Junko Yoshida

Born and raised in Tokyo, Junko Yoshida studied law at Hosei University and moved to America. After graduating from California State University, Chico, with a degree from the Department of Communication Arts & Science, she started working at the Rafu Shimpo. As an editor, she has been reporting and writing about culture, art, and entertainment within the Nikkei society in Southern California, Japan-U.S. relations, as well as political news in Los Angeles, California.

Updated April 2018

war ja

日系被爆者たちの声、心の傷跡【第１部】：自らの体験語り継ぎ、平和願う

Por Junko Yoshida
13 Nov 2019

広島と長崎、原爆犠牲者の追悼法要

小東京の高野山別院で４日、広島と長崎の原爆犠牲者の追悼法要が行われた。被爆者たちの悲惨な体験と心に焼きついた傷跡―。追悼法要には広島で実際に原子爆弾（以下、原爆）の被害にあった被爆者たちの姿があった。次の世代に自らの体験を語り継ぎ、平和を願う彼らの声を聞いた。

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第二次世界大戦のさなかの1945年、アメリカは８月６日に広島、３日後の９日に長崎に原爆を投下した。原爆は建物だけでなく、街全体を瞬時に焼き尽くし、多くの人々の命を奪った。同年12月末までに広島で14万人、長崎で７万以上が亡くなったと推計される。

さらに人々はその後も原爆による後障害に苦しめられた。広島市によると、被爆から５、６年が経過した頃から白血病患者が増加し、55年以降は悪性腫瘍の発生率が増えはじめたという。

LA地区の被爆者175人 ...

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business ja

「シェフになるまで諦めない」：唐揚げ専門店「ピクニコ」オーナー八木久二子さん

Por Junko Yoshida
22 Jul 2019

「あなた26歳でシェフになんてなれるわけがない」。元夫が言い放った言葉が彼女の闘志に火をつけた。そして心に誓った。「私は自分が『シェフだ』と言えるようになるまで絶対に諦めない」と。ロサンゼルス・ダウンタウンにある複合施設「RAW DTLA」に昨年12月にオープンした唐揚げ（フライドチキン）専門店「Pikunico（ピクニコ）」。そのオーナーの八木久二子さんは日本では元銀行員。料理などしたこともなかった彼女がアメリカで良き出会いに導かれ、有名店での修業を経て、自らのレストランを開店した。LAで頑張る女性のひとり八木さんにメニューへのこだわりや開店までの経緯など話を聞いた。

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八木さんは2012年末、有名シェフ、デビッド・マイヤー氏とともにセンチュリーシティーにあるモダン ...

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community en ja

Ikkyu Strong

Por Junko Yoshida
5 Jul 2019

After fleeing for their lives in Camp Fire, couple reopens restaurant 60 miles away in Red Bluff.

“It was like an ENDLESS TUNNEL. I felt like I was dropped into deep darkness. But looking back, it can’t be helped. I can start over again as long as I am alive.”

Tomoyo and Shigeo Kojima lost everything in the Camp Fire on Nov. 8 last year. They had their own house and one rental house, and owned a Japanese restaurant in Paradise but everything was burned out.

They were forced to evacuate from their home and moved to Red Bluff ...

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migration en ja

The 150th Anniversary of Wakamatsu Colony, the First Japanese American Settlement on the North American Frontier

Supplement: The Article that Revealed Okei to the World

Por Junko Yoshida
8 Mai 2019

The Wakamatsu Colony, born of the dreams and labor of the new immigrants, collapsed in only two years. One of the members of the group – a young woman whose first name was Okei – was taken in by a local farming family named Veerkamp. As described in a previous installment in this series, Okei came from the town of Aizu Wakamatsu at the age of 17. Her life in California was cut short when she fell suddenly ill and died in 1871. She was only 19 years old.

Okei is believed to be the first Japanese woman to be buried on ...

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community en ja

The 150th Anniversary of Wakamatsu Colony, the First Japanese American Settlement on the North American Frontier

Part 3: Sharing of Family Stories

Por Junko Yoshida
1 Mai 2019

Read Part 2 >>

Kuni Takes a Local as His Wife

Following the collapse of the Wakamatsu Colony, a settler by the name of Kuninosuke Masumizu (1849-1915) opted to remain in the town of Coloma.

Known to many simply as Kuni, he worked as a carpenter and helped to build the Coloma Hotel and the Fresno Buddhist Church.

Many of the houses built by Kuni in the Coloma and Auburn areas were still standing in May 1930, as they were described in a May 28 article in the Nichibei Shinbun.

In 1877, Masumizu married Carrie Wilson, a woman of African and ...

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