Miwa Kai papers, undated

Miwa Kai was the Head of the Japanese Collection at C. V. Starr East Asian Library at Columbia University. She began working at the East Asian Library in 1945, starting out as a typist, but later worked as a cataloger, and eventually became the Head of the Japanese Collection, working as a librarian until her retirement in 1983. Despite officially retiring, Kai continued to work as a researcher and bibliographic assistant to the University Committee on Asia and the Middle East. Additionally, she continued her work with the East Asian Library's Japanese Collection, aiding visiting scholars, publishing several catalogs, and completing a comprehensive book of history of the library's Japanese Collection.

Born in 1913 in San Francisco, California, Kai's first vocation was as a concert pianist. She received the Beethoven Prize at the Piano Playing Tournament in San Francisco in 1927 at the age of only fourteen, and won first prize at the Music Concourse in Japan in 1932. In 1937, she participated in the Third International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw, Poland, representing Japan. She was still living in San Francisco, continuing her piano studies, at the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. She was forcibly evacuated to the Central Utah War Relocation Center internment camp (otherwise known as Topaz) near Delta, Utah. During her time there, Kai taught piano lessons and performed concerts. She was discharged in 1943 by securing release to work for John Embree, an anthropologist specializing in Japanese studies. Kai then moved to Manhattan in 1944, where she began working at the C. V. Starr East Asian Library at Columbia University.

Kai's impact on Japanese studies and librarianship goes beyonds the confines of Columbia University. Following the end of World War II, Kai spent two months aiding the Library of Congress in processing books confiscated from libraries in Japan. Many unwanted or duplicate materials found there would be taken by Kai and added to the Japanese Collection at Columbia University's East Asian Library. Kai also trained many Japanese librarians from Japan during her time at Columbia, including members from the National Diet Library and the Waseda University Library. In 1995, the Japanese Government conferred her with the Order of the Precious Crown, Wisteria for her efforts to enhance cultural exchange. Kai also completed a number of publications, most noteworthy her translation of The Diary of a Japanese Innkeeper's Daughter, published in No. 36 of the Cornell University East Asia Papers in 1984, and her post-retirement works, The David Eugene Smith Collection of Works in Japanese on Japanese Mathematics in 1986 and Japanese Woodblock Printed Books and other Unique Japanese Materials at Columbia University in 1996. Following these publications, Kai worked on her extensive book of history of Columbia University's East Asian Library's Japanese Collections until the end of her life. She passed away at the age of 98 on December 10, 2011. There currently stands a plaque in the reading room the Starr East Asian Library, dedicated to her hard work and service, erected following her retirement in 1983. There is also an unmarked cherry blossom tree in front of Kent Hall planted in her honor.