Akiko Yosano was one of Japan's leading poets in the early 20th century. The Yosano Akiko Club, based in Sakai, Osaka, was established in 1997 with the purpose of honoring Akiko Yosano (1878-1942), who was also from Sakai. The club has established May as "Akiko Month" and, during this month, holds forums on the topic of "Akiko and I." This topic is expressed through tanka (Japanese poetry), poetry readings, paintings, calligraphy, and flower arrangement. Shigemi Yoshioka, a singer and a composer, has been singing "AKIKO" in several countries.

In her 64-year life, Akiko Yosano published 35 anthologies, 9 commentaries on the classics, 6 story books, and 15 books critiquing politics and society. The tradition says that she wrote 30,000 to 50,000 poems. In recent years, feminists have regarded her as a women's liberationist. Akiko's wide recognition both as "a passionate poet" and a broadly concerned activist result not only from her academic studies but also her community activities.

Shigemi Yoshioka is a singer who has been singing the works of Akiko since the 80s. With her original music, she has been singing the poems of Japanese women including Misuzu Kaneko and Noriko Ibaragi. She began singing Akiko's poems in 1986 when she stayed in Berkley in the U.S. for two years. Listening to her sing "My Brother, You Must Not Die" in Japanese is an unforgettable memory. In concerts abroad, she reads poems in the particular country's language and plays the piano while singing in Japanese. Yoshioka says, "Akiko's poems give me encouragement telling me 'go further, go further.' It doesn't matter where I sing, and who I sing to; her poems have a strong message that can be understood by anyone." Akiko's message of life resounds in Sakai, Paris, Seoul, Beijing, and Krakow in Poland.

 (Fumi Inoue: Managing Director of the Yosano Akiko Club)