The afterword to the 1,431-page "A Centennial History of Japanese Americans in the United States," published by the New Japan-America Newspaper Company in Los Angeles in late 1961, was compiled by Shinichi Kato, who was the editor, researcher, and writer of the book.

In it, Kato expressed his sense of mission, saying, "I feared that if someone did not now write down the history of Japanese Americans, who lived throughout almost the entire mainland of the United States after the war, the precious '100 years' of history that the Japanese people built through their struggles on this North American continent would be destroyed."

Regarding the type of publication to be made, the main focus was to create a "report on one hundred years of struggle" that would preserve the history of Japanese Americans for Japan, and also serve as a reference for future generations to write a "history of Japanese Americans in America" ​​in English that someone in the future will write.

With this intention in mind, Kato wrote that he had set off on a nine-month, 40,000-mile (approximately 64,000 km) road trip to every state in the United States since June 1960. Since the average length of a crossing from east to west in the United States is roughly 3,500 miles, this journey was equivalent to crossing the country 11 times. However, in reality, the trip may have been longer.

The following year, Kato wrote "A Hundred Year History of Immigration to America" ​​(Jiji Shinsho), which was a sort of digest version of this century-long history.

In the afterword he reflects, "I say I was tired, but I set off from California, endured sweltering heatwaves of around 100 degrees Fahrenheit and freezing cold of around minus 10 degrees Celsius in the snow, and drove 50,000 kilometers (80,000 miles) around the country for ten months before returning to Los Angeles. I am amazed that I managed to make it through, and I often thank heaven and my late parents for giving me good health."

At the time of the interview, Kato had already turned 60 years old, but he expressed his spirit by saying, "I have come to take on this major project as my final service in my nearly 40-year career as a journalist."

A map showing the places Kato visited across the United States (from this book)

Traces of reporting remain in remote areas such as Florida

The New Japan and America Newspaper Company had previously published the "Directory of Japanese Americans in the United States," so it had a network of contacts with Japanese people all over the country. Kato used this network to visit Japanese and Japanese people all over the country. However, this was still a time when construction of the interstate highways had only just begun, so one can imagine that it was a complicated journey, running from east to west.

I would really like to know how he actually ran, but so far I have not come across any such records. However, I did learn about a part of his reporting activities in an unexpected place.

For the past few years, I have been researching the history of the Yamato Colony, which was established by Japanese people in southern Florida at the beginning of the 20th century. In the process, I came across the name of Kato Shinichi among the vast collection of letters that a man named Morikami Sukeji wrote to his family after the war.

The colony was founded by Japanese people led by New York University graduate, Joji Sakai. Morikami was one of the few Japanese people to remain in the area after the war, and in his later years he donated land to the local area, which has now become a fine Japanese garden. Kato has certainly visited the Issei who live in South Florida, a place that seems to have little connection to Japanese people.

In a letter dated January 1961, Morikami wrote that "Mr. Shinichi Kato, editor of the New Japan-America Newspaper Company in California" had come to visit "to publish a directory of Japanese Americans in the United States to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the United States and Japan" and had asked to borrow a photograph of Sakai Joh. Morikami also appears to have been interviewed, and more about him is provided in "Chapter 20: Florida" of this book.

As Kato himself said, "I included even remote areas that have never been recorded before," he appears to have traveled around the United States to visit first and second generation Japanese people, interviewing them and collecting information. It seems that information about California was gathered through past contacts and the cooperation of volunteers in the area, but information about more distant areas would have had to be gathered by foot. The amount of information is staggering when you consider the number of proper nouns of the characters living in each area.

It is also surprising that the research, editing, and printing were all completed in just a year and a half, working day and night. However, it is impossible to verify the vast amount of information collected in such a short period of time, and of course some information has been left out. Kato is well aware of this, and quoted the words, "All books are there to be revised," as he humbly states that he hopes that in the future, "someone will revise this book and make it even better."

Kato hopes that viewers will see not only the struggles and development of the Japanese people overseas, but also the greatness of American democracy that lies behind it all.

However, his relationship with America was actually complicated. When the atomic bomb was dropped, he was in Hiroshima as the news chief of the Chugoku Shimbun newspaper and witnessed the horrific scene. He lost his younger brother and sister to radiation exposure.

Part 3 >>

© 2014 Ryusuke Kawai