After winning the case, Sono established herself as a full lawyer in Tokyo working in a practice with the Daigennin/lawyer, Kotaro Watanabe (渡辺小太郎), becoming popular in Japan being known as the 'woman barrister'.

[9] In 1886 she arrived in San Francisco in January and helped form the Tokyo Women's Association (東京婦人矯風会), working as a maid, and later teaching art to toddlers, after the Bank she had deposited her savings in went bankrupt and was also at first rejected for school due to her age.

She was also actively engaged in the Issei community, helping Japanese sex workers receive Buddhist burials noting 'the grief of the woman's parents when they would learn about their daughter's life'.

[10] In 1888 she graduated from a Californian University and in April 1889 joined the WCT Union, moving on to Chicago and New York to lecture on educational reform.

In September 1894 having returned to Japan, Sono opened the Komatsu-Juku (倚松園女塾, Komatsu cram school) for girls, next door to her home in Azabu.

In 1898 she began the Ito Women's Association held in Izu, Shizuoka and in 1904 she retired to live as a nun in Ikegami Honmon-ji.