Pacific Northwest Japanese History
Issei: A History of Japanese Immigrants in North America
Notes: "A recent volume on the history of the Japanese in the Pacific Northwest, including those in British Columbia and Alaska. Based upon interviews and personal accounts, it is essentially a social history of the Issei viewed through their own eyes. Organized topically, it has vivid Issei recollections of working in the railroads, lumber mills, mines, Alaskan fisheries and canneries, and other subjects. Includes sections on Japanese women, stowaways, and prostitutes."—A Buried Past, 283 (for the original Japanese-language version).
Ito was a journalist for the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper in Tokyo. In the 1960s, he became interested in the Japanese American immigrant experience and began collecting anecdotes with the idea of publishing a book. The Japanese American communities in Portland, Oregon, and Seattle, Washington, enthusiastically embraced his idea and coordinated the collection of poetry, diaries, memoirs, and photographs. They also raised funds for the publication of the thousand-page book that resulted. This is the English translation, by Shinichiro Nakamura and Jean S. Gerard, published four years after the Japanese original.
xxviii, 1016 pages. Plus maps and plates.
OCLC: 3698919, 238888287, 911953158, 1127717881
Edition + Condition: First edition. A fine hardcover copy (previous owner's chopmark on endpaper and title page). In a near fine publisher's slipcase.
Publication: Seattle, WA: Executive Committee for Publication of Issei... / Japanese Community Service, 1973.
Item No: #361084
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