The Annual Letters, Third Part, 1906-1907-1908 carried the following account, the first from the new foundation in Tokyo.

"It was at the dawn of this year, 1908, a special year for us all because of the glorification of our blessed Founder [Madeleine Sophie Barat was beatified in 1908.] that Japan was finally opened to the ardent zeal and desires of the spouses of the Sacred Heart. On January 1, the Nikko Maru cast anchor in the harbor of Yokohama, and the same day Reverend Mother Salmon [vicar of Australia], accompanied by the founders arrived in Tokyo….

"In response to the desire of Pope Pius X preparations had been underway since October 1907. The point of departure of the future foundation was to be Australia. At the beginning of November Rev. Mother Salmon received word to proceed, and the day after the feast of St. Francis Xavier [December 4], she set out on a Japanese steamer with the four founders: Mother Bridget Heydon [superior], Mother Mary Scroope, a choir aspirant and a sister novice… It was an enjoyable voyage that gave us an opportunity to get to know some Japanese people, as most of the passengers were Japanese. They were either non-Christians or Protestants and had never seen religious, whom they treated with great respect.

"Under the protection of St. John, December 27, we stopped at Nagasaki, where we had Mass and Communion in the same church where priests had discovered the Christians of Urakama, who had remained faithful through 200 years of persecution. Another stop in Kobe and then Yokohama on New Year's Day: the arrival was earlier than anticipated, so no one was there to meet us. We took the train to Tokyo, rather uncertain about how we would manage, not knowing the language or the location of our house. Providence sent us a good Marianite father, who just happened to be in the train station; he escorted us to the archbishop's house, where we were welcomed warmly. The archbishop had been preparing a house for us for weeks. But the first night we spent with the Dames de St Maur [a French congregation]. The next morning after Mass, Mother Ste Thérèse, the superior, took us to our rented house in Azabu. The parish priest had prepared everything, and the community of St Maur provided for immediate necessities."

The newcomers began right away to study Japanese, to recruit students and Japanese teachers to teach them; the nuns themselves expected to teach French and English. They became accustomed very quickly to living in a wooden Japanese house "with paper walls" and no corridors and to fold up their futons in the morning, store them in a cupboard during the day and bring them out at night and spread them on the straw mats (tatami) that covered the floors. They learned also to take off their shoes before entering the house, but according to legend, they seem to have become aware of this custom by violating it in the beginning.

The first Mass was said in their house on January 23, "the real date of the foundation," for from then on they had the Blessed Sacrament in their chapel. By the end of February reinforcements arrived: eight more RSCJ came to join them.* The increase meant that they had to get a larger house. They found a nice European house not far away, and in April they were able to accept a few day pupils, English and French children, some half-Japanese, who wanted to continue studies in those languages. Support from the motherhouse made it possible for them to buy property on which to build a real boarding school, and thus the Society arrived at Sankocho, a development they attributed to Madeleine Sophie, whose beatification took place that same spring. The annalist is more than enthusiastic in her description of the beauty of the grounds, the good spirit of the children and their love of their school, the excellent train system that allows pupils to come from a great distance. The nuns are looking forward to the completion of the building so that they can have a full educational program that satisfies "the legitimate demands of the state."

The question of religious instruction came up very quickly. The nuns are sure that it will be solved by "patience, perseverance, prayer." They do not see their role as proselytizing but merely "sowing seeds." There was some sign of success from the beginning, however: there was one little Catholic child named Hana (flower), whose parents had not given much attention to her religious education. She was fascinated by everything her teachers told her about God and is quoted as asking, "Why hasn't anyone ever told me about Our Lord Jesus Christ?"

The culminating blessing of the first year was the arrival of the Jesuits in Tokyo. With eighteen pupils, a house of their own and the prospect of spiritual help from the Jesuits, the annalist can state that they were facing the future full of hope.

*Readers will remember that during the first decade of the 20th century all the religious of the Sacred Heart left France; there were, therefore, many nuns available for new foundations.