In the last chapter, I wrote about the Community Chest and the Potlatch Festival. In this chapter, I would like to share with you the achievements of Heiji Okuda and Chuzaburo Ito, the two prominent leaders of the Seattle Japanese community.
Heiji Okuda
Here is Heiji Okuda’s brief biography per some sources:
1867 Born on January 2 in the Abe village, Shiki District in Nara Prefecture.
1890 Married a woman named Tamura when he was in Tokyo. She passed away in 1899.
1893 Moved to America in August.
1900 Married Perkins and started a transportation business in Seattle.
1901 Appointed vice-chairperson when Nihonjin-kai was established.
1906 Became the president of Toyo Transportation Corp.
1913 Became the first chairperson of the North American Communication Nihonjin-kai.
1919 Okuda Shibagaki Shokai was founded; Started a trading business importing Japanese goods.
1920 Became chairperson of Hokubei Nihonjin-kai.
1924 Became the president of Toyo Trading Company whose business was to supply Japanese labor to the Daihoku (Great Northern) Railway.
1925 Became chairperson of the Hokubei Nihonjin-kai for the second time.
1927 Became chairperson of the Communication Committee of the Japanese in Northwestern America.
I found an article about him around the time when he started his transportation business in Seattle in 1900.
“The Rise and Fall of Main Street” by Akatonbo Nakamura (January 1, 1939 issue)1
In early January 1900, Heiji Okuda married Ms. Perkins who was from Boston in a small church on Pike Street. The couple walked home on Third Avenue heading to the Main Street but the avenue was too narrow for a newlywed couple to walk arm in arm. There were rabbits hopping everywhere from the roadside grass.
The couple found their home in a room at the corner of Main Street and Fifth Avenue where Nishioka Dentist is currently located and started a transportation business downstairs. Many started their businesses on Main Street and they have been passed down to this day. Yet, Okuda’s is the only one that survived. He soon moved to 507 Main Street and his wife taught English at the front desk. The late Tetsuo Takahashi and Toyojiro Tsukuno frequently visited the place to learn English from her.
There was another article reminiscing about Heiji Okuda’s business after 1900.
“Daily Earning Back Then Is Equal to Monthly Earning Now in Transportation Business” (January 1, 1940 issue)
North American Times, January 1, 1940Well, it was 40 or 50 years ago when I was eating that dumpling soup which means it goes back half a century. World War I was about a quarter of a century ago, about 25 or 26 years ago, which makes it harder to remember things – said Heiji Okuda prefacing his talk with his somewhat usual bleary eyes, feeling sentimental in the corner office within Toyo Transportation Corporation which has been in business for many years in the same place since its start . . . . As he remembered the bright days of the time, he told us about the following in pieces:
“Back then a car cost over 2,000 dollars, but our business was booming to the point where we had four drivers and four trucks running all day long. The pricing was not different from now, but we earned in one day what we would earn in a month now.
Toward the end of the war we had about 300 Japanese arriving on every ship and with Nihon Yusen and Osaka Shosen each arriving twice a month adding up to four and other foreign ships too. I remember that we made 150 dollars a day from our delivery for Fujii Hotel alone. The boat fare between Japan and the U.S. in 1908 was 63 yen if departing from Japan. From the U.S. I think it was 43 dollars and 50 cents. And the exchange rate was nearly 60 dollars to 100 yen. We sure made a lot of money at the time but we have none left now.”
“Jitsugyo Tourist Group to Visit” (December 18, 1917 issue)
It’s been decided that the Seattle Home Country Jitsugyo Observation Group which is led by Heiji Okuda, will finally depart on January 19 next year by Yusen Fushimi-maru. With the group membership fee of 350 dollars they will sightsee around Japan on the 10th. Everything will be first-class on their round trip. As they allow 15 participants maximum, anyone who is interested should apply at their earliest convenience.
“Returning Home on Fushimi-maru” (January 17, 1918 issue)
In the group led by Heiji Okuda were Toru Aoki from Shibata Shoten, Manpei Miyagawa and his wife, assistant manager at Japan Trading Company Sentaro Ito, Seiichi Hara and Kirita. There was Saijiro Matsumoto who holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Chicago. Among the previously reported were Mine, Kamata, Nakamura and Harui.
As I wrote in Chapter 5 of this series, Heiji Okuda’s group boarded Fushimi-maru and headed to Japan on January 19 with Consul Sato.
Upon returning to Japan, Heiji Okuda met face-to-face with Shigenobu Okuma and Eiichi Shibusawa, the key figures in the political and economic scenes in Japan at the time and shared with them the situation and problems that the Japanese residents in Seattle were facing.
“Heiji Okuda in Tokyo” (April 10, 1918 issue)
Heiji Okuda is currently in Tokyo after returning home. According to the letter sent to Shibagaki, he visited Mr. Okuma and was well received by him. They had a relaxing discussion as time passed unnoticed and Mr. Okuma listened attentively to Okuda’s request to give some form of official recognition to his fellow Japanese for their hard work and efforts and those of exemplary character. When he met with Mr. Shibusawa, Mr. Shibusawa deftly asked about the Japanese people. Okuda made a number of requests regarding business successors, ease of traveling to the U.S. and other matters; imploring him to give consideration and left the place. Okuda was told to continue caring for things in other fields.
As if to respond to Heiji Okuda’s visit, Mr. Shigenobu Okuma sent this message of encouragement to the Japanese residents in Seattle which was published in the January 1, 1919 issue titled “To my fellow Japanese people”: “As we see Japan and the U.S. further getting closer with the anti-Japanese mood dissipating recently, I believe that we owe much of what made this happen to the hard work of our fellow Japanese people.”
“One Person a Day (11) Heiji Okuda” (January 15, 1919 issue)
The man who became the president of Nihon-kan Company at the general meeting yesterday is from the old city of Nara and for a long time has been the kind that just cannot stay quiet. Naturally having been in good health, he works a lot. He has worked quite a lot for public matters yet, his occupation as a translator has sometimes caused opposition and criticism. Though, I believe that he is not the evil kind who would deceive others, despite what his opponents would say. Some say that he got rejuvenated considerably since his wife passed away a few years ago. When it comes to work, he definitely has a keen business sense that lets him get things done in the most efficient way.
North American Times, January 15, 1919“Chairperson of Nikkai Okuda Celebrates Appointment of New Mayor” (March 16, 1920 issue)
Following the resignation of Kinya Okajima, Heiji Okuda has been elected chairperson of the Hokubei Nihonjin-kai. Yesterday, the new mayor of Seattle, Caldwell – who was elected in the recent election – took over and assumed the office. Chairperson of Nikkai Okuda visited the new mayor as a representative of the Japanese residents in the city and expressed his congratulations on his inauguration.
This article was written when Heiji Okuda became chairperson of the Hokubei Nihonjin-kai for the first time and we can see how he cared about building the Japan-US friendship.
“Three on the Coast Commended by Japan Industry Association, Heiji Okuda Represents Seattle” (July 12, 1938 issue)
North American Times, July 12, 1938The Japan Industry Association commended 38 individuals who contributed to the promotion of trading as well as international friendship on June 6 and among them ten live abroad, three of whom reside on the Pacific coast: Heiji Okuda in Seattle, Taichi Takeoka in Portland and Goro Morifumi in Los Angeles. The commendation ceremony for Okuda was held today at 2 pm at the consulate. Okuda is already well known as the respected elder in Seattle . . . . The certificate of commendation for Okuda reportedly arrived at the consulate this morning via San Francisco.
“Elder Okuda Thinks of His Son” (September 27, 1939 issue)
Having sent his son to Japan, the elder Heiji Okuda seems to be facing a great deal of loneliness but said the following:
“As my son has turned 17, ready to go to college, I wanted him to know how his uncle and aunt are living in Japan and what the life of a farmer in Japan is like before he started college. Such experience would be helpful for him when he goes out to the world and with that thought in mind, I sent him to my hometown for about a year. I did it not to make him study but to have him gain some life experience.”
The July 2, 1948 issue of The North American Post reported that Okuda’s eldest son Kenji graduated from Harvard University after returning to the U.S. and became an economics professor at the University of Puerto Rico at the young age of 26.
“Reader’s Response” (January 1, 1940 issue)
They asked some notable people in Seattle at the time to answer the following two questions:
1) What should be done in the Japanese community?
2) What they would like to do this year?Heiji Okuda:
1) I’ve found that much of what I did in the past based on my belief that it would be good to do so turned out to be the opposite of what I was expecting. In the current Japanese community, I think that the best thing to do is for each of its members to put their effort into their given work and be aware of the fact that they all contribute to the growth of the Japanese people.
2) At this stage in my life I have no ambitious desire to do anything. I just don’t want to be any nuisance to others. That’s all I want.
This response was when Heiji Okuda was 72 years old and his words seem to be a reflection of his own experience. Heiji Okuda made a tremendous contribution to the growth of the Japanese community in the prewar time and he published a number of stories when he was most active under the pseudonym Henri Okuda. The North American Times was launched after the war to pass stories onto the nisei and sansei generations. At the old age of 80, he also served as chairperson of the Comrades for Achieving the Naturalization Rights of Issei. He was the kind of person who would take initiative and such character never seemed to lose its momentum even in his later years.
Note:
1. All article excerpts are from The North American Times unless noted otherwise.
*The English version of this series is a collaboration between Discover Nikkei and The North American Post, Seattle’s bilingual community newspaper. This article was originally publishd in Japanese on February 27, 2023 in The North American Post.
© 2023 Ikuo Shinmasu
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