Finding Your Japanese Roots in the US & in Japan with Linda Okazaki

Would you like to learn how to document your unique family history? 

Dorothea Lange, WRA, Densho Digital Archive, 2008

On Saturday September 27, from 10-2, Linda Harms Okazaki is returning to CGS to present her seminar, Finding Your Japanese Roots in the US and in Japan. Adelle Treakle was a recent attendee of Linda Okazaki’s Finding Your Japanese Roots class and this sparked her quest to locate records on her family at the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) in Washington DC. During the Second World War, members of Adelle’s family were held at Poston, the Colombia Relocation Center in Arizona. She kindly shares her experience:

"After attending Linda’s Finding Your Japanese Roots class, I was inspired to track down my family’s records at the National Archives in Washington DC. I requested the RG 210 files for my grandparents and their six children who were in the Poston Relocation Center. It is very moving to be able to hold in your hand the documents that had such significance to your family and their history. I took my laptop and scanner, and scanned every page, reading some along the way. Over a couple of days, I managed to scan more than 400 pages. The WRA [War Relocation Authority] kept every document, from camp intake forms, letters to and from WRA officials, and work, health and school records.

One of best treasures I found were school essays about the evacuation and camp life written by my aunt when she was in the eighth grade. Intake documents included information the family didn’t know about my grandparents in Japan, such as their mothers’ maiden names, family occupations and the schools they attended there. I hope to use this information for more genealogical research in Japan. Shortly after my DC trip, I was able to share my research at a family reunion, including giving my aunt copies of her long forgotten essays. It was gratifying to learn and share so much about such a historic event in my family’s life."

The California Genealogical Society proudly announces a repeat offering in our ongoing ethnic research series: Finding Your Japanese Roots in the US & in Japan. 

Join Linda Harms Okazaki for an encore presentation of this seminar. 
The first half will focus on background and research in the United States: 

• the political climate and pertinent U.S. laws
• internment camps
• post WWII experience
• repatriation and redress.

The second half of the seminar will concern research in Japan:

• finding your koseki 
• understanding ohaka and kakocho
• visiting relatives, cemeteries and temples

The seminar is suitable for beginners as well as more experienced attendees. Attendees are welcome to bring lunch, meet seminar participants and discuss their Japanese-American history.

When: Saturday, September 27, 2014 from 10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. 
(please bring a bag lunch)

Where: California Genealogical Society
2201 Broadway, Suite LL2
(Entrance on 22nd St)
Oakland, California

How: Register online: http://tinyurl.com/Japanese2014Reg 

Cost: Free for members. Non-members fee is $20.00 (non-refundable) and can be applied towards membership on the day of the class.

Please note, this class is limited to thirty participants. Preregistration is required. Walk-ins will not be admitted.

Call CGS: (510) 663-1358 or E-mail: events@californiaancestors.org


Copyright © 2014 by Ellen Fernandez-Sacco, California Genealogical Society and Library.

Nikkei Genealogy with Linda Okazaki: Ethnic Discussion Group Series

The California Genealogical Society will be hosting a series of ethnic discussion groups that are free and open to the public.  

Maruko Okazaki, ca. 1937, Santa Maria, California

The first in the series will be on Japanese Research-- on Saturday, August 2, 2014, CGS Volunteer Linda Okazaki will be leading an introductory workshop and discussion on Nikkei Genealogy.

Here's a brief description of the introductory workshop:

Searching for your Japanese roots can be challenging but not impossible. Getting started is no different than researching any other ethnic group. Begin with yourself and work backwards, collecting birth, marriage and death records. Then venture into census, land and immigration records. For Nikkei, internment camp records and A-files are critical. All of these documents can give you clues needed to get your records in Japan.

Earlier this month, she presented her "Finding Your Japanese Roots” workshop on behalf of the Nikkei Genealogical Society at the 2014 National Conference for the Japanese American Citizens League. The JACL is the oldest Asian civil rights organization in the US, and was founded in 1929. To learn more about the JACL, visit:  http://jacl.org/about/about.htm

We’re also happy to announce that Linda will be presenting her workshop "Finding Your Japanese Roots: In the U.S. and in Japan" at CGS on Saturday, September 27 from 10-2 pm.  Come & learn how to document your unique family history! 

Registration is already open: http://tinyurl.com/Japanese2014Reg

For more details, please contact Linda at loaklazaki@californiaancestors.org


Copyright © 2014 by Ellen Fernandez-Sacco, California Genealogical Society and Library.

Japanese Class flier

Event flier by Debbie Mascot. Thank you, Debbie!

Copyright © 2013 by Kathryn M. Doyle, California Genealogical Society and Library.

Finding Your Japanese Roots in the U.S. and in the Land of the Rising Sun

The Moshida Family: Identification tags were used to aid in keeping a family unit intact during all phases of evacuation. Executive Order 9066 ordered the removal of 110,000 civilians of Japanese descent, including 71,000 American citizens, from the western United States in 1942. They were placed in ten internment camps.

Saturday, September 28, 2013
1:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.

California Genealogical Society
2201 Broadway, Suite LL2
Oakland, California 94612

The California Genealogical Society proudly announces the next class in our ongoing ethnic family history series: researching Japanese ancestry with Linda Harms Okazaki.

Part I of the half-day seminar will be a brief overview of Japanese culture, history and language as it pertains to genealogy, immigration and passenger records. Records available through the National Archives, USCIS, Ancestry.com, Family Search, and Japanese American National Museum will be covered. 

Topics will include: 

• the early political climate in the US and laws of the time, 
• internment camps, 
• post WWII experiences, repatriation and redress

The second half of the seminar will focus on documenting your ancestors in Japan, from using the information in the American records to finding your koseki, understanding ohaka and kakocho, plus visiting relatives, cemeteries and temples.

This seminar is suitable for all levels of research experience.

Register online.

Download the information flier.

This class is limited to thirty participants and is a free benefit of membership. Non-members fee is $20.00 (non-refundable) and can be applied towards membership on the day of the class.

Preregistration is required. Walk-ins will not be admitted. Registration confirmations will be sent to the first thirty registrants. Additional names will be collected and placed on a waiting list in case of cancellations.

Participants are invited to come early and meet each others who share an interest in Japanese research. Please bring a bagged lunch and meet at noon in the Sherman room at the library.

Linda Harms Okazaki is a fourth-generation San Franciscan whose interest in genealogy began as a hobby in 1998. For the past two years she been researching her husband’s Japanese ancestry and has become passionate about documenting and sharing the stories of Japanese-Americans before, during, and after World War II. Linda has taken two research trips to Japan and has toured some of the assembly centers and camps that held members of the Okazaki family. This summer she completed the National Institute on Genealogical Research (NIGR) program at the National Archives in Washington D.C. and College Park, Maryland. Linda serves as Volunteer Coordinator for the California Genealogical Society and Library.

Photo credit: No. 210-GC-153, “Members of the Mochida family awaiting evacuation bus. Mochida operated a nursery and five greenhouses on a two-acre site in Eden Township." Dorothea Lange, Hayward, California, May 8, 1942; National Archives and Records Administration, Records of the War Relocation Authority.

Copyright © 2013 by Kathryn M. Doyle, California Genealogical Society and Library.