Ikuo Shinmasu

IkuoShinmasu

Ikuo Shinmasu is from Kaminoseki, Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan. In 1974, he started working at Teikoku Sanso Ltd (currently AIR LIQUIDE Japan GK) in Kobe and retired in 2015. Later, he studied history at Nihon University Distance Learning Division and researched his grandfather who migrated to Seattle. He shared a part of his thesis about his grandfather through the series, “Yoemon Shinmasu – My Grandfather’s Life in Seattle,” in the North American Post and Discover Nikkei in both English and Japanese. He presently lives in the city of Zushi, Kanagawa, with his wife and eldest son.

Updated August 2021

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education en ja

History of Seattle Nikkei Immigrants from The North American Times

Chapter 12 (Part 2): Nisei Education in Japanese Schools

By Ikuo Shinmasu
27 Apr 2023

Read Chapter 12 (Part 1) >> PROBLEMS OF TEXTBOOKS One of the North American Times1 articles (Feb. 13, 1919 issue) talks about the discuission about the textbooks that should be used at the Seattle Japanese school. There has been discussion on the need for textbook editing and compilation at the Seattle Japanese School. After a series of meetings and discussions by the educational affairs committee, and with the opinions of teachers at Japanese schools in different parts of Washington State as well as those of board members of the schools, a final decision was made to ca…

education en ja

History of Seattle Nikkei Immigrants from The North American Times

Chapter 12 (Part 1): Nisei Education in Japanese Schools

By Ikuo Shinmasu
26 Apr 2023

Many Nisei were born as a result of picture marriages, which I wrote about in the last chapter of this series. Providing Japanese education for America-born children thus became an important mission of the Japanese community in Seattle. In this chapter, I will write about the Seattle Japanese School that was founded for the Japanese language education of the Nisei. ESTABLISHMENT OF SEATTLE JAPANESE SCHOOL In 1902, the Seattle Nihonjin-kai (Japanese Association) established the Seattle Nihonjin-kai Affiliated Elementary School as the first Japanese school in North America. In the beginning, …

migration en ja

History of Seattle Nikkei Immigrants from The North American Times

Chapter 11 (Part 2) Picture-Bride Marriages on the Rise

By Ikuo Shinmasu
6 Jan 2023

Read Chapter 11 (Part 1) >> HIGH BIRTH RATE OF JAPANESE In the column “The Rise and Fall of Main Street” (From the Jan. 1, 1939 issue), which I introduced in Chapter 11 - Part 1, Akatonbo Nakamura describes the sharp increase of newborns, based on the number of Japanese reported by Seattle Teikoku (Imperial) Consulate General of Japan within its boundary. “After 1910, a period of about ten years was the golden era for midwives, with the number of newborns each month continually growing to a large number. The statistics show that there were 267 newborns in 1910 and…

migration en ja

History of Seattle Nikkei Immigrants from The North American Times

Chapter 11 (Part 1) Picture-Bride Marriages on the Rise

By Ikuo Shinmasu
5 Jan 2023

The last chapter reviewed the history of The North American Times. In this chapter, I will introduce articles from 1918 to about 1920 on marriage through picture brides which peaked around 1910. Beginning about 1900, the anti-Japanese movement in America began to get intense. In response, the Japanese government concluded the Gentlemen’s Agreement with the U.S. in 1908. This agreement imposed restrictions on Japanese immigration to America. Since it also made it difficult for Japanese workers in America to return temporarily to Japan, the number of “picture brides&rdquo…

media en ja

History of Seattle Nikkei Immigrants from The North American Times

Chapter 10 (Part 5) History of the North American Times – World War II and the Last Issue

By Ikuo Shinmasu
7 Dec 2022

In the last part, I talked about Sumiyoshi Arima’s articles in The North American Times written as Chairperson of the Japanese Association and a newspaper reporter. In this part, I would like to introduce some articles that were published at the beginning of World War II and the last issue of The North American Times. BEGINNING OF WORLD WAR II The attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 shook the Japanese community in Seattle. By that time, Sumio Arima, Sumiyoshi’s younger brother, had taken over the Managing Editor role after Sumiyoshi left Seattle. On t…

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Japanese migrants and their descendants

Ikuo Shinmasu

History of Seattle Nikkei Immigrants from The North American Times

History of Seattle Nikkei Immigrants from The North American Times

History of Seattle Nikkei Immigrants from The North American Times

History of Seattle Nikkei Immigrants from The North American Times

History of Seattle Nikkei Immigrants from The North American Times

Series this author contributes to

Postwar Japanese Emigration to the Dominican Republic — Part 1: A Tragic Tale

Tad Nakamura’s Art and Activism

Nikkei Chronicles #3—Nikkei Names: Taro, John, Juan, João?

The Child of a Thousand Generations

Nikkei Chronicles #5—Nikkei-go: The Language of Family, Community, and Culture

The Chuo Gakuen School: The Seeds of Prestige for the Japanese Community in Mexico

Uka Sake: Closing the Circle on a Trans-Pacific Rice-Growing Legacy

日本時間 ～日本語ラジオ放送史～ 《ロサンゼルス編》

第10回 尾座本導のサンデー毎日放送とラジオ小東京

A Sansei Selective Service Story

10th Annual Imagine Little Tokyo Short Story Contest

The Last Days of The Dandy Lion

My Name is Neal

Journal Entry #Size 42-44: "Casual Commentary..."

書評：和泉真澄『日系カナダ人の移動と運動―知られざる日本人の越境生活史』

1992年渡米、目標は「アカデミー賞」— 俳優の井上英治さん

Kizuna 2020: Nikkei Kindness and Solidarity During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Tiempos pandémicos: teletrabajo y koden digital

Kizuna 2020: Nikkei Kindness and Solidarity During the COVID-19 Pandemic

COVID-19 e os heróis anônimos

香川県海外移民の父：今雪真一の情熱と功績

第３部：金子正則知事の南米訪問とその主な見解

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Uka Sake: Closing the Circle on a Trans-Pacific Rice-Growing Legacy

A Sansei Selective Service Story

The Last Days of The Dandy Lion

Journal Entry #Size 42-44: "Casual Commentary..."

Chapter 2—Role Reversal

Mom Was Young Once, Too!

Color

Experience Okinawa!

Big Band Music is My Jam

One Thousand Cranes

Journal Entry #Even Just 1 Would Help: "Save Us!..."

Imagine Little Tokyo Short Story Contest – Voice Actor Mayumi Saco Reads Aloud a Winning Story

Another Willard Scott Moment

Bertram Akira Tsunematsu

Paul Takagi: A Centenary Remembrance

Journal Entry #7 Whackadoodles: "Snow's Posse..."

Tad Nakamura’s Art and Activism

Life Lessons of Mottainai

Part 4: World War I - Japanese Loyalty to the US

Making History: Remembering Nikkei Legacy

Journal Entry #First Coined in '56: "We Need Asimov's 3 Laws..."

History Lessons with Professor Masumi Izumi — Part 1: Family Background

Want to make authentic Japanese food? Just One Cookbook's Nami Chen is here for you

I Am a Rainbow! - Part 2

Excerpt form Atomweight — Prologue

On “Authenticity” in Japanese food

An excerpt from Unforgotten Voices from Heart Mountain: As American As Apple Pie—Yellowstone - Part 2

Chapter 1—Passing Time

Sakura of Wahiawā

Surrender — Part 2

Journal Entry #Lesson 6,141: "I've Got a Million of These..."

History Lessons with Professor Masumi Izumi — Part 2: Japanese American vs Japanese Canadian Internment/Incarceration

Chef Akira Hirose Feeds a Community with Food Fit for an Emperor

80 Years of the 442nd

Surrender — Part 3

I Am a Rainbow! - Part 1

Interview with Emi Sasagawa, Author of Atomweight

Journal Entry #More than 100,000: "50-100 Fall Out Per Day..."

An excerpt from Unforgotten Voices from Heart Mountain: As American As Apple Pie—Yellowstone - Part 1

Chapter 12 (Part 2): Nisei Education in Japanese Schools

Part 5: New Japanese Women as Comrades — Fujinkai

The legacy of Toyo Takata, Who Captured the Voice of Japanese Canadians

日本時間～日本語ラジオ放送史～《ロサンゼルス編》

第10回尾座本導のサンデー毎日放送とラジオ小東京