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Reviews
Shirakawa: Stories from a Pacific Northwest Japanese American Community
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By Stan Flewelling
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White River Valley Museum, Auburn, Wash., 2002. Illustrations, notes, bibliography, index. 250 pages. $24.95 paper.
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Reviewed by June Arima Schumann
Oregon Nikkei Legacy Center, Portland
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| Shirakawa, Japanese for White River, was the name used by Issei (first-generation Japanese immigrants) settlers for the White River Valley, the fertile basin created by glacial streams from Washington's Mount Rainier. Even to this day, some descendants of Japanese immigrants refer to the area as Shirakawa. |
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Shirakawa begins with the arrival of Issei in the early 1890s as farm workers recruited by labor contractors. They came in response to a need for cheap labor after the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 prohibited Chinese laborers from entering the United Sates. It was not long before Japanese farm workers built a reputation for doing work no one else was willing to tackle. They blasted stumps, cleared thistles, and dug ditches. For their labor, they earned one dollar a day during summer, less in winter. Some managed to obtain small parcels of farmland in exchange for their labor and began to establish themselves as farmers. |
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For their early successes, the Japanese were rewarded with headlines such as "Stop the Japs" in an 1893 White River Journal editorial, followed a year later with "The Japs Must Go," objecting to the "starvation wages which the Japs were willing to work for" (p. 24). The earliest anti-Japanese organizations in the White River Valley were formed about this time. |
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The first immigrants from Japan were young men and teenagers who intended to stay a short time, then return home. As temporary workers, they came to make their fortunes, some seeking adventure with visions of better opportunity, others to learn English and western ways. In time, married men sent for their wives and children to join them; others had families arrange for suitable brides to come to America. With the arrival of women and the starting of families, the Nikkei (people of Japanese ancestry) community in the White River Valley began to blossom. |
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Women who came as brides of men they had seen only in a photograph must have been individuals with exceptional fortitude. They worked alongside their husbands, faced unexpected hardships, and created stable family lives. Hosoe Kikkawa Kodama, an Issei woman, recalled: "I got up at 5:00 in the morning and prepared breakfast and got the children ready for the day. At 8:00 I went to the greenhouse, at 11:30 I came back to the house to prepare lunch, and during the few moments of noon rest, I washed my children's dirty clothes. Then I went back to the greenhouse ... came home ... t 6:00 pm.... I did miscellaneous chores until about midnight" (p. 50). Another, Suma Murakami, complied with her family's plans for marriage, but in anger, she severed all communication when she left for America. She never reconciled with her family in Japan. |
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Shirakawa documents the struggles and triumphs of Japanese families through World War I, the Great Depression, and the events leading to World War II and the forced removal of Japanese Americans from their farms, homes, and businesses and their incarceration into concentration camps. Throughout the book, Stan Flewelling provides the readers with historical context and insights into the thinking and motivations of civic and political leaders as well as individual Japanese Americans. |
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The author makes effective use of primary sources, including interviews, letters, journals, and business records of early Japanese American and white settlers. The historical narrative is made more compelling with the use of insets that feature related information. This organization allows readers to follow the storyline in the narrative while reflecting on personal insights and editorials along the way. The details found in family stories and business and personal documents make interesting reading. The anecdotes impart a rich feeling for the Nikkei community in the White River Valley. |
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Shirakawa is illustrated with numerous photographs documenting early Japanese families, farms, businesses, associations, and community activities. Readers familiar with Nikkei communities will enjoy seeing these photos and might recognize some names and faces. For many readers interested in local history and American history in general, the immigration story, and issues pertaining to civil rights and civil liberties, this book will fill a gap. Classroom teachers will find Shirakawa helpful as a reference. |
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