The world has shrunk. In ten hours, we can be in an utterly different culture. Satellites connect us with ongoing calamities in real time. Has this drawn us closer together, it is hard to argue against it. Are we better for it, the answer is undoubtedly yes.
Displaced persons need to communicate in familiar ways, and in familiar languages. They do this to create new, and to preserve existing communities in a faraway place. In this America is unique. For all the consternation about immigration, America continues to welcome people. In my neighborhood on Chicago’s north side, I see a new church, restaurant, or grocery store open to serve the needs of the immigrants from the latest conflict.
I come from an immigrant background. Both my maternal and paternal grand parents travelled to America in the 1800’s. The Statue of Liberty welcomed them and as far as I could tell, none regretted the decision to leave their homeland. I am aware that each ethnic group has its unique history, and that each group is welcomed, or not, differently. Some easily fit in, while others continue to struggle after generations.
It is important to keep the channels of communication open and to have a forum to distribute the news of the old and new countries. News, whether it is business, political, or cultural; whether it be profound or purely gossip; is vital to the health of the emigrant population.
My mother, a first generation Italian-American, was fluent in Italian. Throughout my childhood, she subscribed to Fra Noi, an Italian-American newspaper that serves the same function for Chicago’s Italian-Americans as The Chicago Shimpo does for Japanese-Americans. I remember her at the end of a long day sitting with a cup of coffee reading the Italian language section at the rear of the paper.
Fra Noi was (and is) populated with ads for lawyers, funeral homes, specialty food shop, restaurants, and the many festivals that take place during the year. Most are centered on the Catholic Churches that continue to provide comfort and support as the Buddhist Temples do for the Japanese community.
I have no Italian or Japanese language skills, but this has not stopped me from visiting both countries. It has been a pleasure to travel to Japan three times, spending a total of seven weeks immersed in the culture. And it was my good fortune to discover Chado, The Way of Tea, thirty years ago. This is the reason I can share these thoughts with The Chicago Shimpo’s readership, and for that I am profoundly grateful.
For seventy years, The Chicago Shimpo has provided an invaluable service documenting generations of Chicago’s Japanese-Americans. Without it, much of this history would have been lost. And without it, the relationship between Japan and the United States, and between the evolving generations would be diminished.
Communication, whether it is ink on paper or pixels on a screen, is what makes for a civil society. It keeps communities alive and flourishing. The Chicago Shimpo has given us the gift of hindsight and helps as a template for the future.
Thus, we have the farsightedness of the originators, and the tenacity and self-sacrifice of those who have come after them to thank for the seventy years of The Chicago Shimpo.
