North American Post
The North American Post (北米報知 Hokubei Höchi) is a newspaper based in Seattle, Washington's International District. It was founded in 1902 and is the largest and oldest Japanese-language newspaper published in the Pacific Northwest.[1]
  | |
| Type | Newspaper |
|---|---|
| Owner(s) | Tomio Moriguchi |
| Publisher | North American Post Publishing, Inc.[1] |
| Founded | 1902 |
| Language | Japanese / English |
| Headquarters | 519 6th Ave South Seattle, Washington 98105 United States |
| Website | http://www.napost.com/ |
Before World War II
Originally called the Hokubei JiJi (The North American Times),[2] the newspaper was founded in 1902 by first generation immigrants and investors Kiyoshi Kumamoto, Kuranosuke Hiraide, Juji Yadagai, and Ichiro Yamamoto. Its chief editor was Sakutaro Yamada, and its original office was located in the basement of Hiraide Shoten on Jackson Street.[3] In 1913, ownership of the paper was transferred from Kiyoshi Kumamoto to Sumikiyo Arima. Sumikiyo's sons Sumiyoshi and Sumio both served as president of the paper during the years leading up to World War II.[3]
Commemorations for the paper's 5,000th and 10,000th issues were held in 1918 and 1934 respectively.[4] The paper was issued daily from 1902 until March 12 1942, when it ceased publication due to the internment of its staff and core readership.[5] It was the only Japanese language newspaper in the United States to publish on December 8th, 1941, the day after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. This took place in spite of managing editor Sumio Arima being arrested by the FBI on the previous day.[4]
After World War II
Following World War II, in 1946, the paper was restarted under the name Hokubei Hochi (The North American Post). Its publisher was Sadahiko Ikoma.
From 1946 to the end of 1948 the North American Post was issued weekly and then started publishing three times a week. In March 1950, it increased to a daily issued five days a week. In March, 1981, the newspaper reduced its frequency to three times a week.[5] It now puts out two issues a week: the Saturday edition is Japanese-only; the Wednesday edition has both English and Japanese sections.
On November 16, 2015, the Hokubei Hochi Foundation announced that digitized issues of both Hokubei Jiji (North American Times) and Hokubei Hochi (North American Post) would be made available to the public online. This is a result of "nearly four years of work by sponsors Hokubei Hochi Foundation, University of Washington Libraries (Suzzallo and Paul Allen) and Digital Initiatives".[6]
See also
- History of the Japanese in Seattle
- The Nikkei Newspapers Digital Archive (NNDA), is a project of the Hokubei Hochi (North American Post) Foundation and the University of Washington Libraries. Digital copies of past issues of the newspapers, North American Times (1902-1942) and North American Post (1946-1950) are available here.
References
- "Mondo Times: North American Post". Retrieved June 12, 2009.
- Lange, Greg (June 10, 2001). "Seattle's first Japanese newspaper, The Report, is issued in 1899". HistoryLink.org.
- Shinmasu, Ikuo (January 1, 2022), "History of "The North American Times 1"", North American Post
- Shinmasu, Ikuo (February 12, 2022), "History of "The North American Times" 2, 1918-1942"", North American Post
- Lange, Greg (June 2, 2001). "Japanese language newspaper in Seattle resumes publishing as Hokubei Hochi (The North American Post) on June 5, 1946". HistoryLink.org.
- Suzaka, Travis (November 16, 2015). "Two Local Nikkei Newspapers Now Available to Public". Hokubei Hochi.