This collection of photographs shows prominent and influential members of the Japanese American community in Los Angeles and elsewhere in California, many of whom were connected to the important Japanese-English newspaper, Rafu Shimpo.

The central figure of the collection is Togo Tanaka, one of the leading voices of the Nisei generation before the war. Born in Portland in 1916, Tanaka grew up in Los Angeles and attended UCLA after graduating high school at 16. Post college, he took a job as co-editor of the English section of the Rafu Shimpo, one of the most widely read Japanese language papers. Along with his work for the paper, he joined the fledgling Japanese American Citizens League and other community organizations. In the years leading up to the war and Executive Order 9066, he saw his role as a bridge of understanding between Japan and the U.S. through, in his words, “our world friendship club gathering, our cosmopolitan associations, our international institute discussions, our church forums, our America-Japan student conferences.” In October of 1941, he was sent by Rafu publisher H. T. Komai to Washington DC to find out how the paper might continue to publish during the war, meeting with Attorney General Francis Biddle and first lady Eleanor Roosevelt.

He was arrested and interned shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor, one of the few Nisei among a group of mostly Issei community leaders. He was released after eleven days and strove to keep the newspaper afloat. In March of 1942 he was sent with his family to the Manzanar Concentration Camp where he was hired as one of two “documentary historians” to study and interview the internees, a job he said later, made him look to others as a “very nosy snooper.” Much like his pre-war associate Fred Tayama (pictured several times in the collection) he was viewed with suspicion by many in the camp. After Tayama’s severe beating in 1942 (an event that would begin the Manzanar Uprising), Tanaka was warned that he would be next. He was ushered out of the camp and put up in an abandoned CCC Camp in Death Valley. After the war, he relocated to Chicago where, among other later accomplishments, he helped publish the Scene magazine.

While some photographs in the collection are candid and personal, including views of Tanaka’s wedding, many are professionally-shot and possibly created by a staff photographer at the Rafu Shimpo. One image shows Tanaka with longtime Rafu Shimpo pressman Yasuhei “Yas” Nakanishi, standing in front of the Rafu Shimpo printing press, examining a paper. According to his obituary, Nakanishi, “worked on the newspaper production line at The Rafu Shimpo from 1935 until 1942, when the publication was closed and its staff sent away to concentration camps following the signing of Executive Order 9066.” After the paper reopened, he assisted with the linocut machines for decades.

There are also several portraits of Tanaka’s close associate Fred Tayama. A Businessman and JACL leader, Tayama esposed a “100% American” philosophy. He renounced his dual citizenship in 1925 and vowed not to send his children to Japanese language schools. His Densho Encyclopedia biography notes that he also made enemies in the community, “with his aggressive business style, becoming embroiled in a dispute with labor organizers over working conditions at his restaurants and being vilified in the pages of the Japanese American leftist newspaper Doho. Many also claimed that he charged Issei exorbitant prices for routine legal services and exploited his JACL position to secure business.”

Tayama was also interned at Manzanar and was seen by many as an “inu," (a slang term for an informant or spy). After representing Manzanar at a JACL conference in Salt Lake City, Tayama was attacked and severely beaten by six masked men in December of 1942. The arrest of Harry Ueno for the beating set off a chain of events that led to an uprising in the camp, which resulted in two inmates shot to death by camp guards. The next day, a small group of people went to the hospital where Tamaya was recovering to “finish him off.” However, Tayama was hidden by the hospital staff and he was quickly spirited out of Manzanar, along with others (including Tanaka) whose names were on a supposed “death list.”

There are four photographs showing Toyosaku “H.T.” Komai, another influential Rafu Shimpo figure. Komai became the editor of the Rafu Shimpo in 1922 and the business has remained in the family since. There are two copies of a photo showing Komai holding a trophy between two unidentified Japanese American players, one photo shows Komai at an unidentified meeting or dinner, seated alongside Tanaka and the noted pictorialist photographer T.K. Shindo (who won a few different photography awards from the Rafu Shimpo). The fourth photo of Komai shows him proudly presenting a trophy to the members of the San Pedro Skippers, a formidable semi-pro team. This last photograph was taken by Jiru Tani, staff photographer for the Rafu Shimpo.

The last important Rafu Shimpo staff member featured in the album is Louise Suski. Dubbed “the Queen Bee” at the Rafu Shimpo before the war, Suski was the paper’s first English language editor-in-chief. Suski was sent to the Heart Mountain internment camp, along with her family, where she helped publish the Heart Mountain sentinel. Suski also relocated to Chicago after the war, and worked with Tanaka editing the Scene magazine.

There are four photographs documenting an important meeting which took place at the LA’s University Club in March of 1941. The meeting between members of the Nissei community (Tanaka included) and representatives from the US Army and Navy, including naval intelligence officer Lieutenant Commander K.D. Ringle. The event was covered by the Los Angeles Daily News. Beginning with the remark that the Nisei community resolved “to lift itself out of the problem child status in this country” the article relays the different viewpoints expressed at the meeting, most of them come off as darkly ironic, given the events that would begin less than a year later. Ringle, seen in the back of the photos talking animatedly to Tanaka, was quoted as saying the Japanese-American community had “not proved they understand all of the duties of citizenship. When that is demonstrated any prejudice or discrimination will disappear.” Tanaka, by contrast, remarked, “Our problems are not with federal or other officials, but with our immediate neighbors. We must make ourselves better understood by them.”

There are also a handful of other photographs showing different JACL or other Nisei community events, including two of a spirited-looking election which shows Tanaka, Tayama, Suski, and others. This is possibly an election for the Los Angeles JACL.

Also included are four photos (printed on one folded sheet) related to the Heart Mountain Concentration Camp. One is a photo of text advertising a “recognition social” featuring the George Igawa Orchestra, a swing band that was made up of professional and amateur musicians from the camp. There are also two views of the barracks, and a photo of the logos for the Artistos, a camp sports team.

The remainder of the photographs in the collection are unidentified portraits, though some certainly appear to have connections to the Rafu Shimpo.