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Finding Your Japanese American Roots
- June 27, 2018 at NJAHS at 1684 Post Street, San Francisco, 6 pm – 7 pm.
- June 28, 2018 at Oakland Asian Cultural Center, 388 9th Street, Oakland,
7 pm – 9 pm.
Finding Your Japanese American Roots
The National Japanese American Historical Society will host a one-hour workshop for Nikkei interested in researching and connecting with family in Japan. ” U.S.-Japan CONNECT!” has been working for the past five years helping Nikkei families locate information about their ancestors as well as contacting living relatives in Japan.
It all started during an informal conversation between Satsuki Ina, raised in San Francisco, and colleague, Hiroshi Yanagisawa in Nagoya, Japan, that led to a life-changing meeting with Satsuki’s mother’s family in Nagano-ken. Since that time, many requests from Nikkei have led to similar searches and reunification of long lost relatives. Dr. Ina pointed out that, “a tragic consequence of the war between Japan and the U.S. was the cut-off between Japanese immigrants to the U.S. and their descendants, from their historical and ancestral families in Japan. And the intense Americanization process that followed the war rendered many second and almost all third generation Japanese Americans no longer able to speak or read Japanese. As a result, many of us have been unable to search our family roots in Japan.”
Mr. Yanagisawa, a graduate from Illinois State University 
and long-time staff at Seto City, Board of Education, will be in the Bay Area to conduct two one-hour workshops to explain the process he has developed for locating families in Japan. Anyone interested in pursuing a family search in Japan can complete an Intake Form to determine possibilities based on information available. Cost and timing will be discussed at the workshop.
Co-presenter at both sites will be the California Genealogical Society. On the 28th, the Oakland Asian Cultural Center will be the host and co-presenter. Also on the 28th, Marisa Louie Lee, experienced genealogist and former archivist at the National Archives and Records Administration office in San Bruno, will speak about Japanese American records available at the National Archives to which researchers can get free access.
Questions? Contact NJAHS at 415-921-5007 or njahs@njahs.org