Asians in America

[Anonymous]

In the "Late Extra" section of the Los Angeles Times for Monday, March 1, Teresa Watanabe, a regular Times chronicler of Little Tokyo and Japanese-American life, writes about the financial struggle for survival of Rafu Shimpo, Little Tokyo's 107-year old community newspaper and, at one time, the Japanese-American newspaper with the largest circulation in the US. One obvious reason for the paper's financial difficulties might be the national economic crisis threatening American newspapers in general, a web-based crisis that has closed down some papers and reduced others (like the Los Angeles Times) to the size (and sometimes quality) of local green sheets or flashy tabloids. But Chinese and Korean community newspapers are flourishing and number about 100 publications, according to Sandip Roy, editor with New American Media, a San Francisco-based ethnic medium consortium. One of the causes of Rafu Shimpo's troubles is that three-quarters of the 400,000 Japanese-Americans in California are native-born, the largest percentage of any Asian-American group. Most of them are well-educated and fluent English speakers with no need for a Japanese-language newspaper to keep them informed of community events. In this respect the crisis afflicting Rafu Shimpo is analogous to the process of immigration assimilation that closed down the once numerous and vibrant Yiddish-language newspapers in traditional Jewish-American communities.

The Rafu Shimpo played an important part in recording the history and forming the identity of the Japanese-American community in Los Angeles and throughout California. Starting off in 1907 as a mimeographed sheet written and distributed by three Japanese students, it became a professional newspaper in 1922 under the ownership of Toyosaku "H.T." Komai, whose family has run it ever since. In 1926 the paper asked, "Why do people hate the Japanese?", at a time when xenophobic California newspapers and politicians (including the governor) were busy championing laws that banned Japanese-Americans from owning land and generally denouncing all Japanese immigrants, whether long-settled or newly-arrived, as pernicious alien influences. As a result of another law passed in that same year banning Japanese nationals from even immigrating to the US, the paper began to publish its first English-language section. Even though the paper declared itself "100% American" after the attack on Pearl Harbor, publisher H.T. Komai was still taken into custody by the FBI. In 1942 the paper was shut down for four years by government decree and could not cover the forced relocation of Japanese-Americans to concentration camps during that dark period of American history. The paper resumed publication in 1946 under the management of H.T.'s son Akira. Today the paper is run by H.T.'s grandson Mickey Komai, who faces $500,000 in debt and a monthly operating deficit of $7,000.

But apparently the Japanese-American community does not intend to sit back and watch Rafu Shimpo pass quietly into oblivion. As former editor Ellen Endo says, "It's more than a newspaper to most people; it's like a family member." One hundred people attended a "Save the Rafu" town hall meeting in Gardena to come up with possible solutions. Two young editors for the paper, Jordan Ikeda and Randy Masada, are planning to start a website devoted to Japanese-American sports activities, a subject of great interest to community members at all age levels.

Community newspapers are vital parts of communities, especially for Asian-Americans, more isolated than most immigrants by non-Indo-European languages and non-Western customs and traditions. The desire for such newspapers apparently persists, even when the community, through assimilation and education, has outgrown its original need for them. In the words of Iku Kiriyama, the man behind the Gardena town hall meeting, "the Rafu is more than a business, it's a community treasure." It is also a symbol of Japanese-American identity, one that deserves to survive.

Leigh Clark
Monroe High School[Edit by="lclark on Mar 6, 12:04:47 PM"][/Edit]

[Anonymous]

An interesting historical and pictorial book that chronicles the Chinese-American experience from 1850 to roughly 1990 is "The Lonely Queue: The Forgotten History of the Courageous Chinese Americans in Los Angeles" by Icy Smith
The primary divisions are: Early Settlement in Los Angeles, Chinese Exclusion Act Years in Old Chinatown, Social Conditions in Old Chinatown, The Birth of China City, Chinese Americans in World War II, Postwar Years in New Chinatown, Chinatown Troubles, The Development of Suburban Chinatown, The Emergence of the San Gabriel Valley Chinese Communities, New Roles of Chinese Americans, and The Future.
It offers a wealth of photographs worth sharing.

[Anonymous]

Thank you for starting this thread. I have really enjoyed reading the other posts. I truly think this has helped me gain a better understanding of my Asian students. Growing up in Texas, my grasp of Asian culture was limited, not I am learning so much and truly feel like I am better able to include their culture into my classroom.

[Author]

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