Nikkei in the Pacific Northwest

Challenging the notion that Nikkei individuals before and during World War II were helpless pawns manipulated by forces beyond their control, the diverse essays in this rich collection focus on the theme of resistance within Japanese American and Japanese Canadian communities to twentieth-century political, cultural, and legal discrimination. They illustrate how Nikkei groups were mobilized to fight discrimination through assertive legal challenges, community participation, skillful print publicity, and political and economic organization.

Comprised of all-new and original research, this is the first anthology to highlight the contributions and histories of Nikkei within the entire Pacific Northwest, including British Columbia.

Louis Fiset is affiliate associate professor of dentistry at the University of Washington and the author of Imprisoned Apart: The World War II Correspondence of an Issei Couple. Gail M. Nomura is assistant professor of American ethnic studies at the University of Washington. The other contributors include Noriko Asato, Michiko Midge Ayukawa, Roger Daniels, Gail Lee Dubrow, Andrea Geiger-Adams, Arthur A. Hansen, James A. Hirabayashi, Masumi Izumi, Eric L. Muller, Patricia E. Roy, and Robert C. Sims.

Acknowledgments

1. Introduction: Nikkei in the Pacific Northwest / Louis Fiset and Gail M. Nomura

2. Writing Racial Barriers into Law: Upholding B.C.'s Denial of the Vote to Its Japanese Canadian Citizens, Homma v. Cunningham, 1902 / Andrea Geiger-Adams

3. Becoming "Local" Japanese: Issei Adaptive Strategies on the Yakama Indian Reservation, 1906-1923 / Gail M. Nomura

4. Yasutaro Yamaga: Fraser Valley Berry Farmer, Community Leader, and Strategist / Michiko Midge Ayukawa

5. Americanization vs. Japanese Cultural Maintenance: Analyzing Seattle's Nihongo Tokuhon, 1920 / Noriko Asato

6. "The Nail That Sticks Up Gets Hit": The Architecture of Japanese American Identity in the Urban Environment, 1885-1942 / Gail Lee Dubrow

7. Four Hirabayashi Cousins: A Question of Identity / James A. Hirabayashi

8. The Minidoka Draft Resisters in a Federal Kangaroo Court / Eric L. Muller

9. Words Do Matter: A Note on Inappropriate Terminology and the Incarceration of the Japanese Americans / Roger Daniels

10. In the Matter of Iwao Matsushita: A Government Decision to Intern a Seattle Japanese Enemy Alien in World War II / Louis Fiset

11. The "Free Zone" Nikkei: Japanese Americans in Idaho and Eastern Oregon in World War II / Robert C. Sims

12. Lessons in Citizenship, 1945-1949: The Delayed Return of the Japanese to Canada's Pacific Coast / Patricia E. Roy

13. Peculiar Odyssey: Newsman Jimmie Omura's Removal from and Regeneration within Nikkei Society, History, and Memory / Arthur A. Hansen

14. Reclaiming and Reinventing "Powell Street": Reconstruction of the Japanese Canadian Community in Post-World War II Vancouver / Masumi Izumi

Contributors

Index