Established: 1902

519 Sixth Avenue S.
Seattle, WA 98104

(206)623-0100

mail to: info@napost.com


Serving As Your Voice of the Nikkei Community Since 1902



Vol. 63, Issue 11 / March 5, 2008
When Giants Walked the Land
By David K. Yamaguchi
The North American Post

IN THE YEAR 2040, just over 30 years from now, my nieces' kids may ask me, "So, [Great-] Uncle David, What was it like in the Seattle Japanese-American community in the early 2000s?" In answering them, lacking adequate words of my own, I will have to fall back on the image-evoking expression that it was a time "When Giants Walked the Land." For these days, all one has to do is to attend any community function, be it a church bazaar or book talk, and there will be people whose lives have been featured in books walking about. You can go up to them and talk to them. Examples include the following, all of whom were good sports in letting me take their pictures



Fumi Hayashida and daughter Natalie
Icons of us all, their famous image of a determined young mother and sleeping child leaving Bainbridge Island in March 1942 is perhaps the most enduring image of Japanese Americans today. If there is a Nisei "Rosa Parks," Fumi is it, for the picture, which appeared in Life magazine, was among the first to prick the conscience of the American public on internment. Ironically, the picture circulated for decades without identifying captions. Thus, while local Nisei knew the mother and child, it was not until the late 1980s to early 1990s that Sansei like my cousins, siblings, and I were able to connect the young mom to the happy family matriarch we have known our entire lives

Ry Tanino
Hailing from a Bellevue strawberry family, the early life of this farmboy-turned-soldier is recorded for all time in Strawberry Days.







Minnie Itoi
"Why are you always taking my picture?," she asks. It is because she is the self-determined woman whose young life features so prominently in Nisei Daughter. Ms. Itoi can be recognized today from her signature beret.






Besides these four, there are many, many others. Why not approach them and ask them about their lives?

Back to Sansei Journal
Copyright © The North American Post 2008, All Rights Reserved.