Jonathan van Harmelen

@jonathan

Jonathan van Harmelen is a historian of Japanese Americans. He received his PhD in history at University of California, Santa Cruz in 2024, and has been a writer for Discover Nikkei since 2019. You can learn more about his work here.

Updated January 2025

Stories from This Author

A Nikkei Canadian Hero: Mary Kitagawa’s Story As Told By Karen Inouye

March 9, 2025 • Jonathan van Harmelen

Despite major differences between Canada and the United States at the moment, historically there are many commonalities between the two countries. For example, both governments decided to cave to anti-Japanese racism in 1942 and incarcerate their Nikkei communities regardless of citizenship status. In both cases, the story of Japanese American/Japanese Canadian incarceration is seen in terms of failures by each government to respect the rights of a community – failures that arose from anti-Japanese bigotry. And, in both cases, governments …

activism biographies interviews Japanese Canadians Mary Kitagawa Redress movement social action

Frank Nobuo Hirosawa—Guayule Chemist of Manzanar Who Fought LA’s Smog

Jan. 24, 2025 • Jonathan van Harmelen

Perhaps one of the most fascinating, if lesser known, stories about the Japanese American wartime experience is that of the Manzanar Guayule Lab. In the weeks leading up to the incarceration of Japanese Americans in 1942, several scientists at the California Institute of Technology decided to start a research project at the Manzanar concentration camp (then known as Owens Valley Reception Center) studying the guayule plant—a desert shrub that when processed could produce a rubber latex similar to Hevea rubber. …

California California Institute of Technology chemistry concentration camps Los Angeles Manzanar concentration camp plants scientist United States World War II camps

What a Simple Knot Can Teach Us About American Identity

Jan. 3, 2025 • Jonathan van Harmelen

If you go to Weller Court near Second Street, you will see a large sculpture made up of two long white pipes, intertwined in a graceful knot. For most passers-by, the knot is simply a statue, one among many artistic fixtures in Little Tokyo. But for its creator, Shinkichi Tajiri, the series of knot sculptures stood out from all the obscure art pieces that populated the art scene of the 1960s, and offered a clear message to the viewer: one …

artists California Little Tokyo Los Angeles Shinkichi Tajiri shopping malls United States Weller Court

The Short but Sweet Political Career of George E. Outland—Part 2

Dec. 12, 2024 • Jonathan van Harmelen

Read Part 1 Outland’s decision to not join the mess of other representatives who called for punishing the WRA earned the rancor of his anti-Japanese constituents. Newspapers like the Carpinteria Herald labelled Outland as “our alien-loving mis-representative.” Pacific Citizen editor Larry Tajiri wrote in his Nisei USA column that fellow Japanese Americans should be proud of politicians like Outland, Voorhis, Rogers, and Holifield, who “had the guts to vote against the Dies committee and who will not be stampeded by …

California politics United States Congress World War II camps

The Short but Sweet Political Career of George E. Outland—Part 1

Dec. 11, 2024 • Jonathan van Harmelen

As part of my ongoing study of the ways in which Congress shaped the lives of Japanese Americans in the World War II period, I have recently come across the career of George E. Outland. Recently, during a trip to the California State Library in Sacramento, I came across Outland’s personal papers. I knew that Outland was a member of the California congressional delegation during the war, but what surprised me was Outland’s ranging interests in the treatment of Japanese …

California governments Japanese American Citizens League politics Santa Barbara (Calif.) United States United States Congress World War II World War II camps

My 100th Article—A Five-Year Reflection

Nov. 5, 2024 • Jonathan van Harmelen

Since 2019, I have had the pleasure of writing for Discover Nikkei, and my time with them over these 5 years has been greatly rewarding. This month’s contribution marks my 100th article that I have written for the site. As I look forward to many more years of sharing stories here, I thought it would be nice to offer some reflections about the work of writing a column, and how my time with Discover Nikkei has shaped my journey as …

authors Discover Nikkei Greg Robinson Japanese American studies scholars writers

Thumbnail for Revisiting the Canon: A Review of Frank Abe and Floyd Cheung's anthology <em>The Literature of Japanese American Incarceration</em>

Revisiting the Canon: A Review of Frank Abe and Floyd Cheung's anthology The Literature of Japanese American Incarceration

Oct. 21, 2024 • Jonathan van Harmelen

In 2022, I received an email from my friend Frank Abe, informing me that he and Floyd Cheung had undertaken on a long-term project compiling an anthology on the literature of the incarceration. Intrigued, I waited to see what Frank and Floyd would produce. After two years, the highly anticipated project is now complete, and has been published under the title The Literature of Japanese American Incarceration. The book follows in the footsteps of several anthologies about the camp experience, …

anthropology book reviews Floyd Cheung Frank Abe imprisonment incarceration Japanese American literature literature reviews social sciences

Thumbnail for Narratives of Resilience and Resistance—Frank Abe and Floyd Cheung on <em>The Literature of Japanese American Incarceration</em> — Part 2

Narratives of Resilience and Resistance—Frank Abe and Floyd Cheung on The Literature of Japanese American Incarceration — Part 2

Oct. 8, 2024 • Jonathan van Harmelen

Read Part 1 Jonathan van Harmelen (JVH): One thing I noticed about the government edicts is that they serves as kind of timeline or individual markers that anchors each section. Frank Abe (FA): Yeah, amazing, isn't it? At first I resisted the idea of including Executive Order 9066 and the exclusion order and the questionnaire. But when Floyd and I met with our editor, Elda Rotor, the executive Vice President of Penguin Classics, she thought it would be helpful for …

anthologies California concentration camps Frank Abe Hoshi Dan (pro-Japan group) Japanese American literature literature magazines Sokuji Kikoku Hoshi Dan Tessaku (magazine) Tule Lake concentration camp Tule Lake Segregation Center United States World War II camps

Narratives of Resilience and Resistance—Frank Abe and Floyd Cheung on The Literature of Japanese American Incarceration — Part 1

Oct. 7, 2024 • Jonathan van Harmelen

In May 2024, Penguin Classics published The Literature of Japanese American Incarceration. Edited by Frank Abe and Floyd Cheung, the anthology offers a comprehensive collection of literature on the mass incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II. For those who have followed recent publications on the camps, Frank Abe and Floyd Cheung should be familiar names. Abe is the lead author of the graphic novel We Hereby Refuse and a co-editor with Cheung and Greg Robinson on John Okada: …

anthologies book reviews concentration camps Frank Abe Japanese American literature literature reviews World War II camps

Remembering Gene Oishi: The Bard of Guadalupe

Aug. 8, 2024 • Jonathan van Harmelen

On Thursday, August 1, 2024, author and journalist Gene Oishi passed away at 91. Oishi was a critically acclaimed writer, known both for his memoir In Search of Hiroshi and his novel Fox Drum Bebop, both of which captured powerfully the psychological trauma of anti-Asian racism and wartime Japanese American incarceration. Before becoming an author, Oishi had a long, remarkable career as a correspondent for the Baltimore Sun, reporting on local politics and international affairs for the paper’s European bureau. …