Andrew Hasegawa

Andrew Hasegawa is a fourth generation Japanese Australian. His great grandfather Setsutaro Hasegawa (長谷川節太郎) immigrated to Australia in 1897. In everyday life Andrew is an Australian but on the other hand he is a proud Nikkei Australian. From a young age he has had a keen interest in his heritage that at the age of twenty took him to Japan. The quest to know who he was and why his great grandfather came to Australia had become a driving force in his life.

Having lived many years in Japan these days he devotes himself to researching the stories of other Japanese who immigrated to Australia. The Canadian project “Past Wrongs Future Choices” has provided Andrew with an opportunity to share his knowledge as a scholar in residence writing a paper about a Nikkei Australian who used a writ of habeas corpus to remain in Australia and avoid being deported. For Andrew research isn’t work rather a voyage of discovery and opportunity to share knowledge.

Updated October 2024

Stories from This Author

Hasegawa Monogatari: 5 Generations Over 124 Years — Part 2

Dec. 18, 2024 • Andrew Hasegawa

Read Part 1 The end of the Pacific War deepened the identity crisis for Japanese in Australia. On release from internment, the majority were repatriated, often against their will, to Japan. Only a small group was allowed to remain. The criteria in most cases was an Australian partner. Sixty-nine Japanese were released early from internment and another 139 were allowed to remain. Many of the 139 who were not repatriated were children with one non-Japanese parent. The easy thing to …

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Hasegawa Monogatari: 5 Generations Over 124 Years — Part 1

Dec. 17, 2024 • Andrew Hasegawa

Setsutaro Hasegawa When Setsutaro Hasegawa died on October 4, 1952, the Australian Hasegawa family’s relationship with Japan became paper-thin. At the height of the northern hemisphere summer, in August, when Japanese pay homage to their ancestors, no one gathers at his grave. Japanese tradition was lost before it was ever gained. It was an era when it was easier to deny your heritage than to acknowledge it. Grandpa Hasegawa knew who he was. There was no confusion triggered by internment, …

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Nikkei Chronicles #8—Nikkei Heroes: Trailblazers, Role Models, and Inspirations

My Hero: Setsutaro Hasegawa

May 23, 2019 • Andrew Hasegawa

By the time I was born in the early 1960s, the long shadow of World War Two was starting to fade. The 1950s and ’60s saw wave after wave of immigrants arrive in Australia but almost no Asians or Japanese. The white Australia policy still prevailed and if the colour of my skin was anything to go by it succeeded, however I still had my Japanese name. My father was born Raymond Taro Hasegawa, son of Leo Takeshi Hasegawa and …