Passing on the Japanese spirit: Seattle's efforts
Washington State has a history of Japanese Americans dating back more than 130 years. In the 2010 census, the state was ranked third in the nation for the number of people who answered that they were Japanese, behind California and Hawaii. There are many Japanese American organizations of all sizes in the state, centered around the state's largest city, Seattle. Cultural events are thriving throughout the year, including the Cherry Blossom Festival in April and the Autumn Festival in September, but what can the fourth and fifth generation Japanese Americans have inherited from the first generation immigrants who crossed the ocean during the Meiji era and passed on to the present? We followed their story from several perspectives.
*This series is a collaborative project with Seattle-based bilingual Japanese-English newspaper , The North American Post .
Stories from this series
Part 4: Minedoka's journey carrying emotions on his shoulders (Part 2)
Oct. 23, 2013 • Hajime Watanabe
Read the first part >> Early in the morning, with an unseasonably chilly wind blowing, about 200 participants of the Minedoka trip descended on the entrance to the former site of the internment camp. Nearby, they could see the "Victory Garden," where the original paving stones remain, and right next to it was the "Honor Roll," which commemorates the Japanese-American soldiers who left the internment camp and volunteered for the U.S. military. It was recreated in 2011 as it was …
Part 3: Minedoka's journey carrying emotions on his shoulders (Part 1)
Oct. 9, 2013 • Hajime Watanabe
How can we pass on the memories of Japanese people to the next generation? Now that it is nearly impossible to hear the voices of the Issei, and the Nisei who experienced the internment during World War II are getting older, the issue becomes more pressing every year. The trip to the former Minedoka Japanese American Internment Camp site in Hunt, Idaho, which marked its 11th year this year, focused on the "kimochi" (feelings) that should be passed on to …
Part 2: Telling the stories of Nisei soldiers
July 26, 2013 • Yaeko Inaba
The last Monday in May, Memorial Day, is a day to remember the brave fighting and sacrifices of Nisei soldiers in World War II. In Seattle, a memorial ceremony has been held at Lake View Cemetery since 1946, one year after the end of the war, but in recent years, as Nisei soldiers are aging, the government has been exploring whether to hold a memorial service for them.Erecting a memorial tower to mourn the sacrifice of our comrades Ceremonies commemorating …
Part 1: Prologue: The history of Japanese immigrants in Washington State
July 10, 2013 • Yaeko Inaba
Ties with Japan that began before the country opened up 179 years ago, in the late Edo period, three fishermen from Owari (now Aichi Prefecture) were washed ashore on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State. About 40 years later, the era changed to Meiji, and in 1869, samurai from the former Aizu Domain traveled to San Francisco, marking the beginning of the migration of Japanese people to the mainland United States. The 1880 U.S. census recorded one Japanese person in …
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