Illinois Japanese Unknown Heroes
Before World War II, there were far fewer Japanese in Chicago than after the war. As a result, more attention has been paid to postwar Chicago Japanese, many of whom chose Chicago as a place to resettle after enduring the humiliation of incarceration camps in the western US. But although they were a small minority in the bustling metropolis of Chicago, the prewar Japanese were in fact unique, colorful, and independent people, perfectly matched to the cosmopolitanism of Chicago, and enjoyed their lives in Chicago. This series would focus on lives of regular Japanese in pre-war Chicago.
Stories from this series
Chapter 1 (Part 1): Japanese Garden Designers, Domestic Workers, and their “Japanophile” Employers—Introduction
June 5, 2022 • Takako Day
The first Japanese domestic servant to be recorded in the 1880 Illinois census was J. Yanada, a twenty-one year old single man who served Ulysses Grant, 18th President of the United States, in Galena, Illinois.1 Grant was very satisfied with Yanada, who was assigned to Grant’s service by the Japanese government when Grant toured in Japan in 1879,2 and once reported to a friend: “I have become so accustomed to travel with my little Jap, who looks after everything, that …
