This is Nothing New to Us
Our Publisher and Editor finds inspiration from a historical Japanese American newspaper
Dear Reader,
I’d like to bring to your attention a piece of journalism history that I encountered during a walking tour through Seattle’s Chinatown-International District at #AAJA25.
Our tour guide, Frank Abe, who wrote the graphic novel “WE HEREBY REFUSE: Japanese American Resistance to Wartime Incarceration”, brought us to Japantown’s Panama Hotel. It was built in 1910 by the first Japanese American Architect as a single room occupancy for single Japanese men seeking to work in America.
During World War II, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066, which forcibly interned and incarcerated Japanese Americans. The Japanese community in Seattle brought their valuables to be stored in the basement of the Panama Hotel, many of which were left unclaimed and still visible through a looking glass on the first floor.
The Hori family, who owned the hotel at the start of the War, regained control of the property after being released. Although the hotel has changed hands a couple of times since, it still welcomes guests as one of the last intact relics of Japanese American history in the city.
What caught my eye next to the entrance to the hotel cafe was a historical copy of The North American Times newspaper that required a high level of cognitive dissonance to read through in one sitting.
As you can see, “Evacuation of Japanese Due Within Ten Days” sits side-by-side with an announcement of the Japanese Imperial Navy’s successful invasion of Yangon, the capital of Myanmar, and Java, home to half of Indonesia’s population. Right below that is coverage of a free concert by a young second-generation Japanese American violinist at the local college auditorium.
I can’t imagine what it must be like to be an editor for the paper at the time: helpless to stop the leaders of your ancestral lands from committing atrocities across Asia Pacific, cognizant of the impending collective punishment that you and your neighbors are about to face, yet still cranking out local reporting to inform your community and create a sense of normalcy during fascism.
Almost every Asian country has seen dictators or democratic backsliding in our generation or our parents’ generation. The U.S.’s descent towards authoritarianism is, unfortunately, nothing new to us. However, what gives me hope is the resilience of the Japanese American community in Seattle, as well as The North American Times’ slogan, “Published in Harmony with the Best Interests of Our Free Institutions.”
If we want to endure this difficult moment, we cannot forget where we came from, what we are fighting for, and the people who sacrificed for us to get us where we are today. Let’s lean on each other to defend our free institutions and grow healthy, interconnected communities from the ground up.
Yours sincerely,
Alex Ip
Publisher and Editor
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✨ NEWS BEHIND THE NEWS
⭐ Congrats to Alex, who was interviewed by his hometown newspaper, Ming Pao, and got nominated for the 2025 Nonprofit News Awards Emerging Leader of the Year! Also, congrats to our Advisory Board members Priyanka Runwal and Yangyang Cheng for their AAJA Journalism Excellence Awards!
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