Yamato Ichihashi was an Issei born in Magoya, an island of Honshu, Japan on April 15, 1878. Ichihashi attended public schools in America during his youth in order to further his education. In 1907 he graduated from Stanford University with a A.B. degree, and later an A.M. of Economics in 1908. He worked as an assistant in the Economics Department, also serving as a special agent of the United States Immigration Commission for two years. In 1910 he successfully entered Harvard, winning a fellowship in Sociology the next year, and then in 1914 he was given his doctorate in Economics with a dissertation on Japanese immigration, making him a progenitor of Asian American studies. In 1912, he was given a position of an instructor in Japanese History at Stanford University. One reason for offering his position revolved around the hope that a group of public-spirited Japanese, seeking to promote cultural acceptance and understanding, would more likely to provide the money for a program chair. In 1920 appropriate funds were saved up to appoint Dr. Ichihashi's as assistant professor of Japanese History and Civilization. He is thought of as the first person of Japanese descent to occupy such a position at an American educational institution. He was well known among multiple generations of Students for his enthusiasm for Japanese history and cultural subject matter, his stimulating and thought provoking lectures, as well as his social skills and charm with Asian and Non-Asian alike. During 1919, Ichihashi acted as an adviser to Japan's official delegation at the First International Labor Conference in Washington, D. C. After attending a Washington Conference on the Limitation of Armaments (1921-1922), as an interpreter and confidential secretary to senior Japanese delegate Baron Kato, Dr. Ichihashi's published a book, The Washington Conference and After, in 1928 by the Stanford Press. The book documented the relations without nationalist prejudice from U.S. or Japan. In 1932, Ichihashi published yet another book Japanese in theUnited States: A Critical Study of the Problems of the Japanese Immigrants and their Children based on several years of research and observation. It received acclaim as the "best scientific study" on the Asians in America, due to the objective nature of a personal topic. In 1933 Ichihashi served a term as a lecturer in the College of Law of the Tokyo Imperial University. In his position he attempted to advocate an understanding between Japanese-American relations. Unfortunately it wasn’t enough as Pearl Harbor forced Japanese American into internment camps, on his return to the West Coast he was sent to Palp Alto and Tule Lake relocation and internment camps serving as a liaison between them and the American officials. During his life he dedicated his work to strengthening the bond of Asian Americans and Non-Asian Americans. When we see Asian American’s working, going to school, socializing outside of their ethnic group in the California one thinks nothing of it. But like many Japanese American during the time Ichihashi didn’t have that luxury and in order to prove his American loyalty he needed to go through extra measures of peacekeeping and diplomacy prior to the camps and while in the camps. His work can be regarded as Asian American Studies in its earliest forms and Asian America Studies as a subject embodies with it subculture, ethnic culture, as well as pop culture. When Japanese Americans in the camps are represented in film, texts, nearly all mediums they are represented as loyal, hardworking frontiersmen and women; as was Ichihashi.
http://histsoc.stanford.edu/pdfmem/IchihashiY.pdf
http://www.oac.cdlib.org/data/13030/k7/tf7z09n9k7/files/tf7z09n9k7.pdf
http://www.stanford.edu/dept/humsci/external/img/about/03ichihashi_216-216.jpg
http://www.lib.utah.edu/static-content/marriottlibrary/files/images/p144n192.jpg
Ty Tran Nguyen
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