Politically, Shimoda Utako was royalist and nationalist; she supported an expansionist colonial foreign policy, feeling that it was Japan's
divine destiny to lead East Asia to a higher level of civilization and wealth, already attained in the West. She warned about and opposed Western imperialism. While she favoured a nationalistic education that instilled patriotism, she judged that the patriotism taught in the west was excessive, and too vengeful, belligerent, and prideful. She considered Chinese and Korean women to be dōhō 同胞 (of the same womb) as Japanese women, though not of the same race, and inferior in education, opportunities, and "superstitious" culture, not intelligence or abilities. Her views have also been described as supporting
eugenics. She considered herself a moderate reformer, a , and felt that aspects of Western culture should be selectively adopted to strengthen Japan. Shimoda Utako opposed the subjugation of women, and their absolute obedience to men; she encouraged wives to scold their husbands if they behaved unjustly or unvirtuously, and to develop self-respect and dignity. She also said that daughters had a right to express an opinion on an arranged marriage. She judged that Eastern cultures demeaned women and valued men, while Western ones did the reverse. She was surprised by how kind Western men were to their wives, and as she attributed many of the differences in marriage dynamics to the practice of monogamy in the West, she hoped that its introduction in Japan would improve the status of women. She argued that women and men had separate spheres and abilities. She thought women's ideal sphere was domestic; they should be wives, mothers, and lords of their households. She advocated that they should control their family finances, and engage in charitable social work, but acknowledged that financial necessity or the good of the country might require that women work outside the home, in which case daycares were valuable. She also supported women taking professional roles, such as physician, journalist, or nurse (she was an admirer of epidemiologist
Florence Nightingale). She considered devoting oneself to religion, public service, or an art in which one was very talented, was an acceptable alternative to marriage and a reason for women to remain single. Shimoda Utako thought that women should study world affairs, geography, and history, but should not be involved in politics; she opposed
women's suffrage. She encouraged bilingualism and had her students learn English and Japanese. She considered that the historically high status of women in Japan had been brought low by the rise of militarism after the Heian period, and religious teachings on the inferiority of women. She cited
Amaterasu, the female ancestor of the imperial lineage, and other early Japanese stories, as evidence for the high status of Japanese women in the past. She criticized the period of warrior rule (which she saw as lasting seven centuries, from the late
Heian Period, in the 12th century, until the
Meiji Era, 1868 to 1912). She characterized it as a time when physical strength became of paramount importance, and thus women's status sank to the point that they became "men's slaves or material possessions". She saw it as her role to restore the historically high status of Japanese women, and thus raise Japanese civilization. Shimoda Utako pointed out the low regard in which the warrior-led society had held economic skills and virtues, attributing the greater wealth of Western nations to the cultural unwillingness of the Japanese to work hard and manage money well. On the other hand, she criticized Westerners as greedy. She lectured on the advantage of the western custom of pocket-money, and taught that household economics were the foundation of a nation's wealth. She wrote two biographies of
Queen Victoria; she considered the success of the
British Empire to have been caused by Victoria's virtues. Shimoda Utako praised her as a wise wife, mother, and monarch, describing her philanthropic work and her insistence that her children learn manual skill, the value of labour, and sympathy and understanding for the poor. She criticized traditional Japanese Buddhist teachings that women were too sinful to be saved. She criticized the Confucian teachings that women should obey their fathers, husbands, and sons, while men could or should divorce their wives under some conditions. Shimoda Utako viewed Christianity as moderating the cruel and arrogant natures of Westerners, and churchgoing as inculcating morality; for the Japanese she advocated adherence to a religion, any religion that did not conflict with national polity () or loyalty to the
emperor of Japan, and using Sundays to cultivate virtue (for instance, by visiting graves or a shrine, or attending moral lectures). Shimoda Utako placed a high value on physical education, writing: "Since the laws of biology dictate that inferior health is accompanied by inferior moral qualities and inferior intellect, I should not have to argue once again that we need to have a great reform in this aspect for the sake of our Japanese citizens' future." She also considered physical health to be necessary to a colonial empire. While she considered both men and women in Japan to be less healthy than in the West, she judged that women were much worse off, being confined by custom to their homes and restrictive garments. She successfully advocated
reform dress. She also opposed Chinese
footbinding, requiring that Chinese students attending her school unbind their feet. ==Role in the hakama==