Nikkei Chronicles #8—Nikkei Heroes: Trailblazers, Role Models, and Inspirations

In the spring of 1869, a group of Aizu warriors migrated to California after their defeat during the Boshin Civil War. They founded the Wakamatsu Tea and Silk Colony during the California Gold Rush. One of the men who accompanied these settlers, Matsugoro Ohto, is my Nikkei Hero. While in America, he studied winemaking and helped to increase the popularity of wine in Japan after his return. Matsugoro was my great-great-grandmother’s father. In other words, he was my great-great-great-grandfather. I am his 6th generation descendant. Ever since I was a child learning English, I had wanted to travel abroad, to …

Who inspires me to be better? I think my oba does. Although I still don’t know how she overcame so many challenges, became successful, and helped others. And just like a heroine, she never expected anything in return.

My oba was 92 when she died and I was 9. The difference in our ages was more than 80 years! I think that gave my oba a certain “halo” of mystery. She never told me the story of her life. She rarely spoke spontaneously; just four or five words at a time and I’ve been storing them in my memory. Actually, …

The trials and tribulations of pre–World War II Japanese on the West Coast are well documented, but there was a small group of them that were uniquely special and nearly lost to obscurity. The adversity they faced was as unparallel as the historical significance of their community of El Dorado County, CA.

I’m a mixed race Sansei. My family decided in 1971 to leave southern California for the quieter rural El Dorado County in northern California three weeks before the school year ended. I clearly remember my first day at my new school. As the office gal took my parents, …

Shinya Honda was my hero because he never looked back. He always persevered and took responsibility for his own life and even took care of his mother and three sisters. Uncle Shin never complained about his circumstances or the terrible events that took place at the age of 15, when his father died.

Above all, I am grateful to Uncle Shin and his whole generation who worked hard to serve our country. In spite of the incarceration in concentration camps and this tragic black mark in American history, the positive attitude of Uncle Shin, being a cheerleader for his children, …

The artist Mine Okubo is most famous for her book, Citizen 13660, a graphic memoir of the Japanese American concentration camps. She became my hero while I was a student at University of California (UC), Riverside in 1979. As a young woman in my twenties, I felt inspired by Mine’s accomplishments as part of the “greatest generation” that survived World War II. She did it on her own terms and without apology. She persevered as a female artist and in life itself. The difficulties she experienced made her stronger. She retained her Nikkei identity and never forgot the Japanese …