Researching Japanese-American Family History

Example of koseki
(Japanese family registry)

A few years ago I volunteered and worked with a group that was bringing genealogy into schools and social agency programs, trying to interest the younger generation in researching family history.  The outreach during the first couple of years focused on the black community.  It was then decided that we expand our outreach to other groups.  One suggestion was the Japanese-American community, but we ended up not pursuing that, primarily because Japanese family history research can be difficult and we knew of no good resources for beginners.

Well, Japanese family history is still difficult to research, but now I know about a very handy reference for people who are getting started.  Linda Harms Okazaki has created a six-page guide, Finding Your Japanese Roots, in a laminated trifold layout.  It is focused on Japanese-American research, finding records in the United States, and then working back to finding records in japan.

The guide provides a quick overview of important history to keep in mind when conducting your research, types of records to look for in the U.S. and Japan, a glossary, a comprehensive list of online resources, and several short tips.  Most of the information is clear and to the point, but some items would benefit from a little clarity, due in part to the need to be very concise because of the limited space.

The short introduction explains circumstances and records specific to Japanese-American research.  In particular, the incarceration of Japanese-Americans during World War II, while a heinous tragedy, created records that can be extremely detailed and informative.

The timeline Linda has created fits an amazing number of important dates into a small space, but a critical fact was omitted.  She included the 1952 Immigration and Naturalization Act that allowed Asian immigrants to become citizens but did not mention that laws enacted at various earlier times (usually during wartime) allowed Asians who served in the U.S. military to naturalize prior to that.

The records discussed are divided into conventional U.S. records, records unique to Japanese-Americans, and conventional Japanese records, and the lists appear to give a good overview.  One record type for those unique to Japanese-Americans seems to have accidentally been left out, however.  There are two references to "Evacuee Case Files" in the descriptions of other records, but there's no entry for the Evacuee Case Files themselves.

Some phrasing is misleading.  A reference to delayed birth certificates as a resource suggests that these exist only for Hawai'i and pre-1906 San Francisco.  Certainly, the majority of Japanese immigrants in the United States were probably in California and Hawai'i, but some were in other locations that either required vital records registration at later dates or simply didn't come near complete compliance for many years.  Delayed birth registration is something to consider through the early 1940's for anywhere in the U.S.  Another statement that would benefit from rephrasing is in the introduction, which states that "American-born women who married Japanese immigrants lost their citizenship until 1931", implying that this was always the case.  It only began in 1907, however.

As Linda is producing and distributing her guide on her own, she makes it in small batches and updates it on an ongoing basis.  Some of the minor problems I have mentioned here will undoubtedly be corrected in an upcoming print run.  If you would like to talk to her about getting a copy, she can be reached at LindaHOkazaki@gmail.com.

Full disclosure:  The copy of Finding Your Japanese Roots that I used for this review was given to me by Linda.

Boy Seamen in the British Royal Navy

If you had ancestors or other relatives who served in the British Royal Navy as "boy seamen", the book Band of Brothers:  Boy Seamen in the Royal Navy, 1800-1956 might be of interest.  It discusses the institution of boys entering the navy at a young age and the training and indoctrination they experienced.  This book was published in 1996 (see full information at the end of this post), but I only came across it recently at a seller of military books with a table at a World War I seminar.

Boy Seaman was an actual "rating" (somewhat similar to a rank) in the Royal Navy until 1956, when "three centuries of tradition" ended.  This should mean, in theory, that boy seamen existed as early as roughly 1656, but the author, David Phillipson, actually discusses only as far back as the 18th century.

Phillipson asserts that the induction process and training of young boys in the Royal Navy did not substantially change over the course of more than a century and a half.  It is difficult to gauge the accuracy of this claim, as two thirds of the book (the final two chapters) is the author's own reminiscences of his time as a Boy Seaman.  The first three chapters, which include quotations from some boys of earlier periods, also include several of his own memories and observations.

The first chapter ("Wooden Walls") focuses on the background of Boy Seamen and their earlier (informal) incarnation, "servants."  Most boys joined the navy for better economic opportunities, in times when only the oldest son in a family could expect to inherit, though a good number came from families with long seafaring traditions.  The rest of the chapter gives information about and quotes from boys through the early 1830's.  The second chapter ("Boys in the Victorian Navy") covers the period when Boy Seaman became a more codified position in the navy.  It does have material on the Victorian era, but also significant amounts of the author's comments on his own experiences.

Chapter 3, "The Dreadnoughts", is about the training schools that were established to teach young seamen their jobs.  Quotations range from 1824 to 1907, along with more of Phillipson's own commentary.  He makes an historical error at one point, claiming that 1904 was "from the closing years of Victoria's reign", when she actually died in 1901.  Chapters 4 and 5 are entirely Phillipson's descriptions of his experiences in the Boy Seaman training regimen.  I was surprised at his low opinion of Royal Marines.

As a warning, this book is British through and through, which might make understanding some of it difficult for American readers.  Beyond naval slang ("Navalese"), Phillipson regularly employs British slang, spelling (some of it nonstandard), and punctuation.  Even after rereading some passages multiple times, I at times was at a loss as to their meaning.  My overall appreciation for the information in the book, however, is still very high.  It includes an adequate index, but I wish the names of the boy seamen whose writings were quoted had been marked as such.

David Phillipson, Band of Brothers:  Boy Seamen in the Royal Navy, 1800-1956, Thrupp, England:  Sutton Publishing Limited, 1996.  New and used copies appear to be available through several sellers on Amazon.com and Bookfinder.com.