Japanese American History: Stories

This is a summary of the Obon Festival that took place on July 31, 1965 at the San Luis Obispo Veterans' Memorial Hall. Obon is an...

This is a summary of the oral history by Kofuji Eto Fukunaga, about her father's life story. Her father, Tameji Eto, was born and raised...

Japanese Farmers (Photo Courtesy of Richard Waller Family Archives) The mark left by Japanese Americans can be seen all over the country,...

Before Pearl Harbor In 1918, Haruo Hayashi's father, Yeiji Hayashi, immigrated to the U.S. from Japan by going through South America and...

Video Courtesy of Richard Waller Family Archives Story The Waller Seed Company's story begins over 100 years ago when Lionel Duncuff...

Nagano Family (Photo Courtesy of History Center of San Luis Obispo County) The Nagano family had been living in Morro Bay since 1917, but...

Expensive maple dressers, love seats, dining room sets, and bedsteads, all imported from Japan, filled the homes of many Japanese...

A True Immigrant Born in Japan in March of 1872, Umekichi Tanaka was a true immigrant, having landed in Mexico in the early 1900s. While...

How the Japanese Children's Home Started The Matsuura Family's story begins during the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1919, similar to the...

Gila River Detention Camp in Arizona (National Archives) During World War II, the head of Japanese households in America were taken away...

Minami family (Image Source here) Yaemon Minami: 1880 - he is born in the village of Wakayama Japan 1905 - he arrives in San Francisco...

Japantown in San Luis Obispo (Image source here) Japantown in San Luis Obispo: One block long on Higuera Street Between South and French...

Overview Japanese Picture Brides (National Archives) Many Japanese people immigrated to Arroyo Grande in the 20th Century. Many of them...

These are quotes from Grace Shibata, Take Eto's daughter, which protrays the struggle Japanese Immigrants faced: when coming to the...

Below is a retelling of Take Eto's life during and after World War II. To learn more about her life before World War II, click here. On...

This is the story of Take Eto, a Japanese Immigrant who came to the United States at the age of 19, told from the perspective of Grace...