Japanese American from Downtown Brown Books, ABAA

Tokyo: Heibonsha, 1929. First Edition. Hardcover. Very good. An illustrated collection of comical adventures in the United States written and drawn by one of the key figures in the development of modern-day manga, Shishido Sako. Shishido's Supido Taro is widely cited as the first manga to incorporate storytelling techniques from American films, and it was one of the… Read more about this item

Tokyo: Hakubunkan, 1906. First Edition. Trade paperback. Good. A scarce and interesting look at a Japanese laborer's view of the possibilities of working in America at the height of Japanese immigration to this country. "Based on the author's 4-year personal experience in America, this book presents facts on labor conditions and wages by skilled versus unskilled, urban… Read more about this item

San Francisco: Abe Yuka, 1968. First Edition. Trade paperback. Fine. A collection from Abe Toyoji's (1880-1946) "Shadow of Time" newspaper column which was the most widely circulated Japanese column in the United States in the 1930s (see Shin Sekai Asahi Shinbun, January 24, 1937). He completed the manuscript for this book in early 1941 but its publication was… Read more about this item

Tokyo: Nihon Tosho Shuppan, 1921. Hardcover. Very good. A book divided into two parts. The first looks at the political and military significance of the Pacific area, the importance and role of the Hawaiian Islands, the American national character, the American economy, and finally U.S.-Japanese trade relations. The second half provides a summary of the economic and social… Read more about this item

New York: Japanese-American Commercial Weekly / Nichibei Shuhosha, 1914. First Edition. Hardcover. Very good. The first and only yearbook/almanac issued by the Japanese-American Commercial Weekly (Nichibei Shuho, later Nichibei Jiho). While similar in format to the yearbooks and directories published at the time on the West Coast, this book is much more focused on the import-export businesses that… Read more about this item

Los Angeles: Hakubundo Shoten, 1932. First Edition. Hardcover. Very good. Part history, part literary anthology, this large volume by an Issei historian devotes chapters to the Japanese exclusion laws, the history of Japanese American farming, particularly in California, and Japanese language schools. The bulk of the book is an anthology of Japanese American poetry (in Japanese) and first-person… Read more about this item

Tokyo: Heibonsha, 1929. First Edition. Hardcover. Very good. An illustrated collection of comical adventures in the United States written and drawn by one of the key figures in the development of modern-day manga, Shishido Sako. Shishido's Supido Taro is widely cited as the first manga to incorporate storytelling techniques from American films, and it was one of the… Read more about this item

Tokyo: Rokko Shuppanbu, 1943. First Edition. Trade paperback. Very good. A very scarce wartime history of the Japanese in California that argues that the internment of Japanese and Japanese Americans was a symptom of the same pervasive anti-Japanese attitudes among Americans that had contributed to the Second World War. The author, according to Yuji Ichioka writing in… Read more about this item

London: Peter Owen, 1970. First British edition. Hardcover. Very good/Very good. The British edition of Yoko Ono's conceptual art book, first published in 1964 in Japan, which mostly consists of instructions for performances or individual actions ("Carry a bag of peas. Leave a pea wherever you go"). Many of the pieces cannot (yet) be performed: "Prescribe pills for… Read more about this item

Tokyo: Chikura Shobo, 1932. First Edition. Hardcover. Very good. A Japanese literary critic and novelist comments on American life based on a year-long tour of the country, visiting Japanese American communities during the Great Depression. Kimura and two friends pooled their money and bought a Ford, ultimately putting 15,000 miles on the odometer before selling it… Read more about this item

Tokyo: Gaimushu (Ministry of Foreign Affairs), 1924. First Edition. Trade paperback. Good. A Japanese Foreign Ministry publication which compiles into one volume the communications between the Foreign Ministry and the Japanese Embassy on the 1924 Immigration Act and other proposed discriminatory legislation. Also contains Japanese translations of English materials relating to the Act and other proposed legislation and… Read more about this item

Tokyo: Kaizosha, 1929. First Edition. Very good. A sequel to Tekisasu mushuku ta sanjuichi pen [Hoboing in Texas and Thirty-one Other Stories] modeled after The Decameron. Hasegawa "spins stories about people's lives in an urban space, although the time and place are no longer the medieval Rome of the Decameron but twentieth-century New York. The main… Read more about this item

San Pedro, CA: Nanka Mie Kenjinkai [Southern California Mie Prefectural Society], 1922. First Edition. Hardcover. Near fine. A very scarce Japanese-American history and Who's Who printed in Los Angeles in the Taisho era. Many Japanese immigrants to the US participated in organizations centered around their family's native prefecture. This book was published by the Mie Prefectural Association,… Read more about this item

New York: Harper and Brothers, 1927. First Edition. Hardcover. Good. Perhaps the first book for children written by a Japanese-American writer, a collection of adaptations of Japanese legends and fairytales. Illustrated after line drawings by S. Mizuno. Nakazawa obtained a Ph.D. in English literature from the University of Oregon, and he was the first professor of… Read more about this item

Tokyo: Bunseisha, 1935. First Edition. The deluxe issue of this record of the Japanese in Hawaii, bound in brilliant purple cloth and housed in a paper clamshell case and a wooden box. "A standard prewar history of the Japanese in Hawaii with sections on history, demography, print media, finance, commerce, agriculture, religion, education, and community organizations. Includes… Read more about this item

San Francisco: Hongwanji Hokubei Kaikyo Honbu, 1936. First Edition. Hardcover. Near fine. A chronological history of the North American Hongwanji Mission. Provides a chronology of important events from 1898 to 1935, brief descriptive histories of each church under the mission, and outline of the Y.M.B.A. [Young Men's Buddhist Association] League of North America, and resolutions of ministerial conferences."-A… Read more about this item

Tokyo: Tobei Kyokai, 1906. Trade paperback. Very good. Third edition. "An updated and expanded guide to America which has information on employment, the Texas Japanese rice colony, and a special section on women. The 54-page appendix consists of basic English."-A Buried Past, 118. This is one of many guides to studying and immigrating to the United… Read more about this item

Yokohama: (the author / Tokyo Insatsu Kabushiki Kaisha Yokohama Bunsha), 1900. First Edition. Hardcover. Very good. A privately printed version of the diary kept by Otani Kahyoe, the president of the Japan Central Tea Traders' Association. "Mr. Otani visited America and Europe in 1899-1900, when he represented both the Tokyo and Yokohama Chambers of Commerce at the Philadelphia… Read more about this item

Los Angeles: Zaibei Miyagi Kenjinshi Hensan Jimusho, 1933. First Edition. Hardcover. Near fine. A history of the Japanese from Miyagi Prefecture. Contains a short background on emigration from this prefecture, some population statistics, and a list of Japanese from Miyagi living in Southern California. Also includes brief histories of the Southern California Miyagi Prefectural Association and the Northern… Read more about this item

Tokyo: Daigakukan, 1906. First Edition. Trade paperback. Very good. A little known Meiji-era novel narrated by a young Japanese immigrant in the United States. The narrator seems to have come from the class of poor young people with knowledge of the modern world but little chance of advancement in tradition-bound Japan. He offers opinions and philosophical musings… Read more about this item