Dora E. Schoonmaker (1851–1934) was a Methodist missionary and a founding teacher of "Joshi Shogakko (女子小学校: Girls' Elementary School)" in Azabu-Shimborichō, Tokyo, which developed into Aoyama Gakuin in Shibuya, Tokyo.

However, she wanted to go abroad as a missionary and was sent to Japan on October 28, 1874 (at the age of 23) by the Women's Foreign Missionary Bureau of the Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States.

In the same year, she opened "Joshi Shogakko," the oldest origin of Aoyama Gakuin and a pioneering school for girls' education in the Meiji era, at Heizo Okada's residence in Azabu-Hommurachō,[3] later moved to Azabu-Shimborichō, and served as its principal until she returned to the United States.

She died on December 5, 1934, and was buried at Odd Fellows Cemetery in Boyle Heights, Los Angeles.

[4] In commemoration of her achievements, a stone monument has now been erected in front of the AGU Berry Hall on the Aoyama Campus, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo.