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Midwest Connections

Postwar Japanese-American Migration

Above: Sacramento, Miyoko Ito. Illinois State Museum

The Chicago Japanese-American Yearbook

Published in 1947, the Chicago Japanese-American Yearbook documents a growing community by listing available housing, churches, and civic organizations while showcasing advertisements from Japanese-American businesses in the city. Brother Theophane Walsh, M.M., describes the process of forced and voluntary migration that contributed to an increased Japanese-American presence in Chicago:

With the outbreak of the war with its accompanying evacuation from the West coast of the Japanese people, the geography of the United States became more positive in the lives of these people uprooted from what they had considered their permanent homes. The relocation camps were scattered far and wide, and train rides soon lost their novelty in the long and uncomfortable trips from city to city and through the wide expanses of the deserts and prairies.
Then came relocation from the camps. From the first Chicago proved the most hospitable and receptive. Prior to the war about 300 Japanese formed the colony here in Chicago. In the millions living here these few hundred were lost and hidden away from public attention. With the coming of evacuees from the relocation camps, the colony grew with rapidity. At one time a high of 25,000 Japanese were reportedly residing in Chicago. The majority of these are nisei [born in the United States] but the percentage of issei [Japenese-born] is quite high.

Chicago Japanese-American Year Book, 1947. Newberry Library. View at Internet Archive

Learn more about Sono Osato, who is featured in the Chicago Japanese-American Year Book:

Miyoko Ito

This painting, with its sunset-like colors and architectural references, is an elegy to the artist's childhood in California. Ito was born to Japanese immigrant parents in Berkeley, California. In 1942, in her senior year at the University of California Berkeley, Ito was forcibly relocated to a camp in California along with over 110,000 other Japanese Americans at the start of the United States entering into World War II. After the war, Ito moved to Chicago, where she worked for nearly 40 years as a practicing artist. —Illinois State Museum

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Miyoko Ito, Sacramento, 1975, oil on canvas. Illinois State Museum This painting, with its sunset-like color choices and architectural references, is an elegy to the artist's childhood in California. Ito was born to Japanese immigrant parents in Berkeley, California. In 1942, in her senior year at the University of California Berkeley, Ito was sent to an internment camp in California along with over 110,000 other Japanese-Americans at the start of the United States entering into World War II. After the war, Ito moved to Chicago where she worked for nearly 40 years as a practicing artist.