Bio of Issei journo shines

A REBEL’S OUTCRY: BIOGRAPHY OF ISSEI CIVIL RIGHTS LEADER SEI FUJII (1882-1954) By Kenichi Sato (Los Angeles: Little Tokyo Historical Society, 2021, 231 pp., $60, hard cover) Prior to reading this book, my knowledge about prominent Issei lawyer/journalist Sei Fujii derived from two starkly contrasting experiences. The first of these was co-authoring with Ronald Larson […]

The amazing life of Isao Fujimoto

BOUNCING BACK: COMMUNITY, RESILIENCE & CURIOSITY By Isao Fujimoto (Sacramento, Calif.: I Street Press, 2017, 77 pp., $9, digital) It is sometimes hard to believe Isao Fujimoto’s lifetime of experiences. He was born the eldest son of farmers living in Washington state’s Yakima Valley. Throughout his life, he has been a student, a teacher and […]

THE GREAT UNKNOWN AND THE UNKNOWN GREAT: Rest of New York: Nikkei adventures as resettlers

This is the second installment of a series on Japanese Americans in what I have dubbed the “Rest of New York,” that is, the various parts of the state that lie outside of the five boroughs of New York City. I noted in the May 2, 2013 issue of the Nichi Bei Weekly that Nikkei […]

THE GREAT UNKNOWN AND THE UNKNOWN GREAT: The astonishing history of Japanese Americans in Louisiana

Editor’s Note: This is the first in a two-part series. The story of Japanese settlement in Louisiana, whether in the metropolis of New Orleans or in the bayous, is rather unknown, even to locals, but Nikkei have had a surprisingly large impact on the state’s history. Jokichi Takamine was possibly the first Japanese settler in […]