The Amazing Tashiro Family
This is the story of the Tashiro clan of Cincinnati, New England, North Carolina, and Seattle. Though oddly unheard of today, the Tashiros rank high in the category of diverse and accomplished Japanese American families, whose members distinguished themselves in medicine, science, sports, architecture, and the arts.
Stories from this series
Part 6: Sabro and Arthur Tashiro - Multitalented Brothers
April 12, 2024 • Greg Robinson
In this column, I will round out my history of the amazing family of Aijiro and Nao Tashiro by discussing the lives of their younger sons Sabro (AKA Saburo or Sab) and Arthur. Sabro Tashiro was born in New Haven, Connecticut in February 1910, and moved with his family to Seattle after the end of World War I. During the summer of 1925 and 1926, he worked at an American salmon cannery in Tenakee, Alaska, alongside Swedish, German, Greek, and …
Part 5: Nao Tashiro—Issei Woman Teacher and Witness
April 5, 2024 • Greg Robinson
I have embarked on a series of columns on the prolific and talented Tashiro family. I have already posted columns on Aijiro “Frank” Tashiro and three of his children, Kenji (AKA Ken), Aiko, and Aiji. Here I propose to add a study of Nao Tashiro, the wife of Aijiro and mother of their children. Nao Tashiro was born Onaozan “Nao” Hasegawa in Echigo Province (as it was then called) in northeastern Honshu, Japan. Her father was an educated Japanese of Samurai …
Part 4 (2): Aiji Tashiro—Architect
March 5, 2024 • Greg Robinson
Read Part 4 (1) >> In 1938, Aiji Tashiro was recruited as a faculty member at Appalachian State Teacher’s College (today Appalachian State University) in Boone, North Carolina. He was one of the first Nisei engaged as a regular faculty member by an American university. He was assigned to teach History of Western Civilization and creative writing. In addition to his teaching duties, he was engaged as Landscape Architect. He would eventually design several buildings on campus, including what is …
Part 4 (1): Aiji Tashiro—Writer and Athlete
March 4, 2024 • Greg Robinson
The most eminent of the five children of Aijiro and Nao Tashiro was certainly their son Aiji (pronounced “I. G.”). A writer, athlete, architect, and landscaper, he spent the better part of a half-century pursuing his work. Unusually for a Nisei, he spent almost his entire career living and working in the American South, far from the centers of Asian American population. Aiji Tashiro, known as Tash, was born on July 6, 1908 in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, and spent his …
Part 3: Aiko Tashiro—Writer, Musician, and Activist
Dec. 11, 2023 • Greg Robinson
Among the five accomplished children of Aijiro Tashiro, daughter Aiko was perhaps the one who had the most disparate and far-flung career, as musician, journalist, and activist. Aiko Susanna Tashiro was born on July 2, 1911 in New Haven, Connecticut. As a girl, she moved with the rest of the family to Seattle, where she graduated Broadway High School in 1927. Later that year, she enrolled at Keuka College, a women’s college in upstate New York (where she was apparently …
Part 2: Ken Tashiro—Journalist
Oct. 20, 2023 • Greg Robinson
Read Part 1 >> Aijiro and Nao Tashiro had five children who had distinctive (and distinct) careers. Today I will speak of the eldest child of the family, Kenji Munn Tashiro, known as Ken. I will go on to explore the particular contributions of the other Tashiro children in separate columns. Ken Tashiro was born in Waterbury, Connecticut on April 17, 1906. The news of his birth was widely publicized in the mainstream press, as it was reportedly the first birth …