Writing Opportunity – Man discovers his samurai roots through old family photos
Academic, Article/Journalism, Interview/Profile 
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This is an article idea suggested by Bobby Okinaka (Wakayama-ken, 1992-95) who works for the Japanese American National Museum. If interested in writing about this, email stevenwaseda atto jetwit dotto com for contact info.
Story pitch – Man discovers his samurai roots through old family photos
Mitch Homma still has thousands of family photos to sort through, but he has already done an incredible job documenting his family’s history. He discovered that two of his great-grandparents came from important samurai families in northern Japan.
Reverend Masahiko Wada (1880-1957)
Born to a high-ranking samurai family serving the Date clan of Sendai.
Mrs. Kuni Anazawa Wada (1887-1967)
related to Inazo Nitobe, man on the 5000 yen note (cousin)
Rev. Wada, a Christian, came to southern California in 1928 to minister to Japanese immigrants in the United States. His wife and family joined him in 1931. During WWII, they were arrested as potential threats to the security of the U.S. and later sent to a relocation camp. After the war, they went on to live normal American lives and their samurai roots were forgotten until Mr. Homma started digging into his family’s past.
What makes this story interesting is that Mr. Homma has thousands of photos, documents and family heirlooms that belonged to his great-grandparents. This is rare because for many immigrants, family possessions were lost or destroyed because of World War II. Also, most Japanese immigrants to the United States were poor laborers and farmers.
He has contacted the family of Masahiko Wada in Japan and returned a copy of the koseki that was destroyed by American firebombs. Mr. Homma has compiled his family’s history into a picture book of 89 pages.
Mr. Homma has done extensive research and he has many stories about his family. This would make for a good piece on a man discovering his Japanese family’s history as well as pre-war Christianity in Japan or the Japanese American wartime experience.
Mitch lives in San Diego, CA.
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