Essay outline

Cheers for Japanese Athletes: The 1932 Los Angeles Olympics and the Japanese American Community Author(s): Eriko Yamamoto Source: Pacific Historical Review, Vol. 69, No. 3 (Aug., 2000), pp. 399-430 Published by: University of California Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3641715 . Accessed: 23/12/2014 08:32

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Cheers for Japanese Athletes: The 1932 Los Angeles Olympics and the Japanese American Community

ERIKO YAMAMOTO

The author is a member of the faculty of literature at Sugiyama Jogakuen University, Nagoya, Japan.

"Nambu! Banzai!! Banzai!" Vociferously more than 5000 Japanese fans voiced their

praise of the young man who yesterday broke the world record in the hop, step and jump with a leap of 51 feet 7 inches.

Rafu Shimpo (Los Angeles Japanese Daily News) August 5, 1932 [English section]1

The band swings into the solemn "Kimigayo," the Japanese national anthem.., all eyes are focused on the Olympic peristyle as the Japan- ese flag unfolds. As we turn our eyes upon a Japanese lad who stands on the top platform gazing up for the Japanese flag that he helped to raise, we see not just a Japanese boy but a true son of Japanese war- rior-Samurai.... The living memory of those men of ancient Japan who built the tradition of Bushido becomes a guiding spirit of a new

An earlier version of this paper was presented at the fourteenth annual meet- ing of the Association for Asian American Studies in Seattle, April 1997. The au- thor wishes to thank Yuji Ichioka, Brian M. Hayashi, Eiichiro Azuma, Brian Niiya, Art Hansen, Eileen Tamura, Hiroshi Yoneyama, Edward Skrzypczak, and the anonymous Pacific Historical Review referees for their valuable comments. Appre- ciation also goes to the Fulbright Program, UCLA's Asian American Studies Cen- ter, and Sugiyama Jogakuen University for their support.

1. Rafu Shimpo (Los Angeles Japanese Daily News, hereafter Rafu), Aug. 5, 1932, English section, 6. The name Nambu is a commonly accepted spelling and there- fore used throughout this paper, although "Nanbu" more accurately reflects the original Japanese name.

Pacific Historical Review, Vol. 69, No. 3, pages 399-429. ISSN 0030-8684 @2000 by the Pacific Coast Branch, American Historical Association. All rights reserved. Send requests for permission to reprint to: Rights and Permissions, University of California Press, 2000 Center St., Ste. 303, Berkeley, CA 94720-1223. 399

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400 Pacific Historical Review

generation. In them we find the life of new Japan and the future full of hopes and success.

Kashu Mainichi (Japan-California Daily News) August 14, 1932 [English section]2

In the summer of 1932 the Japanese American com- munity in Los Angeles was swept by fervent nationalism for the "Country of the Rising Sun." As part of the city that hosted the tenth Olympic games, the local Issei and Nisei residents eagerly participated in the Olympiad and contributed to making it a success. However, their cheers were not for the United States but for Japan. Calling themselves kaigai zairyti doho (overseas brethren), the members of the local Japanese community earnestly supported Japan and, in doing so, testified to the in- ternational as well as local significance of the Olympics for Japanese Americans.3

Issei and Nisei attitudes toward the Los Angeles Olympics reflected many themes of Japanese American prewar history. Recent scholarship suggests that the 1930s witnessed a surge of ethnic nationalism, especially among Issei. Brian M. Hayashi has shown that some Japanese Americans "ardently supported Japan" as early as 1931 and that "their loyalty to Japan was not in conflict with American interests," while Yuji Ichioka has demonstrated that Issei nationalism "fully crystallized" after the Sino-Japanese War in 1937. Often believing Japan's official line that military expansion was for the stability and co-prosperity of Asian nations, Issei during the 1930s showed their support for Japanese soldiers, especially those in China, by sending money

2. Editorial, Kashu Mainichi (Japan-California Daily News, hereafter Kashu), Aug. 14, 1932, English section, 2.

3. Issei means first-generation Japanese American, or Japanese immigrant. At this point, Issei were technically alien residents forbidden from naturalization. Nisei refers to second-generation Japanese American, or a person born of Japan- ese parents in the United States. Zairyu- doh6 refers to overseas Japanese and their descendants (coming from the same racial stock) and includes both Issei and Nisei. In this paper, the terms zairyis d6h6 and doh6 usually refer to those in the Los Angeles area. Nikkei is a more general term meaning people of Japanese ancestry. The Japanese names of Issei (who then were unnaturalized) and Japanese natives appearing in this article are in the Japanese order; that is, the family name followed by the given name, except in direct quotations where the Western style was origi- nally used.

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Japan at the 1932 Olympics 401

and goods. Eiichiro Azuma has found an earlier example of Is- sei community nationalism (as opposed to homeland-oriented nationalism) in a Japanese-Filipino conflict in 1930 in Stockton. The enthusiasm that Los Angeles Japanese evinced in the 1932 Olympics can be regarded as another case of Japanese Ameri- can nationalism in the 1930s that was concentrated, organized, and socially visible, involving Issei and Nisei alike. It was an open and emphatic affirmation of ethnic pride that did not conflict with their Americanism. Especially for members of the emerg- ing Nisei generation, who were questioning the label of "unas- similable" Americans, the Olympics became a focus for taking pride in their roots.4

Japanese Americans of the 1930s were caught between U.S. nationalism, Japan's state-controlled militaristic nationalism,

4. Brian Hayashi, "For the Sake of OurJapanese Brethren": Assimilation, National- ism, and Protestantism among the Japanese of Los Angeles, 1895-1942 (Stanford, Calif., 1995), 9; Yuji Ichioka, 'Japanese Immigrant Nationalism: The Issei and the Sino- Japanese War, 1937-1941," California History, 69 (1990), 260. Japanese American newspapers around 1932 published thank-you letters from Manchuria for the goods and money sent. Such nationalism is also explained in Hiroshi Yoneyama, "Taiheiyo Senso mae-no zaibei Nihonjin imin to nashonarizumu" [Japanese in America and their nationalism before the Pacific War], ToyoJoshi Tanki Daigaku Journal, 27 (1995), 105-115, and Yuji Ichioka, The Issei: The World of the First Genera- tion Japanese Immigrants, 1885-1924 (New York, 1988). Eiichiro Azuma, "Racial Struggle, Immigrant Nationalism, and Ethnic Identity: Japanese and Filipinos in the California Delta," Pacific Historical Review, 67 (1998), 165.

This article mainly examines the news stories, columns, editorials, letters, and poems in two major Los Angeles-based Japanese newspapers, the Rafu Shimpo and the Kashu Mainichi. The Rafu started in 1903, and served the growing Japanese American community in Los Angeles; its weekly English section was added in Feb- ruary 1926 and appeared daily from January 11, 1932. The Kashu was started by Fujii Sei in November 1931 with a small English section. These papers were major sources of community-related news and a medium for expressing opinions con- cerning the ethnic group. The two rival newspapers covered the Olympics and a wide range of the Japanese community's reactions. An English-language vernacu- lar newspaper, the Japanese American Courier, was based in Seattle and therefore re- flected little of the Los Angeles community's responses to the Olympics. However, its Olympic coverage helps us understand more general Nisei feelings toward Japanese athletic feats. The Pacific Citizen, the English-language newsletter of the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL), would have been a good source of na- tionwide Nisei reactions to the Olympics, but the author was unable to find any is- sues for this period either at the Pacific Citizen's or the University of California, Los Angeles, library. For the history of the two newspapers, see Brian Niiya, ed., Japan- ese American History: An A-to-Z Reference from 1868 to the Present (New York, 1993), 287, and Katie Kaori Hayashi, A History of the Rafu Shimpo: Japanese and Their Newspaper in Los Angeles (Osaka, 1997), 11-19, 33-66, 72-74.

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402 Pacific Historical Review

and their own position as a transnational ethnic minority.5 Dur- ing World War I, "100 percent Americanism" became a power- ful force that imposed a political unity on the ethnically diverse United States. Concurrently, in Japan a domestic nationalism redolent of a "newly independent nation" grew as that nation strove to modernize itself along European lines. As it expanded throughout Asia, the Japanese government carried out con- scious policies to create a strong national identity by making its people believe that nationhood under the imperial government had been a legitimate, long-standing reality.6 The Yamato- those who were Japanese by blood-were a distinctive and su- perior people, the government asserted. Living in the midst of two nations' nationalism, members of the Japanese American community asserted their own collective identity in the United States and, in doing so, expressed a range of sentiments about their ethnic homeland.

In this regard, Japanese Americans confronted a predica- ment, for even their American-born generation had a very small chance of being treated as full American citizens. Their race and Asiatic origin stamped Issei as ineligible for citizenship and Nisei as unassimilable, second-class citizens. Asians living in

5. My views of ethnic minorities' nationalism have been influenced by Roger Brubaker's (Europe-based) model of "triadic relational interplay between national minorities, nationalizing states, and external national homelands." Brubaker sees national minorities as caught between "two mutually antagonistic nationalisms": "na- tionalizing" nationalism, which newly independent states use to emphasize the core nation's legitimacy, and the transborder nationalism of external national home- lands, which asserts a state's right or obligation "to monitor the condition, promote the welfare, support the activities and institutions, assert the rights, and protect the interests of 'their' ethnonational kin in other states.' Besides these, he points out, national minorities have their own nationalism, making "claims on the grounds of their nationality," such as a "demand for state recognition of their distinct eth- nonational nationality" and "the assertion of certain collective, nationally-based cul- tural or political rights'." Roger Brubaker, Nationalism Refrained: Nationhood and the National Question in the New Europe (Cambridge, Eng., 1996), 5, 6. In the case of Japanese Americans in the 1930s, the triadic interplay was between the relatively new, multiethnic nation (the United States), the old and yet fast developing home- land, and Japanese Americans' own reality of unsettlement-being rejected by the U.S. and unprotected by the Japanese government.

6. Yamazumi Masami, Hinomaru, Kimigayo mondai towa nanika [What is the Japanese flag/national anthem problem?] (Tokyo, 1988), 57. Also see Benedict An- derson, Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread ofNationalism (Lon- don, 1983), 94-99.

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Japan at the 1932 Olympics 403

the United States were legislatively excluded from citizenship, and the United States viewed Imperial Japan as a military threat and opponent of democracy. On that basis, Japanese immi- grants and their descendants were socially and legally excluded from incorporation into American nationhood. The first few decades of the twentieth century witnessed an escalation of anti-Japanese exclusion through such measures as the Natural- ization Act of 1906, the Gentlemen's Agreement of 1907-1908, the California Alien Land laws of 1913 and 1920, and the Im- migration Act of 1924. Issei fought for their rights in court but lost their cases because of their ineligibility for citizenship. The emerging Nisei generation faced the grim reality of discrimi- nation in employment and social life. To the Japanese commu- nity, America's surging nationalism occurred at their expense.

In the face of exclusion, many Issei and early Nisei sought to frame their racial stigma in a positive light. The Olympics offered the chance to redefine marginality as a cosmopolitan quality that could coexist with white culture and contribute to American society. It was a strategy of peaceful, moral suasion to- ward whites-one of the prewar Issei tactics or "legacies" that eventually proved ineffectual.7 Although most Nisei were too young to make a conscious decision, a handful, well aware of American racism and wondering about their future, embraced the strategy of moral suasion during the Olympics in the hope of toning down American racism. The fact that the Los Angeles Olympics took place in the largest Japanese American commu- nity a mere eight years after the 1924 Immigration Act likely encouraged the surge of collective ethnic sentiments that tran- scended divisions of age, group affiliations, or strategies for acceptance.8

The 1932 Olympics in perspective The modern Olympic games were established by the French

nobleman, Baron de Coubertin, in 1896 in order to instill the virtues of fair play and soundness of mind and body, as well as

7. Jere Takahashi, Nisei/Sansei: ShiftingJapanese American Identities and Politics (Philadelphia, 1997), 27.

8. For an analytical description of the complexity of the Nisei generation be- fore and during World War II, see ibid, 35-112.

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404 Pacific Historical Review

to help attain world peace and understanding.9 Originally, the modern Olympiad was a Eurocentric, aristocratic event for white males. But this very feature stimulated interest in Japan, which first participated in the 1912 Olympiad in Stockholm. Not until the Amsterdam games in 1928 did Japanese athletes do well: Oda Mikio (in hop-step-jump) and Tsuruta Yoshiyuki (in the men's 200-meter breast stroke) each won gold, and Hitomi Kinue won a silver medal in the women's 800-meter track event. With Oda, Tsuruta, and world-record holder in the broad jump, Nambu Chiihei, on its 1932 team, Japan's hopes in the Los Angeles games were high.

Japan's interest in the Olympics grew in proportion to its militarization. As Japanese historian Kaga Hideo has pointed out, militarism had much to do with Japan's interest in sports and the Olympics. The imperial government encouraged sports in order to build healthy bodies and "healthy" nationalism to- gether. Through schools, work places, and local organizations, the government promoted sports throughout the 1930s, a time of increased militarization. Participation in the Olympics was recognized as part of the nationalism policy. The Japanese gov- ernment started subsidizing Olympic athletes in 1924, increas- ing subsidies for the 1932 Olympics by more than 65 percent.10

The timing and location of the 1932 Olympics also had spe- cial meaning for the Japanese. In 1930, 70 percent of the 138,834 Japanese in the mainland United States lived in Cali- fornia.11 The city of Los Angeles and its environs had 35,000 Japanese immigrants and their descendants, most of whom lived

9. Richard Espy, The Politics of the Olympic Games (Berkeley, 1979), vii-viii. Ac- cording to Espy, Coubertin hoped the modern Olympics would be "a world of na- tions participating peacefully but competitively on the playing field rather than meeting violently on the battle ground," while helping "to bolster the lagging for- tunes of the French nation by developing strong character and vitality in the youth of France through the spirit of competition and athletic participation."

10. Kaga Hideo, "Miritarizumu to supotsu" [Militarism and sports], in Naka- mura Toshio, et al., eds., Suptitsu nashonarizumu [Sports nationalism] (Tokyo, 1978), 152-161.

11. Including Hawai'i and Alaska, the 1930 census showed 278,743 Japanese. Japanese American population was concentrated on the Pacific Coast and Hawai'i. Setsuko Matsunaka Nishi, "Japanese Americans," in Pyong Gap Min, ed., Asian Americans: Contemporary Trends and Issues (Thousand Oaks, Calif., 1995), 109; Roger Daniels, Prisoners Without Trial: Japanese Americans in World War II (New York, 1993), 8.

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Japan at the 1932 Olympics 405

around Little Tokyo, the center of Southern California's Japan- ese community.12 The presence of this large group of people of Japanese ancestry (Nikkei) was considered an incentive to Jap- anese athletes and a practical advantage in that the locals would make the unfamiliar foreign place more comfortable for the athletes.13

The tenth Olympics, held between July 30 and August 14, 1932, involved thirty-seven nations and 1,281 men and 127 women athletes. Japan sent almost 200 athletes and officials, sec- ond numerically only to the United States.14 Japan's national en- thusiasm was highlighted by the send-off for its teams.15 The first main group to leave paraded to the Meiji Shinto Shrine to pray for victories, continuing on to the Imperial Palace, where a multitude of well-wishers sang the national anthem, "Kimi- gayo," and cheered "Banzai!" (Long live the Emperor!). They then departed from the port of Yokohama on the Tatsuta Maru amid the fervent cheers of vast crowds.16

Los Angeles brethren welcome the Nipponese Cheers awaited the Japanese teams on the other side of the

12. Niiya, ed., Japanese American History, 216. It defines Little Tokyo as a dis- trict located in those days "within a three-mile radius of First and San Pedro." It goes on to say: "The residential community extended as far south as Tenth Street and east into the Boyle Heights area. Produce and flower markets either started by Issei or in which Issei played a major role were located in and around Little Tokyo and served the many Japanese American farmers in the greater Southern Califor- nia area. Many other businesses between Jackson and Third Streets-restaurants, shops, gambling, and entertainment establishments, etc.-served the farmers and local residents as well. Little Tokyo also housed the major churches/temples, news- papers, and other cultural institutions that bound the larger Japanese American community together."

13. Oda Mikio, Orinpikku monogatari [Olympic stories] (Tokyo, 1948), 194- 195. Oda was expected to win a medal in the hop, step, and jump but did not do well because of an injury. He later worked for the Asahi newspaper and wrote this book describing past Olympic games.

14. Rafu, Aug. 23, 1932, p. 3. The article criticized the number of officials- approximately sixty-as too many.

15. The Japanese equestrian team arrived much earlier than the others and was the last to leave Los Angeles.

16. Teikoku Komin Kyoiku Ky6kai, Dai 10-kai Orinpikku dai shashinch6 [The tenth Olympiad album] (Tokyo, 1932), 5-13 (in photo section), 14 (in Explana- tion section); Oda, Orinpikku monogatari, 195. The second group left on June 30 on the Taiy6 Maru after similar rituals.

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406 Pacific Historical Review

Pacific as well. When the Tatsuta Maru approached the port of San Pedro on July 8, those on board looked out at hundreds of doho on thirteen welcoming boats and several thousands more on the piers cheering them wildly. Upon their disembarking, an even larger crowd met them with Japanese flags, a chorus of "banzai," and the Japanese national anthem.17 The team mem- bers were then paraded-in 150 cars-through Los Angeles into the new Olympic village.18

This welcome proved only the first of many provided by Los Angeles doh6. Besides the official team, reporters and visi- tors also came from Japan, as well as Nikkei from other parts of

N:. ... . . ? ... .. . .. ... .

Xi

Figure 1. The arrival of the Tatsuta Maru at San Pedro. A local Japanese crowd welcomes Japanese athletes. Source: Teikoku K6min Ky6iku Ky6kai, Dai 10- kai Orinpikku dai shashincho (Tokyo, 1932), 30.

17. Teikoku Komin Ky6iku Ky6kai, Dai lO-kai Orinpikku dai shashinch6, 14-15 (in Explanation section).

18. The new concept of an Olympic village was adopted to house male ath- letes from all over the world together as a microcosmic town. Women athletes had to stay at hotels because the village was male-only.

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Japan at the 1932 Olympics 407

the United States and other countries.19 The Japanese Ameri- can Citizens League, the major American Nisei organization, arranged to hold its biannual convention in Los Angeles just be- fore the Olympics so that delegates could stay and see the event.20 The July 30 Rafu carried a welcoming message for "our" athletes, wishing them victories and hoping that their efforts and spirit would let the world see Japan's good sportsmanship.21 In response to the keen interest of "overseas brethren" in the Japanese performance, the Rafu installed a direct phone line be- tween its office and the main Olympic site in order to post news flashes on Little Tokyo Olympic billboards, while the Kashu set up its own phone line between the stadium and Little Tokyo and put on a live broadcast.22

From arrival until departure, Japanese athletes received strong support. Japanese community organizations eagerly hosted teams and individuals. The Long Beach community, which hosted the Japanese boat team, organized a support group, entertained the athletes, held receptions for them, and cheered them on during practices and games.23 Kenjin-kai, or organizations based on prefectures of origin, invited athletes from their own regions to various events. On a larger level, Los Angeles Japanese Americans as a united group held big events, such as a victory celebration lantern march in Little Tokyo, or- ganized by the Los Angeles Japanese Association (Nihonjinkai), and a dinner-dance at the Biltmore Hotel with more than 400 guests. To support Japan's Olympic participation at a time of economic depression and a weakening yen, doho volunteers raised funds. The Los Angeles Japanese Consulate received a total of $6,684.79 from Nikkei within and outside of Califor-

19. The Shun'y6 Maru, dubbed the Olympics "cheering ship," brought more than a hundred Japanese visitors to Los Angeles on July 29. Rafu, July 29, 30 1932, p. 3 of each.

20. JACL held its biannual convention in Los Angeles on July 27 and 28. More than a hundred delegates participated, and they apparently stayed for a few more weeks to continue discussions on the organization's future plans.

21. Rafu, July 30, 1932, p. 3. 22. Ibid.; Kashu, Aug. 8, 1932, p. 1. 23. One of the receptions was held on August 13 at the Mission Inn with a

Japanese flag flying from the roof. Rafu, Aug. 15, 1932, p. 7. At the end, the Long Beach Japanese community alone organized a farewell party. See ibid., Aug. 9, 14, 1932, p. 3 of each.

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408 Pacific Historical Review

nia.24 Such hospitality and generosity continued until late Au- gust when the last Japanese competitors left Los Angeles. When a contingent of Japanese athletes left on Shun'y6 Maru on Au- gust 17, an estimated 20,000 supporters, according to Rafu, came to see them off with banzais and Japanese flags. The news- paper noted: "No event on the Olympic program during the past 20 days surpassed the demonstration."25 While the intensity of the Olympic fervor eventually subsided, the community con- tinued to celebrate Japanese victories in the form of movies, al- bums, badges, and the like.26

Wanting to see the "Sun" rise

During the Olympics, Los Angeles Japanese of all ages pub- licly demonstrated their enthusiasm for Japanese victories un- der a community slogan "Nihon wo kataseyd' (Make Japan win). Every day many crowded the practice and competition sites, wav- ing Japanese flags. Although ticket prices were high, many doh6 took this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see firsthand the Japanese celebrities they hoped would bring honor to Japan on American soil. The Kashu's July 29 issue printed a detailed schedule and expected highlights from a 'Japanese viewpoint," so that those who could not afford a t6shi kippu (an all-event pass or season ticket) would know which event was best to choose.27 It was estimated that local Japanese spent more than $100,000 on admissions during the two weeks of the games. Many went to watch the Japanese teams practice, cheering them on as if they were watching real games. Their intensity and numbers became

24. Ibid., Aug. 18, 1932, p. 3. A total of roughly $6,600 was donated, accord- ing to Consul-General Sato Toshito, some coming from as far away as New Orleans and Panama. Sato expressed his appreciation to the overseas Japanese for their generosity despite the economic depression.

25. Ibid., Aug. 17, 1932, pp. 3, 6. The k6enkai (support group), formed by the community to cheer for Japan, completed its function with a farewell party on Au- gust 16 and dissolved itself on August 22.

26. The Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles stores some of these artifacts. One of them is a sixty-four-page booklet compiled by the Japanese Chamber of Commerce in Los Angeles, DaiJukkai Orinpikku Kinencho: Rafu Nihon- jinkai Kaih6 [Tenth Olympic Commemorative Booklet] 2: 3 (1932). Others include an autograph book with twenty-five Japanese athletes, a souvenir fan, and post- cards.

27. Kashu, July 29, 1932, p. 2.

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Japan at the 1932 Olympics 409

so great that the teams eventually had to turn away or limit such visitors.28

Japanese had high hopes of winning gold in the track-and- field events. An August 1 Rafu article predicted a gold in the broad jump: "Nambu Likely to Send 'Sun' Up Flagpole," and 'Japan's Rising Sun may flutter to the top of the flagpole to- morrow for the first time, if Chuhei Nambu lives up to his record setting performances of the past."29 Many went to see him, but Japan's world-record holder finished third, allowing U.S. athletes to take the top two places. The Rafu openly ex- pressed disappointment.30 In the pole vault event on the fol- lowing day, the close competition between an American and Japan's Nishida Shiihei excited the doho audience, who were moved by their sportsmanship and Nishida's second place.31

But the doho wanted Japanese athletes to win gold. The Rafu English-language section reporter wrote: 'Japanese fans de- mand to know if the Olympic band can play Japanese national anthem 'Kimigayo.' So they are looking for a victory.., in order that the Japanese flag may rise on the flagpole of honor, signi- fying an Olympic winner.32 To see Nambu in the hop, step, and jump event on August 4, an estimated 4,000 Japanese-mostly local residents-flocked to the Olympic stadium. Nambu ful-

28. Oda, Orinpikku monogatari, 197. Right before the opening ceremony, a to- tal of more than 10,000 zairyis d6h6 went out to watch Japanese equestrian, boat, field, and swimming practices. Spectators were said to have shed tears of emotion. Kashu, July 29, 1932, p. 1.

29. Rafu, Aug. 1, 1932, p. 6. 30. Ibid., Aug. 2, 1932, p. 1. Nambu Chiihei, who held the world record at 26

feet 2-/s inches, and Sylvio Cator of Haiti, who held the previous world record, did not do well. Describing the two American winners, Kieran and Daley write: "The surprise winner was Edward L. Gordon, stalwart Negro athlete from the University of Iowa and national champion, who took Olympic Laurels with a leap of 25 feet 3% inch. Lambert Redd, of Bradley Tech, Illinois, finished second just a trifle more than an inch behind the winner." John Kieran and Arthur Daley, The Story of the Olympic Games: 776 B.C. to 1972 (Philadelphia, 1973), 140. The newspaper wrote that what consoled the doho audience most was a small Japanese flag planted at the side of the broad jump pit, to indicate Nambu's previous world record of 26 feet 2 inches, along with an American flag showing the Olympic best record of 25 feet 4.6 inches. Rafu, Aug. 2, 1932, p. 1.

31. Rafu, Aug. 3, 1932, pp. 1, 6. 32. Ibid., Aug. 4, 1932, p. 6. It is likely that the part cited was written earlier,

before Nambu's actual performance, and that the headline and the first two para- graphs were tacked on immediately before the paper went to press. Their hope for gold was also described in ibid., Aug. 3, 1932, p. 3.

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410 Pacific Historical Review

filled their hopes, winning gold and setting a new world record of 51 feet 7 inches. Oshima Kenkichi finished third. The sight of two Japanese flags and the notes of the Japanese national an- them moved the doho spectators to tears of joy.33 The Rafu's English-language column declared, "At last the Rising Sun of Japan was able to whip itself in the breeze above the peristyle of the massive Stadium while the multitudes stood at attention to the strains of the Japanese National Anthem."34

The swimming events received equal or even greater atten- tion because of Japan's likelihood of winning medals. The doh6 hoped to see many Japanese swimmers win and to see the Hinomaru raised many times at the closing ceremony on August 14 where swimming winners were to be honored.35 On August 6, Miyazaki Yasuji, a fifteen-year-old high school boy, set a world record in the 100-meter free-style, qualifying him for the final. "The stands went wild," the Rafu reported. "The Japanese fans stood up and yelled Miyazaki's name and gave him 'banzais.'" Three other Japanese men also qualified for the final. A Rafu Japanese report from Fresno wrote, "Both old and young cheer for Japan, and the Japanese flag high on the flagpole and the Kimigayo excite their blood and flesh. They cannot stay still in the back. This is the character of doh6, and it is only natural that they jump out." The next day, Japanese comprised most of the 8,000 spectators around the Olympic pool, making the scene look like a 'Japan Day" community event. In response to excited cheers and repeated chanting of their names, Miyazaki and Kawaishi Tatsugo, age fourteen, came in first and second in the

33. Ibid., Aug. 4, 1932, p. 1. According to Oda Mikio, he, Nambu, and Oshima were in poor shape but boldly confident. Oda himself, With previous injuries, broke an ankle after his first jump. Oshima had burned himself severely in the Olympic village bath but did remarkably well. Surprisingly, Nambu, who had practiced mainly in the broad jump, managed to set a world record. Oda, Orinpikku mono- gatari, 214-215.

34. Rafu, Aug. 7, 1932, p. 2. 35. The Kashu's English section stated, "Now that the aquatic events are start-

ing, Hal Roberts and his Olympic band will have to polish up on the 'Kimi-ga-yo,' and the Nippon flag may daily rise to the top of the main mast." Kashu, Aug. 7, 1932, p. 3. The swimming stadium had "a glorious pool and a sideline seating ca- pacity of 12,000 that was taxed twice in one day," because the Japanese swimmers, determined to win, practiced in morning and afternoon sessions. See Kieran and Daley, Story of the Olympic Games, 131.

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Japan at the 1932 Olympics 411

100-meter free-style event. On August 8, Japan won the men's 800-meter relay, beating the United States. In women's events, Maehata Hideko won second place in the 200-meter breast- stroke. To the d6h6, it was bad luck that kept her from winning the gold.36

As the Olympics drew to a close, cheers from local Japan- ese spectators became more intense as they demanded more victories. On August 12, more than 5,000 Japanese came to poolside, occupying almost half of the seats. They went wild as Japan's Kiyokawa Masaji, Irie Toshio, and Kawazu Kentaro swept the top three places in the men's 100-meter backstroke. "Fi- nally," the Rafu triumphantly proclaimed, "we grab all three flag- poles." The next day, Japan's Tsuruta and Koike won first and second in the men's 200-meter breaststroke. This final feat in the swimming events allowed the Rafu to say, "Winning every regular swimming event for men except the 400-meter race, a grand total of five first and four second places together with nu- merous other places, the Japanese aquatic team swept the blue waters of the Swimming Stadium clear during the past week to take the Olympic swimming championship for men of the Tenth Olympiad."37

Beyond vocal cheers and physical presence at the games, d6h6 also voiced their nationalism through literary expressions. Issei used Japanese literary forms to express their special feel- ings for the Japanese flag and national anthem. The "Radio KY-kyoku" column referred to many senryu poems, probably by Issei, that expressed their pride in the Hinomaru on the flag- pole.38 One reads:

36. Rafu, Aug. 7, 1932, p. 1, Aug. 6, 1932, p. 7, Aug. 7, 1932, p. 1, Aug. 8, 1932, p. 1. See also ibid., Aug. 9, 1932, p. 6. Maehata won a gold medal in the eleventh Olympics in Berlin.

37. Ibid., Aug. 12, 1932, p. 1, Aug. 14, 1932, p. 1. 38. Japanese American History (see note 4 above) defines senryis as follows:

"Seventeen-syllable Japanese poetic form. Along with haiku and tanka, senryis was one of the major poetic forms practiced by the Issei. Like haiku, senryis has a 17- syllable structure grouped in lines of five, seven, and five syllables. Senryii differs from haiku in subject matter, with the former focusing on the human condition, of- ten in a satrical manner, and the latter on observations of nature. As with the other poetic forms, Japanese American senryi reflected the uniquely American experi- ences of the Japanese immigrants." Niiya, ed., Japanese American History, 309.

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412 Pacific Historical Review

Kimigayo no gaku ogosoka ni hibiki wataru Mzora ni mihata hirugaeri yamazu (The Japanese anthem echoes about solemnly The flag keeps fluttering in the sky)39

Kashu Mainichi published some "engan haiku," using obviously nontraditional formats, that were entered in a competition com- memorating the Olympics. Among them was:

Hinomaru suikomu aozora sora nofukasa Hiyaku no zetcho de hassen-man wo ninatta kao da (The sun flag, absorbed in the deep blue sky Represents eighty-million [Japanese] at the height of success)40

Regular poems also adopted Olympic topics. For example, Ishi- kawa Sayoko's "Hirugaeru Nissh6k'i" expressed the joy and pride Issei felt in seeing the Japanese flag raised:

Nissh6ki ga sutadiamu no men masuto ni agatta Ima dewa yume de nakunatta.... Rosanjerusu no aozora ni sanran to, jitsuni sanran to Hirugaetteiru Nissh6ki no ikuhon. Kangeki no kiwami de mi wafurueru. Kanki no namida ga mazu otsuru. Yfisho wa yUsh5 wo gekisan suru. (The flag of the rising sun/Went up the main mast It is no longer a dream.... Gloriously, truly gloriously/Several Japanese flags are fluttering Against the blue sky of Los Angeles/Shaking with emotion Shedding tears of joy/Victories extol victories.)41

These poems were notable not for their literary merit but for

39. Toyama Seiko, "Hinomaru no hata" (The Japanese flag), Rafu, Aug. 18, 1932. Author's translation. Another poem by her reads: Harakara no tamashi komoru hino mihata shibashi aogeri morobito tomo ni (I looked up with everyone at the flag that carries the spirit of our brethren).

40. Kashu, Sept. 4, 1932, p. 5. Author's translation. 41. Ishikawa Sayoko, "Hirugaeru Nisshoki" [The fluttering Japanese flag], Rafu,

Aug. 11, 1932, p. 5. Author's translation. Fujii Gyiiho's poem, "Kangeki no setsuna" [Moment of ecstasy], in Rafu, Aug. 11, 1932, p. 5, also expressed the joy in seeing the Japanese flag on the flagpole. See also "Radio KY-kyoku," Rafu, Aug. 24, 1932, p. 8, where Nishi's victory was expressed in "Ten takaku Hinomaru agete uma kaeru" [The horse returns after raising Japanese flag sky high].

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Japan at the 1932 Olympics 413

their innate self-expression. They demonstrated immigrants' joy at seeing the Japanese flag publicly honored on American soil, a reaction that might have resulted from their constant ex-

posure to the U.S. flag as a symbol of nationhood. Nisei also expressed a surge of pride, although their feel-

ings were more complex than those of Issei. Young children, who then comprised most of the American-born generation, responded to the enthusiasm of their parents and Japanese- language schoolteachers, while a handful of young adults felt an unanticipated sense of ethnic pride. Small children who were going to Japanese language school to learn about Japanese language, culture, and values responded especially strongly.42 For example, consider the thoughts of a sixth-grader in his wel-

coming speech on July 24, which can be translated as follows:

How we of the second generation have looked forward to this day! When I saw your healthy faces and well-built bodies, I was convinced that you would certainly win. Please fight with all your might.., .and let the people in the world know what Yamato damashii [Japanese spirit] is. Oh, my heart beats fast! ... Please let the Japanese flag be raised high on the pole and the Japanese anthem played in and out- side the Olympic stadium. The best souvenir you can give us of the second generation is the sportsmanship that you leave in the field, track, and swimming [pool].43

Another younger Nisei expressed herjoy in her Japanese- language essay:

I want to see Japanese athletes from our country Japan. There are men and women from all over the world. I am giving contributions to those from Japan, because I am Japanese. People should support those from their own country. I will go to see the games with my fa- ther, but when I cannot, I will read newspapers every day. I pray that Japan will win. Although their number is small, the Japanese athletes will win because they have more spirit.44

42. The roles of Japanese-language schools changed over time and were de- bated seriously. According to Jere Takahashi, it was in 1912 when the objective of language schools shifted from preparing Nisei to enter schools in Japan to just teaching the moral dimension of their education. Takahashi, Nisei/Sansei, 26.

43. Taniguchi Ichiro, "Kangei no kotoba" [A welcoming message], Rafu, July 31, 1932, p. 6. Author's translation.

44. Sakon Reiko (alphabetical transcription unclear), "Orinpikku gemusu"

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414 Pacific Historical Review

To young Nisei who had never visited their parents' country, the presence of Japanese athletes at the Los Angeles Olympiad brought to the surface emotional ties to the Asian country.

It is undeniable, however, that adult Nisei entertained com- plex feelings toward Japan because their ancestry had been con- sidered unassimilable and undesirable in the United States. The writings of pioneer Nisei journalists reveal both awkwardness and pride in Japanese athletes' feats. One difficulty these writ- ers faced stemmed from the fact that they could not communi- cate freely in their parents' language. Another was cultural differences. Dairoku (Roku) Sugawara described his experi- ences and feelings in his English columns, "Nipping the Nip- ponese-" in Rafu and "Lines and Outlines" in Kashu. When he interviewed Japanese athletes with Larry Tajiri, a Nisei assistant editor of Kashu, he was proud but also uncomfortable. Sugawara had to struggle in his "broken Japanese" to get autographs from female athletes:

YES, I'M JAPANESE ALSO-It was Asa Dokura who came next.... Seemed funny to her that I couldn't write Japanese. I told her that I was still on book one [of Japanese-language textbooks]. "Since I spent so much time on my German and Spanish I didn't or couldn't go to Japanese school." "It's also hard, too," I added. Well, the girls looked at each other and smiled. They sure can pen the Japanese down swell, but I can write better English than they. "We are all required to study English in Japan," said Asa in perfect Japanese. I didn't know what else to say so I bowed and said thanks.

Sugawara was also bewildered by the "sons of the samurai" in the Japanese quarter in the Olympic village, whom he saw "strolling about in their loud kimonas [sic]" or "play a bit of goh." Obvi- ously the quarter was an exotic, foreign world to him.45

[Olympic games], Rafu, Aug. 14, 1932, p. 6. Similarly, a second-year student at Bap- tist Gakuen wrote in her open letter to a friend: "People all over the world probably want their own nation to win," it read. "The more Japanese cheer for Japan, the more eager the athletes will become to make the Japanese flag be raised high" (Niino Chieko, "Tegami" [Letter], ibid., Aug. 7, 1932, p. 2). See also Yamanaka Hi- roko, "Orinpikku no hata" [The Olympic flags], and Nakaai Harue, "Senshu kangeikai" [Reception for athletes], both in ibid., Aug. 14, 1932, p. 6.

45. Roku Sugawara, "Nipping the Nipponese..." Rafu, July 29, 30, 1932, each p. 6.

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Japan at the 1932 Olympics 415

Sugawara, for example, rated Japan next to the United States. The Olympics being quite definite about the ranking of its winners, he predicted that the United States would end up first and Japan second. His column on July 31 read:

I figure Japan ought to cop second in the Olympics. Next to the United States, they have the most representatives. The Yankees with three men in every event look like the logical winner. In rowing, gym- nastics, wrestling, and boxing, I don't think the wearers of the hina- maru [sic] have a Chinaman's chance.... The red and white flag ought to go up often at the Olympic pool. I feel that the men's team have a good chance to paddle their way to a victory. The women will be lucky to get second. The spikers should win a couple of first places.46

Another Nisei journalist, "Hank," cheered for Japanese swim- mers, saying: "It's up to our swimmers to come through with the necessary points to place Japan among the leaders."47

To these adult Nisei, the fact that Japan's athletes were competing with the United States on an even level was a source of genuine pride. Nisei hoped Japanese victories would help dispel American prejudices against them as unassimilable, sec- ond-class citizens.48 But in the end it was not clear whether other Americans gained a better understanding of Nisei. In his post-Olympic contemplation, "Hank" remarked:

[W]hen I was sitting in the swimming stadium, watching the Nip- ponese mermen, the lady from Iowa next to me said, "My but you speak English!" I'm glad she found out that I did and I hope she goes back to the "tall corn" with the news that Nipponese do speak English once in a while.49

One positive outcome, he admitted, was a drop in the use of the word, 'Jap," because Los Angeles newspapers began to use

46. Ibid., July 31, 1932, p. 5. 47. Hank, "Impressions," Rafu, Aug. 7, 1932, p. 4. 48. For Nisei's complex status and identity, see Yuji Ichioka, "The Meaning of

Loyalty: The Case of Kazumaro Buddy Uno," AmerasiaJournal 23: 3 (1997), 45-71. He refers to John J. Stephan, Hawaii under the Rising Sun:Japan's Plans for Conquest after Pearl Harbor (Honolulu, 1984).

49. Hank, "Impressions," Rafu, Aug. 21, 1932, p. 4.

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416 Pacific Historical Review

"the full word." "We can thank our heroes from Japan for the revolution in the newspaper world," he wrote, "and let's hope that writers keep on using the longer word."50

The tenth Olympics concluded on August 14 with another Japanese victory, as if to reward Issei and Nisei for weeks of cheering.51' At the closing ceremony, the Japanese flag and an- them appeared frequently to the joy of the Japanese d6h6, who went "crazy over the Nisshoki and 'Kimigayo.'"'52 The Japanese team ranked fourth overall in the total number of medals.53 The Rafu Japanese section triumphantly proclaimed:

[T]here would be many Japanese flags on the Olympic poles. Japan- ese swimmers' boasts came true. The sincere cheers of our zairyu doho were rewarded. It is no wonder that tens of thousands of d6ho came to the closing ceremony to share thisjoy with the [Japanese] athletes and officials. Several thousands of zairyiu d6ho without tickets stood outside the stadium to at least listen to the 'Kimigayo' and see the Nisshoki raised.54

The "Sun" went up. It was a symbol of the long-dormant pride of the d6h6, a sentiment that neither other Americans nor na- tive Japanese could fully share.

Explaining Nikkei nationalism during the Olympics

Why did Los Angeles Japanese-whether immigrant resi- dents or American-born-exhibit such strong nationalism in reaction to the 1932 Olympics? According to an Issei-authored ar- ticle in Kashu, the games had two major effects. First, the Olympics showed the "real value" of "our nation" (Japan), in- creased its national dignity, and impressed people throughout the

50. Ibid. 51. On the last day, Japan's Lieutenant Baron Nishi Takeichi won the indi-

vidual championship in the equestrian event, marking a wonderful ending to their Olympic experience. Rafu, Aug. 15, 1932, pp. 1, 6; Kashu, Aug. 15, 1932, p. 1.

52. Rafu, Aug. 13, 1932, p. 3. 53. In terms of the number of medals, the order was the United States (104

medals, including forty-one gold), Italy (thirty-six, including twelve gold), and France (nineteen, including ten gold). Japan won eighteen medals (seven gold, seven silver, and four bronze ). Koshiki gaido bukku (cited in note 11 above), 38, 90.

54. Rafu, Aug. 15, 1932, p. 1. Author's translation. See also Kashu, Aug. 14, 1932, p. 1.

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Japan at the 1932 Olympics 417

world. Secondly, it gave Nisei positive impressions of Japan and produced a change in their view of their parents' homeland.55

1. ProvingJapanese excellence

The Japanese American community earnestly believed that Japan's Olympic victories would prove Japanese excellence as a "minzoku" (nationality or ethnicity; almost synonymous with race), despite being nonwhite and non-Western, and therefore reduce American prejudice against Japanese in general.56' "For the first time in the history of the Olympic Games," according to the Kashu English article, "the Red and White of Nippon is expected to compete on equal footing with the United States, Great Britain, France, Finland, Germany, Sweden, and Italy in the struggle for team supremacy."57

In the United States, the dbho felt that Japanese athletes could prove by their victories that they could overcome physio- logical disadvantages-such as short legs and a small build- with athletic excellence and strong spiritual character.58 The Rafu English section praised the "brown-skinned swimmers" for having "finished fully 18 meters ahead of the American team which was second" in the men's 800-meter relay. It went on to say: "The best effort of these [American] swimmers was not good enough for the determined Japanese swimmers." The ri- valry against white nations, especially the United States, was strong. One Rafu article contended that the Japanese swimmers surpassed Johnny Weissmuller, the white American swimming star at the Paris and Amsterdam Olympics, by further develop- ing his crawl stroke into an ideal form.59

White Americans' praise for Japanese athletes endorsed Is- sei and Nisei confidence in Japanese superiority and gratified

55. Kashu, Jun. 12, 1932, p. 3. 56. Minzoku here, as perceived by Issei, was actually very close to race, rather

than ethnicity or nationality, and "blood" was considered the main marker. As noted by Azuma, Issei had an identification as Japanese within a white-controlled hierarchy, based on a sense of superiority to other Asian nationalities. See Azuma, "Racial Struggle, Immigrant Nationalism, and Ethnic Identity" 165, 171, 196-199.

57. Kashu, Jun. 12, 1932, p. 3. 58. For example, one Rafu columnist wrote in delight that Japanese athletes

showed their winning spirit even though they had "short legs." Rafu, Aug. 2, 1932, p. 8.59. Ibid., Aug. 9, 1932, p. 6, Aug. 25, 1932, p. 3.

59. Ibid., Aug. 9, 1932, p. 6, Aug. 25, 1932, p. 3.

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418 Pacific Historical Review

their pride. Even the notoriously anti-Japanese San Francisco Ex- aminer praised the Japanese athletes for excellence. "However," the Rafu columnist added, "they praise the Japanese because they had underestimated the Japanese.... If the Japanese be- came far better than Americans, their praise would be switched to threatening words."60 Indeed, Japan did better than any Asian nation had ever done in Olympic history. Still, its overall rank- ing was nowhere near that of the United States. The United States swept many events, in part because more U.S. athletes took part than did those of any other nation.61 Japanese athletes were competitive at track-and-field and swimming events, but in other competitions they had only a small chance of winning.

When Japanese athletes lost, the response of the ethnic press was either defensive, emphasizing Japanese moral superi- ority, or hopeful that they would do better in the projected 1940 Tokyo Olympiad. The Kashu extolled "Sports Nippon" and boasted that, when Japanese athletes lost, they proved them- selves better than the winners and that other nations should learn good sportsmanship from the Japanese.62 Fujii Sei of Kashu, impressed by the excellence of black American athletes, such as Eddie Tolan, Ralph Metcalfe, Edward Gordon, and Phil Edwards, insisted that Japanese should analyze and overcome their own weaknesses, but he also defended Japan's loss in wrestling as only natural because the opponent was too big.63 Another Kashu article praised Takenaka Sh6ichiro's perfor- mance in the 1,500-meter run. Although he finished last, it said, he was better than the first-place winner in that he completed the race with a body the size of a child, as compared to the size of the other competitors.64

The collective pride in Japan's athletic excellence, espe- cially among Issei, reflected a hope that white Americans would view Japan on an equal footing with the Western nations. In this sense, Issei opinion leaders tried to unite Manchuria and the Olympics within an overall picture of Japan's progress and to use

60. Ibid., Aug. 17, 1932, p. 8. Author's translation. Also see Kashu, Aug. 10, 1932, p. 3.

61. More than 500 U.S. athletes took part, whereas the Japanese were next with 142. See Kieran and Daley, Story of the Olympic Games, 133.

62. "Spotsu Nippon no ninki." 63. Kashu, Aug. 3, 1932, p. 2. 64. Ibid., Aug. 6, 1932, p. 3.

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Japan at the 1932 Olympics 419

both to stimulate ethnic nationalism among Nisei and improve American public opinion toward Japanese Americans. A few months before the Olympics, the Rafu published a special Eng- lish supplement that emphasized Japan's peaceful leadership in Asia, intending to give Americans and the Nisei generation a cor- rect understanding of the Sino-Japanese relationship.65 Around the time of the Olympics, Fujii Sei of Kashu, himself an advocate of submissive assimilation to white America, ran a long series of essays on the Monroe Doctrine, analogously defending Japan's advancement in Manchuria for the "protection and promotion of the welfare" of Manchurians.66 In this realm, Issei nationalism maintained that Japan's "real value" had been underestimated and that the nation had only to prove its racial excellence, moral integrity, and leadership to white Americans and the world.

2. Enhancing Nisei ethnic pride At the same time that Japanese Americans sought to find in

the Olympics signs of Japan's national greatness, Issei also sought to provide their children's generation with a positive im- age of Japan. Immigrant-generation parents, educators, and leaders were particularly concerned that Nisei, although tech- nically American citizens, faced severe discrimination and such an unpromising future because of their parentage that they were becoming negative toward themselves, their parents, and their ethnic heritage. Issei therefore hoped that Japanese ath- letic feats would impress Nisei and boost their self-image and confidence in their racial stock.

Key in this regard was the generational demography of the Japanese American population in the early 1930s. The majority of Nisei then were still young children. Most had been born be- tween 1918 and 1922, a result of the fact that, beginning in the late nineteenth century, Japanese immigration consisted pri- marily of single men.67 This male migration was then restricted

65. Rafu, March 3, 1932, Special Supplement, 1-8. 66. Ibid., Sept. 2, 1932, p. 2. Author's translation. For Fujii's views on assimi-

lation, see Takahashi, Nisei/Sansei, 26. 67. Roger Daniels, Concentration Camp U.S.A.:Japanese Americans and World War

II (NewYork, 1972), 22. According to Daniels, in a typical Japanese American fam- ily "children were born in the years 1918-1922 to a 35-year-old father and a 25-year- old mother."

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420 Pacific Historical Review

by the Gentlemen's Agreement of 1907-1908 and terminated by the Immigration Act of 1924. Between 1908 and 1924, often through the commonly known "picture bride" system, tens of thousands of Japanese women crossed the Pacific as spouses of Issei men already residing in the United States. Thus, the num- ber of American-born kept rising, while Issei population growth stopped. By 1930 the American-born comprised almost half the Japanese in the continental United States; in California, Nisei al- ready outnumbered Issei. During the 1930s, the reversal of the Issei-Nisei ratio became a nationwide phenomenon, entitling Nisei to a significant voice in the ethnic community.68

In this context, Issei were concerned for the Nisei's future, often referring to it as the Nisei mondai (problem). Issei strategies and ideas on how best to fit the Nisei into American society var- ied. Some advocated full assimilation to the United States and the discarding of Japanese language, habits, religion, and dual Japanese-United States citizenship. Other Issei wanted their suc- cessor generation to cultivate and appreciate their Japanese her- itage. It was common for immigrant parents to send their children to supplementary Japanese-language schools or even back to Japan for education for a few years.69 Japan-trained Nisei, or so-called Kibei, represented "considerable diversity" within the Nisei cohort.70 Regardless of the standpoint or back- ground, however, most Japanese community members were de- voted to securing for Nisei better "life chances" in American society.

The Olympics offered hope to Issei that Japanese victories would help remove Nisei's stigma as second-class American citi- zens and simultaneously make them proud of their ethnic roots. An August 17 Rafu article in Japanese, for example, expressed the Issei view that "American citizens of Japanese ancestry" ben- efited greatly from exposure to Japan's positive image as a "pro- gressive, developing, and aggressive" nation.

68. Takahashi, Nisei/Sansei, 35. Roger Daniels, Asian America: Chinese and Japanese in the United States since 1850 (Seattle, 1988), 155.

69. The objective of Japanese-language-school education was debated and eventually shifted from preparing Nisei for returning to Japan to giving them moral integrity as Americans in 1912. For details on the Japanese-language-school debate, see Ichioka, Issei, 200-203.

70. Takahashi, Nisei/Sansei, 35.

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Japan at the 1932 Olympics 421

Nikkei citizens who were born to Japanese parents do not look like genuine American citizens. It is essential that they be American citi- zens with some Japanese qualities. I cannot help emphasizing this, es- pecially when I think of the status of black Americans.... Sports is relatively free from exclusiveness and encourages the demonstration of human capacity. The Olympics is the best form of sportsmanship. In that sense, the excellent performance by Japan and the Japanese race at the Olympics let people from the participating countries know about Japan and the Japanese, and also gave the Nikkei American cit- izens a better understanding [of Japan].71

The passage implies that Nisei were American citizens and that, by emphasizing ethnic difference from white Americans in a positive manner, they could claim full membership in Ameri- can society.

In this regard, Issei were pleased with the outcome. Nisei interest in the Olympics was very strong, and during the games Japanese performances did stimulate Nisei respect for Japan. One Kashu English editorial pointed out that "when Japan real- ized her lack of finance every [Nisei] boy and girl went out into the street corners to ask for a little help to send their big broth- ers and sisters to compete on the world stage. It was that dream and promise those gallant youths of Nippon endeavored to re- alize while in Los Angeles." It continued:

The younger generation of Japanese in America were impressed by the strength, power and spirit of these new youths of modern Japan; they gained from them the pride that is within their own blood. What was there in the minds of those new Americans who gaze upon the young swimmers from the Far East beating the world record? It was the pride that they too are Japanese and come from the same racial stock as the athletic wonders of new Japan. They have taught us what it is to be real "Samurai" in this age of modern world.72

The Olympics realized the Issei hope that Nisei would have close contacts with the Japanese athletes. By the end of the

games, many Nisei had socialized with their brethren. Young children especially were impressed by the athletes. Older Nisei,

71. Rafu, Aug. 17, 1932, p. 2. Author's translation. 72. Kashu, Aug. 21, 1932, p. 2. This page as recorded on microfilm is dam-

aged, so some of the missing words are inferred from the context.

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422 Pacific Historical Review

despite feelings such as those expressed by Roku Sugahara, gen- erally entertained mature interest and admiration. For example, a victory celebration banquet (yitsh6 shukuga bansankai) orga- nized by the Nikkei community on August 15 provided an op- portunity for young adult Nisei to express their admiration for the brethren. At the Biltmore Hotel, they danced until mid- night; Nisei women hovered around Japanese male athletes, leaving Nisei men jealous.73 A few days later, countless members of the American-born generation crowded to the port to bid the athletes an emotional good-bye.

Overall, the 1932 Olympiad was an exhilarating ethnic ex- perience for Nisei. Even today, Southern California Nisei re- member nostalgically how excited they were over the Japanese team's presence and victories. Yuri Kochiyama, then eleven years old, and Aiko Nakamura, then twelve, remember going to the practice sites every day. They were excited about Japan's chance of winning medals in the Olympics before their eyes.74 Yaeko Nakamura, a 1931 University of Southern California gradu- ate, fondly remembers dancing with Japanese athletes at the Biltmore Hotel banquet.75 Dr. James D. Yamazaki, then sixteen, went to many events with a season ticket and remembers his ex- citement over Japanese victories.76 In these and other cases, spe- cial sentiments experienced as 'Japanese brethren" remain after six and a half decades.

3. Seeing the Olympics through rose-tinted glasses In addition to the issues of national excellence and en-

hanced ethnic awareness on the part of Nisei, it is important to note that Issei and Nisei alike also believed that the Olympic games were a force for peace and an opportunity for profit. De- spite the sense of rivalry with the United States, the overall thrust of their cheers was toward fortifying Japanese-U.S. relations and improving the status of Japanese Americans in the United States. These concerns distinguish their immigrant nationalism from homeland Japanese nationalism vis-a-vis the Olympics; the latter

73. Rafu, Aug. 16, 1932, p. 3; Kashu, Aug. 16, 1932, p. 6. 74. Oral interview with Yuri Kochiyama, May 12, 1998, and with Aiko Naka-

mura, Jan. 6, 2000, by author. 75. Oral interview with Yaeko Nakamura, March 25, 1999, by author. 76. Oral interview with Dr. James D. Yamazaki, Jan. 2, 2000, by author.

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Figure 2. Japanese Farewell Banquet to the Japanese Olympic Athletes (Yusho Shukuga Bansan Kai), Biltmore Hotel, August 15, 1932. Note both the Japanese and American flags on the walls, and the fact that some participants wear traditional Japanese clothes, although most wear Western formal clothes. Courtesy the Japanese American National Museum, Los Angeles (gift of Dr. and Mrs. Setsuo Amano).

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424 Pacific Historical Review

was aimed partly at legitimizing Japan's military expansion as an Asian power. In the United States, in contrast, the doh6 Japanese emphasized peace and friendship. As Ishikawa Sayoko stated: "Let's eliminate the distinctions between races at this opportu- nity and encourage international friendship."77

The Olympic movement's promotion of international

friendship and peace reflected the Japanese American hope to

prove Japan's "fair" sportsmanship and peace-oriented charac- ter and to diminish Americans' anti-Japanese sentiments.78 The

spirit of the modern Olympics, Issei and Nisei hoped, would im-

prove U.S.-Japanese relations. At the beginning of the Olym- piad, Nisei "Hank" wrote, with a distant fear of another world war, as follows:

We all know that the very presence of the many foreign athletes has erased all race prejudice and hatred that may have existed before. Why then cannot all the nations present here today declare a state of Olympic Games every year, and in that way have fair play and friendship annually, instead of just every four years?... Why then cannot the nations take an example from the present Olympic Vil- lage, and realize that if their representatives can live peacefully with those of other nations, then there must be no reason why they too cannot.... Let us sincerely pray and hope that these Games will clearly show the nations the futility of jealousies and suspicions, and that the curtain will come down forever on the play of international hatreds!79

A Rafu editorial similarly emphasized the Olympics' ability to "bind the world's friendship closer together and serve as the best means of making and maintaining peace between nations." This optimism was naive, but concurrent international tensions over Manchuria did not spoil the d6ho belief that U.S.-Japanese

77. Ishikawa Sayoko, "K6kokuban ni minagiru Orinpikku no hamon" [Olympic influence seen all over the bulletin board], Rafu, Aug. 6, 1932, p. 2. Author's translation.

78. A Kashu Japanese article said that Japanese nationals and zairyifu d6h6 were extremely happy over the Japanese accomplishments in the tenth Olympics and could not help thanking them. What should be most noted, it continued, was that the Japanese athletes had proven sportsmanship, or Japanese people's kenzen naru seishin (healthy spirit) and their iki to kihaku (morale and determination) as the head of the Far East. Kashu, Aug. 15, 1932, p. 1.

79. Rafu, July 31, 1932, p. 6.

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Japan at the 1932 Olympics 425

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Figure 3. A newspaper advertisement for a big sale at a Little Tokyo sweater company. At the top is the Japanese American community emblem for the Los Angeles Olympics, combining the Japanese and American flags, with words in both English and Japanese. The slogan "Nihon wo kataseyo" translates as "Make Japan win." Kashu Mainichi, August 6, 1932, Japanese section, p. 7.

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426 Pacific Historical Review

relations would improve. Indeed, some Issei and Nisei extended their Olympic optimism to interpreting Japan's expansion into Asia as an effort for peace and coexistence.80

Japanese American enthusiasm for the Olympics also had a practical side: money. Throughout Los Angeles, merchants hoped the 1932 Olympics would provide an economic boost in a time of depression. Japanese Americans, marginalized from the mainstream economy, had a special interest in stimulating eth- nic patronage during the Olympics. With a large number of Japanese athletes, reporters, and visitors in town, and with local Nikkei residents in a celebrating mood, Little Tokyo merchants expected what was referred to as a "supbtsu keiki" (sports eco- nomic boom) or "Orinpikku keikg' (Olympic economic boom). Consequently, Little Tokyo merchants advertised in a big way, promoting special sales in honor of the Olympics and in sup- port of Japanese athletes. For example, a Japanese store on East First Street had a sale on souvenirs for Japanese athletes to take back. Another store, Tomio, held an Olympic celebration sale between August 13 and 15. Mitsuba Trading set up (with Kashu) a telephone-linked live broadcast of Olympic events; on the day of Nambu's victory, 1,500 were in the audience. Japantown had an Olympic sale on August 9, so that Japanese team members could buy souvenirs to take home. But Little Tokyo merchants' expectations of a bonanza were unrealistic, for once the Olympics started, many consumers far preferred watching the games to shopping. Except for some hotels, restaurants, and camera shops, all merchants were disappointed. Indeed, the re- sult of doho spending $100,000 to watch the games, the Kashu feared, would be a slump in the post-Olympic spending in the community.81

80. Ibid., Aug. 7, 1932, p. 2. The Japanese Amenrican Courier expressed this view clearly in a news story, "Ideal of Peace Becomes Policy for Manchukuo," July 30, 1932, p. 1. In interpreting this view in a more general sense, Hiroshi Yoneyama writes that Japanese expansion into Asia was regarded as showing Japan's progress, although immediately before the Pacific War, Japanese immigrants started to feel uneasy about maintaining a nationalistic attitude. See Yoneyama, "Taiheiy6 Senso mae no zaibei Nihonjin imin to nashonarizumu," 106-107.

81. Rafu, July 30, 1932, p. 3. The same advertisement appeared also on July 31 and Aug. 2, 1932. Ibid., Aug. 12, 1932, p. 2, Aug. 9, 1932, p. 8. This broadcast at- tracted such a large Japanese crowd, according to Kashu, that some media-related person with a foreign accent informed the Olympic Committee that this might be

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Japan at the 1932 Olympics 427

To Japanese Americans, monetary profits were not all that would help them out of their economic problems. The spiritual uplift from the Japanese team's victories was also important because, as a minority group deprived of naturalization rights, Issei and Nisei suffered more under the Depression than main- stream white Americans. An August 16 article in Rafu suggested that the Japanese in the United States should learn from the spirit of Japanese (and Korean) marathon runners: "We are competing in a marathon race, as we struggle honestly at the forefront of racial development."82

The complexity of nationalism

The Japanese American fervor over the 1932 Olympics was a special case of ethnic nationalism, and yet sports, immigrants, and nationalism have been intricately intertwined in American history. According to Mark Dyreson, the United States had at- tempted to build a national community by utilizing sports-and especially the Olympic games-from the late nineteenth to early twentieth centuries, but within this context, immigrants and eth- nic minorities were in an awkward position, caught between exclusion and assimilation. On the one hand, the turn-of-the- century American concept of a "sporting republic" excluded mi- norities such as African Americans, Native Americans, and Asian Americans. On the other hand, some believed that sports could "transcend ethnicity" and "unite a multiethnic nation inundated by millions of immigrants into a community with common in- terests and values." Thus, minorities used sport as a tool; African Americans, for example, created their own athletic organiza- tions while hoping that sports would eventually encourage inte- gration and reduce racism.83 As Dyreson shows, sports in service to ethnic nationalism has been a common pattern in American minorities' struggle to achieve assimilation.

a violation. This implies that both the competition between stores and the rivalry between Kashu and Rafu were fierce. As the committee judged that the broadcast was acceptable, it continued to attract many people. Kashu, Aug. 4, 1932, p. 1; Aug. 5, 1932, p. 1, Aug. 6, 1932, p. 3, Aug. 9, 1932, p. 3. Rafu, Aug. 13, 1932, p. 8. Kashu, Aug. 15, 1932, p. 3. The same fear was also pointed out in Rafu, Aug. 13, 1932, p. 8.

82. Rafu, Aug. 16, 1932, p. 2. Author's translation. 83. Mark Dyreson, Making the American Team: Sport, Culture, and the OlympicEx-

perience (Urbana, Ill., 1998), 112-119, especially 112-115.

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428 Pacific Historical Review

The 1932 Olympics witnessed the dilemma of assimilation and exclusion within the Japanese American community. While Los Angeles doho were united in cheering for all Japanese ath- letes, receptions and entertaining were often based on prefec- tural origins. For example, athletes from Hiroshima, a prefecture from which many immigrants originated, received greater hos- pitality and more gifts.84 Doho did not fully extend their hospi- tality to the Taiwanese and Korean athletes who represented Japan. Although local Koreans hosted and entertained Kin Onbai and Gon Taika from Korea, Cho Seiken from Taiwan was ignored by all.85 Cho lamented the lack of hospitality, wishing there was such a thing as a Taiwan kenjin-kai, since the Chinese in Los Angeles did not consider Cho as their kin.86

There was yet another aspect of the complexity of nation- alism: Issei and Nisei's identification with the Japanese "race" did not mean they felt accepted by Japanese, for they were very aware of their status as kaigai zairyti dbho. Japanese athletes and other visitors from Japan often expressed scorn for the Los An- geles Japanese as "immigrants and their children." Such preju- dices were common in prewar Japan because of the stereotype that, as government policy, it was impoverished farmers from the countryside who left Japan as kimin (discarded people). For example, Japanese swimming coach, Nomura Norio, boasted at a Miyako Hotel party that his team would not need any help from "immigrants."87 But while Issei and Nisei were aware that

84. Among them were Oda and Tsuruta. Miss Ishizu, a discus thrower from a Hiroshima women's school, was said to have received the most gifts, including a diamond ring from alumnae in Los Angeles. Kashu, Aug. 13, 1932, p. 3.

85. According to the Kashu, the Japanese government reported that there were 1,860 Koreans living in the United States, of whom 815 were American-born. Kashu, Aug. 17, 1932, p. 3. In the 1936 Olympics, a Korean athlete's victory led to a controversy as a Korean newspaper printed his picture on the victory stand with the Japanese flag erased from his uniform. This terminated his athletic career on the public stage.

86. Ibid., Aug. 18, 1932, p. 6. Although Yen Le Espiritu points out the prewar Japanese immigrants' sense of superiority to the Chinese as a proof of ethnic "disidentification," the case of the Olympics shows that the Nikkei affiliation crite- ria were more subtle. Yen Le Espiritu, Asian American Panethnicity: Bridging Institu- tions and Identities (Philadelphia, 1992), 20-22.

87. Kashu, Aug. 21, 1932, p. 3. Nomura also hurt the feelings of many well- wishing doh6 who had raised $500 to rent and renovate a pool so that the Japanese swimming team could practice whenever they wished. Nomura took one look at it and said it was not good enough for his team. The article mentions that Nomura's

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Japan at the 1932 Olympics 429

homeland Japanese viewed them as "overseas Japanese," they still cheered for Japanese victories, because they had their own interest in such victories-improved status for themselves in the United States and a chance to "talk tall" with greater pride.88 No less through their cheers and support, they could also impress Japanese visitors with Japanese American progress on U.S. soil.

For Japanese Americans of the 1930s, identification with Japanese athletes had an instrumental purpose that went be- yond pride in Japanese accomplishments. Through sport and other means, the ethnic nationalism of Japanese Americans de- manded not separate nationhood but full admission to main- stream American society. It was a normal, integral part of the immigrant group's adjustment to a society with a heteroge- neous, multicultural population united under democracy.89 De- spite the worsening diplomatic climate, Issei and Nisei kept their

comment angered Kondo Choei of the Rafu, who for some reason held his anger in check and refrained from writing about the matter. And so, the Kashu lamented, the $500 that the volunteers had raised was wasted. Another Kashu Japanese col- umn said that the 'Japanese gentlemen who look down upon immigrants" walked around naked in the hotel hallway, caring nothing about the presence of embar- rassed young Nisei women. Kashu, Aug. 9, 1932, p. 6. The Kashu, whose readership was mainly in rural agricultural areas, was particularly sensitive to this prejudice, whereas the urban-orientated Rafu apparently decided not to mention it. In evalu- ating the overall Olympiad, the Rafu referred to various "shortcomings," including "rude comments and acts by a member of the swimming team" and "a track-and- field athlete's foolishness." Those incidents, the newspaper stated, were so "un- pleasant to look back in detail and criticize that we won't do more than mention them here." Rafu, Aug. 15, 1932, p. 1. Author's translation.

88. Appreciations from the Japanese team pleased the zairyiu d6h6. The Kashu Mainichi proudly printed the statement of gratitude from Dr. Kishi Seiichi of Japan's Physical Education Association for the zairyu d6h6's support for the Japan- ese Olympic team. He thanked them for their devotion, fervor, and "patriotism" (aikokushin), their understanding for sports, and the spiritual and material support despite the depression. Kashu, Aug. 16, 1932, p. 3.

89. In the larger context of nationalism studies, such a microcosmic case may look odd. For nationalism, in a real political context, often relates the issue to state- hood, borders, and power. Michael D. Levin defines a strong sense of ethno- nationalism as leading to the creation of new states and a weak one as giving the right to self-determination. See Michael D. Levin, ed., Ethnicity and Aboriginality: Case Studies in Ethnonationalism (Toronto, 1993), 3-4. In the case of the United States, Native Ainericans and Hawaiians are faced with the statehood or self- autonomy question, but for nonindigenous groups, the issues focus more on how to coexist in the same society by respecting differences and pursuing equality. In current multiculturalism debates, the issues are often reduced to subcultural clashes in language, education, heritage, and political power.

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430 Pacific Historical Review

hope that the 1940 Olympics in Tokyo would further improve U.S.-Japanese relations and also their status in America.90

The 1932 Olympics tapped ethnic pride and drew out opti- mistic hopes for equality throughout the Japanese immigrant community. The cheering of Los Angeles Japanese Americans for Japanese Olympic athletes expressed their desire to dispel racial stigma and gain self-esteem without denying their roots. Issei, in particular, hoped that their American-born children would gain ethnic awareness and pride. At the same time, the Los Angeles Nikkei believed in the Olympic ideal of interna- tional friendship and world peace, hoping that Americans would come to view Japan not as an Asian military threat but as a peace-loving nation.

The naive joys of ethnic pride and international friendship that Japanese Americans shared in the early 1930s were shat- tered by the outbreak of World War II. As U.S. nationalism surged under the banner of defending democracy against fas- cism, Japanese Americans, although excluded on the account of their racial and ethnic origins, had to make an agonizing de- cision over what stance to take.91 As loyalty to the United States became the dominant ideological perspective during the in- ternment, memories of the Olympics were pushed back and hidden away. However, Japanese American nationalism over the 1932 Olympics, despite its failure to improve their political sta- tus or to prevent the tragedy of war and internment, was a mem- orable page in Japanese American ethnic history that attests to these people's struggle for respect and pride.

90. This relates to Yuji Ichioka's analysis of Issei nationalism between 1937 and 1941 in response to the Sino-Japanese War in that most Issei "did not believe, or refused to believe, in the possibility of war between Japan and the United States" at least until the summer of 1941. Ichioka, 'Japanese Immigrant Nationalism," 274.

91. Takahashi explains the diversity even among Nisei groups but points out their attempts to form coalitions because "internment affected all classes within the Japanese community" See Takahashi, Nisei/Sansei, 94-95.

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