The 150th Anniversary of Wakamatsu Colony, the First Japanese American Settlement on the North American Frontier
It was 150 years ago that the first Japanese settlers arrived on the American mainland, establishing the first Japanese colony in California. The 22 travelers were from Aizu Wakamatsu in Fukushima Prefecture, located in northern Japan. This series looks back on their history with respect to courages and spirits of those pinoneers and shares voices of their descendants.
*This series was originally published in The Rafu Shimpo.
Stories from this series
Supplement: The Article that Revealed Okei to the World
May 8, 2019 • Junko Yoshida
The Wakamatsu Colony, born of the dreams and labor of the new immigrants, collapsed in only two years. One of the members of the group – a young woman whose first name was Okei – was taken in by a local farming family named Veerkamp. As described in a previous installment in this series, Okei came from the town of Aizu Wakamatsu at the age of 17. Her life in California was cut short when she fell suddenly ill and …
Part 3: Sharing of Family Stories
May 1, 2019 • Junko Yoshida
Read Part 2 >> Kuni Takes a Local as His Wife Following the collapse of the Wakamatsu Colony, a settler by the name of Kuninosuke Masumizu (1849-1915) opted to remain in the town of Coloma. Known to many simply as Kuni, he worked as a carpenter and helped to build the Coloma Hotel and the Fresno Buddhist Church. Many of the houses built by Kuni in the Coloma and Auburn areas were still standing in May 1930, as they were …
Part 2: Okei's California Home
March 25, 2019 • Junko Yoshida
Read Part 1 >> The story of the first Japanese woman to be buried in American soil emerges from history’s shadows. The Wakamatsu Colony had collapsed and the pioneering dreams of the Japanese immigrants were shattered. The once-hopeful colonists dispersed, some deciding to return to Japan, while others chose to stay in California. A neighboring farming family named Veerkamp purchased the site of the colony in Gold Hill, and hired some members of the former settlement to stay on for …
Part 1: Pioneers Who Brought Their Hopes and Dreams
March 18, 2019 • Junko Yoshida
This year marks the 150th anniversary of the first Japanese American settlement on the North American frontier If not for the relatively fresh flowers and metal cordon surrounding it, a small gravestone on a quiet hill in the California town of Gold Hill might go largely unnoticed. It is the final resting place of a girl, a member of first group of Japanese colonists to settle in North America – and the first Japanese woman to be buried in American soil. …
