Tetsuro Shimojima

Domestic researcher at the Hosei University Institute of Okinawa Culture. He is also a non-fiction writer, conducting research on artists in Japanese American internment camps. He won the Kodansha Non-Fiction Award for "American Treason." His biographies of internment camp artists include "Samurai and California" (Shogakukan, 2000), "A Gift from Japan" (Kodansha, 1986), "An Artist of Extraordinary Talent" (long-running serialization in the Ryukyu Shimpo newspaper) and "Masao Koga, Living in the Mysterious Forest" (Kodansha, 1998). His books on pigs in Okinawa include "Pigs and Okinawan Independence" (serialized in the Ryukyu Shimpo newspaper, Miraisha, 1997) and "A Pig Has Come from the Sea!" (Kumon Publishing, 1995), the latter of which was made into a musical.

Updated July 2024

Stories from This Author

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550 Pigs Cross the Pacific Ocean

July 10, 2024 • Tetsuro Shimojima

The pig transport ship departed from Portland. The ship's name was the Owen. It set sail on August 31, 1949. However, two days later, it encountered a violent storm, blowing away the pigpens on the deck and sending white pigs flying into the air. The ship returned to port, restocked the pigs, rebuilt the pigpens, and set sail again on September 4. The voyage was no easy one, as it encountered storms and mines on the way. Thus, it arrived …

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