Japanese American press
The Japanese American press refers to publications that primarily serve Japanese immigrants and their descendants, featuring content in both Japanese and English. This press played a crucial role in providing a platform for Japanese Americans to address and respond to the discrimination they faced in the United States. Its peak occurred in the 1920s and 1930s, particularly in West Coast cities, where newspapers like the Los Angeles Rafu Shimpo and San Francisco's Nichi Bei Shinbun catered to diverse community needs. The press also adapted during World War II, producing newspapers within internment camps, which allowed for some expression despite censorship. Over time, the landscape of Japanese American journalism evolved, with notable publications like Nichi Bei Times and Nichi Bei Weekly emerging post-war to reconnect communities fractured by internment. While some publications faced challenges and declines, others, such as Rafu Shimpo, successfully adapted to continue serving their communities into the 21st century. The ongoing efforts of these publications highlight the resilience and importance of the Japanese American press in preserving cultural identity and promoting community engagement.
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Japanese American press
DEFINITION: Publications issued in both Japanese and English languages that cater primarily to Japanese immigrants and their descendants
SIGNIFICANCE:The Japanese American press provided a means whereby Japanese Americans dealt with the prejudicial treatment they received in America. The idea that the Nisei, or second-generation Japanese Americans, should embrace “Americanism” received major impetus. Newspapers also provided an outlet for incarcerated Issei, or first-generation Japanese immigrants, and Nisei during World War II.
The golden era of the Japanese American ethnic press occurred during the 1920s and 1930s, when the ethnic populations in West Coast cities had grown large enough to support several competing newspapers. The Los Angeles Rafu Shimpo provided local and regional news to a large West Coast readership, while the competing but shorter-lived Doho gave emphasis to progressive, prolabor news and opinion. The San Francisco press included the Nichi Bei Shinbun and the Shin Sekai. Under publisher Kyutaro Abiko, Nichi Bei published both San Francisco and Los Angeles editions during the 1920s. However, a labor strike closed the latter paper in 1931. Nichi Bei was the highest-circulation Japanese American newspaper. The East Coast press included New York City’s Japanese American News.
The Japanese-language papers also published articles in English, but not on a regular basis until 1925, in Nichi Bei. By this time, the publishers realized the need to cater to English-speaking Nisei. Other English-language sections soon appeared, followed by English-language weeklies, including Japanese American Weekly, introduced by Abiko in 1926, and the Seattle-based Japanese American Courier, introduced in 1928. Although the Courier achieved only a fraction of the circulation of the Japanese-language papers, its editor, James Yoshinori Sakamoto, exerted considerable influence and was instrumental in the development of the Japanese American Citizens League.
Several newspapers, especially Sakamoto’s Courier, fostered the attitude that an ethic of hard work and loyalty would lead to the eventual absorption of Japanese Americans into the mainstream of American life. The press was far from unified in reacting to the times, however. Whereas the Issei press heavily supported Japan in the Sino-Japanese War that began in July 1937, Doho criticized Japan for creating havoc in Asia. Differences of opinion also split the Japanese-language and English-language staffs within individual newspapers.
The Japanese press suffered severely in the aftermath of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. US military officials desired total suppression of Japanese-language publishing, while civilian authorities merely urged its control. Nevertheless, all Japanese American papers on the West Coast were shut down by mid-May 1942. In contrast, the inland press, including the Rocky Nippon, Colorado Times, Utah Nippo, and the relocated Pacific Citizen, continued and to some degree thrived during the war. Newspapers also quickly developed within internment camps.
Although officially sanctioned, internment camp newspapers enjoyed some autonomy. The Manzanar Free Press, for example, was headquartered in the Office of Official Reports and was subject to censorship by the camp director. In practice, however, the paper’s editors received little interference. The director even authorized a Japanese-language edition during the paper’s second year. While barred from directly criticizing federal policies that had led to the mass Japanese American incarceration, Free Press editors were allowed to print factual stories on legal challenges to those policies. The Free Press was circulated by mail to all the internment camps.
The Japanese American press was restored to vitality by the end of the war, with the new Nichi Bei Times established in 1946 to reconnect individuals separated by incarceration. As had the Nichi Bei Shinbun, the Times became the leading US Japanese American newspaper. After experiencing a decline in circulation and advertisements due to limited Japanese immigration to the United States, the Times closed in 2009; however, the Nichi Bei Foundation was immediately created to support a new, nonprofit version of the paper, titled Nichi Bei Weekly, which became a sub-publication of the Nichi Bei News. Nichi Bei News, based out of San Francisco, California, self-describes as a non-profit ethnic newspaper. Like many other news outlets of the twenty-first century, they have maintained a strong online presence as they reach Asian-Pacific Islander communities all over the world. While Rafu Shimpo experienced similar issues, including an aging readership base, after an announcement that it could fold by the end of 2016, it was able to raise funds and find enough new sources of revenue to continue. As of 2024, the Los Angeles-based publication continued to print their publication. Meanwhile, the Hawaii Hochi served as a Japanese-language newspaper for the Japanese American community in the state of Hawaii from 1912 to 2023. At the height of its circulation in the 1990s, the Hochi had a readership of around 9,000. In 2024, the English-language edition, the Hawaiian Herald, relaunched under the name The San Times.
Bibliography
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Cruz, Catherine. “The Hawaiʻi Herald, a Local Japanese Community Newspaper, to Close Up Shop after 43 Years.” The Conversation, Hawai'i Public Radio, 3 Nov. 2023, https://www.hawaiipublicradio.org/the-conversation/2023-11-03/japanese-community-newspaper-the-hawaii-herald-to-close-shop-after-43-years. Accessed 30 Aug. 2024.
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Ng, Wendy. Japanese American Internment During World War II: A History and Reference Guide. Greenwood Press, 2002.
“Nichi Bei News.” Nichi Bei News, www.nichibei.org/nichibeiweekly/. Accessed 30 Aug. 2024.
Yoo, David K. Growing Up Nisei: Race, Generation, and Culture Among Japanese Americans of California, 1924-49. U of Illinois P, 2000.