by Dee Goto
In 1989, after twenty years of gathering documentation of the Japanese in America experience for the University of Washington Archives, I realized, “Seattle doesn’t have a Japanese Historical organization.” I made an appointment with Tomio Moriguchi, CEO of Uwajimaya, who suggested I talk to Chuck Kato, president of JLS/JCS (Japanese Language School & Japanese Community Service). Chuck had tried to develop a Japanese cultural center at the Seattle JLS a couple times the previous 20 years.
Chuck asked me to join the board, but both of us were blackballed because several board members considered us to be part of the “typically young spenders and no longer traditionally prudent”. Those board members had reestablished the JLS after WWII incarceration of Japanese in the 1950s and were proud of being in the black financially, over their previous thirty years. I knew it wasn’t personal and time was needed to go further.
Donations of historical documents was slow, so I decided we could create some. In 1991, I invited three Japanese heritage individuals, Chuck Kato, Margaret Yasuda, Del Uchida, to meet in my kitchen regularly, sharing Japanese values, growing up memories, and writing some of them down. Autumn 1993, I typed up several of the stories, went to Kinko to print the pages, organized a construction-paper cover production, and hand stapled them into booklets. We made enough copies to distribute “OMOIDE I” to friends and relatives for Christmas. OMOIDE II & III were similarly hand published in subsequent years.
By the year 2000 it was clear the JLS/JCS needed young people for survival and sustainability of the buildings at 1414 S. Weller & Rainier Avenue in Seattle, housing the JLS since 1913. In 2003, NHAW (Nikkei Heritage Association of Washington) was incorporated, later including JLS/JCS and publicly became known as JCCCW (Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Washington).
OMOIDE IV was financed with a Washington State, OSPI (Office of the Superintendent of Education), Kip Tokuda Memorial fund in 2004. Kip Tokuda was a Washington State Legislator, from Seattle’s 37th District and developed the fund, in honor of his parents, to not forget the incarceration of all who had as little as 1/16th Japanese Heritage from Washington, Oregon, California and Southern Arizona during America’s WWII with Japan.
OMOIDE V is a compilation of OMOIDE I, II, III and financed with a Seattle “4 Culture” grant in 2011. Story illustration are by Sam Goto, covers are by Aki Sogabe, kirigami (cutting-paper art) artist.
Seattle Film Festival featured a video, narrated by Lori Matsukawa, with stories written and read by OMOIDE participants.
Currently 2025 we are gathering stories of “Compassion & Kindness”, including stories from outside the Japanese Heritage community for OMOIDE VII with another OSPI grant. The published books will be distributed to schools around the state of Washington.