and weren't a completely supportive environment. She formed the
Joshi Tohan Club for women and continued training. She climbed
go to Dock and practiced her climbing skills on Mount Fuji.
She went with a group up Annapurnah three in Nepal.
It was her first expedition to the Himalayas, and it
(01:58):
took place in nineteen seventy and she worked in places
Besides her job as a science journal editor, she offered
piano lessons and English tutoring. Still, she set her sights
on summoning Mount Everest. Tabei and Aco Miyazaki planned to
lead a trip of Mount Everest in nineteen seventy five,
but potential financiers were not convinced that ten women could
(02:21):
make the climb to the summit. The group did eventually
make enough money to fund their expedition thanks to a
TV network and Tokyo newspaper but it was a small
amount considering previous costs for trips of Mount Everest. Fifteen
women and six sherp reporters ascended Mount Everest. Once all
of the team had gathered, they began practicing the climbs
(02:42):
at base camp. For a couple of months, the climbers
moved between camps, hiked sections up and down the mountain,
and got adjusted to life on the mountain. Then they
began the climb, but on May fourth, Taba and her
tentmates were buried by an avalanche. They survived five but
there was pressure on her to give up. She was
(03:04):
bruised and it could not walk and time was taking
The monsoons were on their way. After a couple of days,
Tabei began to walk again, and on May tenth, she
and Ashrba began to climb the mountain again. She had
to crawl sometimes on the ascent, but on May sixteenth,
the two of them made it to the summit. That
(03:24):
made Tabei the first woman to reach the top of
the mountain, and she got a lot of press attention
for her accomplishment. In the following years, she summited Kilimanjaro,
Mount Aconcagua, Denali, Mount Elbrest, Vincent Massif, and Java Peak
that made her the first woman to summit the highest
mountain on each continent in n Tabai went on to
(03:48):
advocate for environmentalism. She did post graduate work at Koshu
University in Fukuoka, Japan, studying mountain degradation caused by waste
people leave behind. She also was director of the preservation
organization Himalayan Adventure Trust of Japan. Tabe died of cancer
in She has survived by Masanobu Tabei and their children.
(04:13):
I'm Eve Scheff Coote and hopefully you know a little
more about history today than you did yesterday. If you
feel like correcting my pronunciation or my accent on anything
that I've said in the show, feel free to leave
a very kind comment on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook. At
t d I h C podcast come back tomorrow for
(04:35):
another tidbit from History. For more podcasts from iHeart Radio,
visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you
listen to your favorite shows.
This Day in History Class. It's a production of I
Heart Radio. Hello, Welcome to this Day in History Class,
where we dust off a little piece of history every day.
Today is September. The day was September nine. Japanese mountaineer
(00:29):
Junko Tabei, known for being the first woman to summit
the highest mountain on each of the seven continents, was born.
Tabe was raised in Mihadombachi, a small town in northern Japan.
She grew up during World War Two and relative poverty,
and was considered a quote weak child, but she did
not let that label define her. She became interested in
(00:51):
mountaineering when she was ten years old. On a school
field trip, she climbed Mount Asahi and Mount Chaosu, two
peaks that are part of Mountain Nasu, a group of
volcanoes in Japan. She liked how climbing mountains was challenging
but not competitive, a person who could quit in the
middle of the mountain if they wanted to. In nineteen
(01:12):
sixty two, Tabe graduated from Showa Women's University in Tokyo
with a degree in English literature. She planned to teach,
but she soon made climbing a priority and took jobs
to support herself. She worked as a medical journal editor
and joined several mountain climbing clubs. She also married climber
Masanobo Tabei, whom she met in nineteen sixty five, but
(01:36):
the climbing clubs she was part of consistent mostly of
men and weren't a completely supportive environment. She formed the
Joshi Tohan Club for women and continued training. She climbed
go to Dock and practiced her climbing skills on Mount Fuji.
She went with a group up Annapurnah three in Nepal.
It was her first expedition to the Himalayas, and it
(01:58):
took place in nineteen seventy and she worked in places
Besides her job as a science journal editor, she offered
piano lessons and English tutoring. Still, she set her sights
on summoning Mount Everest. Tabei and Aco Miyazaki planned to
lead a trip of Mount Everest in nineteen seventy five,
but potential financiers were not convinced that ten women could
(02:21):
make the climb to the summit. The group did eventually
make enough money to fund their expedition thanks to a
TV network and Tokyo newspaper but it was a small
amount considering previous costs for trips of Mount Everest. Fifteen
women and six sherp reporters ascended Mount Everest. Once all
of the team had gathered, they began practicing the climbs
(02:42):
at base camp. For a couple of months, the climbers
moved between camps, hiked sections up and down the mountain,
and got adjusted to life on the mountain. Then they
began the climb, but on May fourth, Taba and her
tentmates were buried by an avalanche. They survived five but
there was pressure on her to give up. She was
(03:04):
bruised and it could not walk and time was taking
The monsoons were on their way. After a couple of days,
Tabei began to walk again, and on May tenth, she
and Ashrba began to climb the mountain again. She had
to crawl sometimes on the ascent, but on May sixteenth,
the two of them made it to the summit. That
(03:24):
made Tabei the first woman to reach the top of
the mountain, and she got a lot of press attention
for her accomplishment. In the following years, she summited Kilimanjaro,
Mount Aconcagua, Denali, Mount Elbrest, Vincent Massif, and Java Peak
that made her the first woman to summit the highest
mountain on each continent in n Tabai went on to
(03:48):
advocate for environmentalism. She did post graduate work at Koshu
University in Fukuoka, Japan, studying mountain degradation caused by waste
people leave behind. She also was director of the preservation
organization Himalayan Adventure Trust of Japan. Tabe died of cancer
in She has survived by Masanobu Tabei and their children.
(04:13):
I'm Eve Scheff Coote and hopefully you know a little
more about history today than you did yesterday. If you
feel like correcting my pronunciation or my accent on anything
that I've said in the show, feel free to leave
a very kind comment on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook. At
t d I h C podcast come back tomorrow for
(04:35):
another tidbit from History. For more podcasts from iHeart Radio,
visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you
listen to your favorite shows.
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