Interviewed by Leonard Chan

Rita Takahashi is one of the many friends of AACP that I have met over the years. We would most often see her at educational conferences.

I remember that she organized an event, back in 2015, with the Japanese American National Library where they had Professor Charles Wollenberg (author of “Rebel Lawyer: Wayne Collins and the Defense of Japanese American Rights”) and our very own, Mas Hongo on the program. That’s when I first became more aware of some of the things she did, including teaching at San Francisco State University.

Recently she emailed me to find out if we still carried a book called “Ten Visits” which was about how to visit the ten Japanese American World War II incarceration centers and what you would find there. This was a book that AACP helped publish awhile ago. Sadly, we no longer have that book.

In her email, Rita told me about how she no longer taught at SF State and about the business she had started. When she informed me of her work to highlight historical AAPI places with her business, I thought an interview with her would be perfect for this month's travel theme for the AACP newsletter.

Hello Rita. I’ve known you for quite awhile now – at least 13 years (from email records with you). I’m guessing that you knew Florence and Mas Hongo (chief members of AACP) for even longer than I may have known you. Oddly enough, I don’t know much about your academic work, such as your field of study and the subjects that you’ve taught. Could you start off by giving us some of your background and interests?

Greetings, Leonard. Yes, I have known Florence and Mas Hongo for many years. I knew Florence first, as I was in communication with her since the early 1970s, as I used to order books from her when I was a student at University of Michigan, Columbia University, and University of Pittsburgh from 1971 through 1980. I also ordered books not just when I was a student – I also ordered books as an interested researcher.

Just side note: I served on the Washington State Commission on Asian American Affairs during the 1980s with Jan Yoshiwara (Florence's daughter).

Background: I have been conducting research about Japanese and Asian Americans and historically oppressed, under-served, and under-represented populations since my high school days. I became most attentive to and interested in ethnic/cultural relations, as I was keenly aware of attitudes and discriminatory actions in the areas where I grew up in Idaho. I was born in Nampa, Idaho, and I went to public schools in Parma, Idaho, first through 12th grade. The schools had very few persons of color.

As I was growing up, I heard my parents make passing references to their experiences during World War II. I learned that my mother was excluded and banished from Terminal Island, California. She and her family moved to Los Angeles before their mandatory placement at Santa Anita Racetrack Assembly Center and then Rohwer, Arkansas Concentration Camp. I also knew my father and his family members were forced to leave Seattle, and they moved inland to Idaho to avoid going into camp. They experienced multiple forms of discrimination in Idaho, as it was the Idaho Governor who did not want persons of Japanese ancestry to come into their state. They established Minidoka in Idaho, despite the Governor’s at least initial resistance to incoming Japanese Americans.

I kept my eyes and ears open to how persons of color were treated. I remember analyzing the way people talked to persons of color (including my parents), and the attitudes they had about “those people” who were not white. For example, it was horrible and wrong that the school segregated Mexican American students and gave them separate instructions and schooling away from other students. I was really outraged about the fact that they were separated and treated differently. Further, I did not like the treatment meted out to the Basque sheepherders who lived in small wagon tents while overseeing thousands of sheep occupying farmland. I recall overhearing my father talking about the fact that persons of Japanese ancestry had an impossible time buying farm equipment they needed for their business. My father travelled many miles -- to Utah -- to buy his new GMC trucks for use on their Idaho farm.

After graduating from high school in Parma, Idaho (as I recall, the population of the town at the time was 1,295 persons), I attended the University of Idaho and then transferred to University of Hawaii, where I graduated with double degrees in psychology and sociology. During undergraduate years, I was most interested in learning about ethnic and cultural affairs and dynamics.

Right after getting my BA degrees, I worked long hours at multiple jobs to earn enough money to travel. I bought an around-the-world American Express airplane ticket and spent about 11 months visiting many countries around the world. Everywhere I went, I observed and noted disparities in the way people lived and were treated. Distinctions between the “haves” and “have nots” were clear and obvious all around the world.

When I started graduate school at the University of Michigan School of Social Work, I continued to be most interested in all angles and dimensions of human diversity. I received my Master of Social Work degree at UM. A couple of months after graduation, I started my first job as a professional social worker. I worked for the State of Oregon’s Department of Human Resources, Children’s Service Division. While my office was based out of Pendleton, Oregon -- Umatilla County, I served as social service supervisor (Program Executive) for four counties: Umatilla, Morrow, Gilliam, and Wheeler Counties.

While in this job, I continued to observe, analyze, and think about ethnic and cultural factors that affect people’s lives. I saw how American Indians were treated in the area, and I served as liaison to the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation. While there, I also continued to study what happened to Asian and Japanese Americans. After two and a half years as social service supervisor, I decided to go back to school to get my doctorate in social work.

I began my doctoral program at Columbia University in New York City, but I transferred to the University of Pittsburgh after one semester. It was too expensive to live in New York, and the living conditions were extremely poor (cockroaches, crime, no parking, expensive, more). I graduated from University of Pittsburgh with a Ph.D. in Social Work. My doctoral dissertation was 640 pages of documentation pertaining to the Japanese American exclusion, banishment, and incarceration.

My first job after getting the Ph.D. was at Eastern Washington University (EWU) in Cheney and Spokane, Washington. I was an assistant and associate professor there for 8 years, teaching in the social work and public administration departments. In all courses I taught, I always addressed human diversity and ethnic/cultural relations and dynamics affecting people’s lives. I taught in satellite programs in communities and at McChord Air Force Base and Fort Lewis in Washington. 

While teaching at EWU, the Japanese American Citizens League-Legislative Education Committee (JACL-LEC) asked me to go to Washington, D.C. to work on redress legislation. It was a critical time because redress was coming to a head (it finally passed in August 1988). I took a leave of absence from the university and became Associate Director of JACL-LEC in Washington, D.C. from 1987-1988; JACL Washington Representative and Acting JACL-LEC Director from 1988-1989. I was heavily involved in Japanese American research during my JACL and JACL-LEC work from 1987-1989. I had to prepare position papers, press releases, congressional testimonies, and many responses to people, organizations, and institutions throughout the U.S., Canada, and beyond. It was an intense period because there were few resources to lobby for redress and other civil rights legislation. While in Washington, D.C., I also taught an ethnic/cultural course for the Washington Center in Washington, D.C.

In 1989, I returned to academia, this time at San Francisco State University, School of Social Work. I remained there, first as associate professor and then full professor, from 1989–2020. I taught the full range of social work courses at the baccalaureate (BASW) and graduate (MSW) levels, including micro, mezzo, and macro practice courses. Macro social work courses (social policy, human services administration, social change, ethnic, cultural, gender concepts and principles, research, community organizing, and more).

Throughout the time I was teaching, I continued researching, writing, and engaging in work pertaining to Japanese/Asian Americans and people of color. I was quite outspoken about matters where I saw wrongs, and I expressed firm expectations about standing on civil, fair, just, and honest principles. I did not shrink from controversy when principles and standards of integrity were involved. The case of Japanese American exclusion and incarceration taught me the importance of stepping up and speaking out when the situation called for action (even if there was always a price to pay for calling out wrongs).

In summary, my entire education and career were built around ethnic and cultural diversity and human relations. I have been especially involved in Japanese American affairs. Not only did I research and write in this area, but I also served nonprofit organizations as board member and engaged member (e.g. Japanese American Citizens League, National Japanese American Historical Society, Japanese American National Library, Young Women’s Christian Association (San Francisco), National Radio Project, Art, Research, and Curriculum Associates, Washington State Commission on Asian American Affairs, and more). All affiliations were with organizations committed to diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice.

Could you tell us about the business you’ve started – why did you decide to do this and what gave you the idea to do it?

I started API [Asian Pacific Islands] Takahashi, LLC, in December 2023, as it is a continuation of my life focus on human diversity and principles of equity and social justice. This business gives me the opportunity to continue my life work in concentrating on diverse persons of Asian and Pacific Islands ancestry. While I do address all forms of human diversity, my primary focus is on Asian Americans, Japanese Americans, and persons having roots in Pacific regions and islands.

I decided to start this business because I have many resources and research that still need to be published and disseminated. I have almost 55 years of primary research that I completed throughout my career, but I have not completed processing everything and presenting it to the public. Examples of primary research I have include hundreds of oral histories interviews I conducted with Japanese Americans, Asian Americans, and additional people of color since the 1970s; family and personal photographs (most one-of-a-kind and not available elsewhere); archival research conducted at many public and private research facilities; original documents, and much more.

I started this business to continue the work I had been doing my entire career. Now that I am retired, I am focusing on getting materials organized, processed, and ready for public dissemination. In addition to publishing my work, I plan to prepare my documents, photos, oral and video interviews for deposit at research institutions who are in the position to provide access to the collections for future scholars, researchers, institutions, and individuals. I already started this process by depositing part of my research collections at multiple institutions in multiple states.

API Takahashi’s mission statement reveals its purpose and focus. It specifies the spark that led to the establishment of this business, and it shows intent and focus. It says:

The mission and purpose of API [Asian Pacific Islands] Takahashi, LLC, is to identify, produce and disseminate educational materials that will enrich the public’s knowledge and understanding of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders throughout the United States and global networks.

Please tell us about the cards that you’re making about AAPI historical places and places of interest.

As stated previously, my ultimate plan is to make my historical research and research holdings available to the public. Because of the volume of materials I have, it will take years to fully get the collection ready for presentation and dissemination. Therefore, I decided to at least start somewhere, and to progressively add content slowly but surely as I make more accessible to the public. I started small, with materials that are the most readily available in my collections.

In the first six months of my business (December 2023 through June 2024), I took historical photographs of subjects that allow me to provide historical information and details about the picture. For example, in San Francisco, I took photographs and made cards pertaining to the Issei Garden, now located with a plaque in Japantown, between Sutter and Bush Streets. Additional examples include: the plaque commemorating the location where the Kanrin Maru, the first Japanese naval ship that arrived in the San Francisco Bay Area on 17 March 1860; Hokka Nichi Bei Kai: Japanese American Association of Northern California (established 1895); and Kinmon Gakuen (opened in 1911 as a Japanese language school and cultural institute).

I photograph, research, document, and make cards from historical places, institutions, communities, and more when they pertain to Asian, Japanese, and Pacific Island American subjects. Sometimes I travel to places to capture the photographs and historical information, and other times, I take what I have access to. I am interested in documenting and presenting all, as much as I can.

Because the Japanese American National Library (JANL) is little known to most, I photographed many rare items from the collection and showed them on the card. Further, I gave some history about JANL and the building that houses JANL (Hinode Tower, Nihon Machi Terrace), a particularly important aspect of Japanese American history.

Of course, since I live in the Bay Area in Northern California, I have easiest access to materials in this area. Regardless, I do as much as I can in other areas, including Southern California (where I took pictures of historic building in Little Tokyo and in Gardena, Monterey Park, and San Diego), Oregon (where I made a card featuring the Four Rivers Cultural Center on the front and other historic institutions in Eastern Oregon and Southwestern Idaho), and Idaho (where I took pictures of the Densho Garden, a tribute to Japanese American residents in Caldwell, Canyon County, Idaho). It is important to present multiple angles of Japanese/Asian American and Pacific Islander experiences and historical contexts.

How do you decide on the places that you feature? Are these places that you’ve always wanted to tell people about? Do you mainly feature places you’ve visited?

I am focused on presenting as many different Japanese American, Asian American, and Pacific Islands communities and people in all levels of society. Anything that has historical value and significance are ones I try to capture, in detail, and research its background. I am especially interested in presenting subjects that are lesser-known and for which few have studied. Further, I expend special attention to research subjects I studied, but which I have little additional details and photographs. I feature places I have been curious about and that I learned more about upon further research.

I seize all opportunities to capture new photographs and to research new areas. When opportunity knocks, I open the door. If I happen to be at a place, I jump on the new chance to capture what I see and what is in front of me. I do not wait for the perfect time and place; I go after what is and what is possible in all facets of my work and business.

If someone wanted to purchase your cards, where can they go to buy them? Do you have a website or somewhere online where people could see a sample of the cards and if not yet, can you provide that for our newsletter readers to see?

All cards I make are handmade, individually, and each is signed and with specifics provided (including date and place of photographs). Currently, they are on sale at limited places, with Forest Books in San Francisco having by far the largest selection of my photocards. This attractive bookstore reveals artistic creativity and cultural sensitivity. It is in the heart of Japantown, located at 1748 Buchanan Street Plaza (between Post and Sutter Streets). This bookstore carries three types of photocards I made:

1. Single 4” X 6” pictures inserted in a matted card holder on the front with blank inside for personalized messages, and pictures and details about pictures on the backside.

2. 5” X 7” single picture on the cover with multiple pictures inside and on the backside of the card, including explanations about the pictures.

3. 5” X 7” front-sided (only) photograph card with multiple pictures portrayed on the front.

A limited selection of photocards is also available at the National Japanese American Historical Society (NJAHS), located at 1684 Post Street, San Francisco. Some are also sold at NJAHS’s Military Intelligence Service (MIS) Historic Learning Center, Building 640, at 640 Mason St. San Francisco (Crissey Field).

A few photocards pertaining to Eastern Oregon and Southwestern Idaho are available at the Four Rivers Cultural Center, located at 676 S.W. 5th Avenue, Ontario, Oregon.

Because it takes considerable time to make all cards, I only sell limited numbers at each place. I do not mass produce the cards, so I can sell only as much as I can produce. Several additional places are pending right now. I anticipate making my photocards available at additional places, as time permits.

Currently, I have no plans for a website or other online venues because I simply do not have the time and resources to do more than what I am doing right now. It would be too much to sell elsewhere (e.g., Amazon) and to have website for sales. I am still very new at this business, so I want to do well with what I do. I am not going to over-extend.

Since this interview is being featured with our annual travel series article, what places would you like to recommend to people and why?

I always highly recommend travel to experience the world with different lenses. I recommend that people diversify their experiences by exploring places they have not known. In my photocards, I try to bring out information people are not typically aware of. I recommend one to explore multiple places to balance the historical experiences of people of Japanese, Asian, and Pacific Islands ancestry and deal with the continuum of rural/urban, small/large populations, diverse religious backgrounds, and much more.

Another side note: On my around the world trip in 1970-1971, I took in what I never knew even existed all around the world. I took many pictures, which show the world as it was more than 54 years ago. Since then, I have traveled extensively, and learned the importance of experiencing life from infinite number of dimensions.

Thank you very much for this interview Rita. We wish you much success with your endeavors.

You are most welcome. It is my pleasure to respond to your thoughtful questions. Thank you for your courtesy, Leonard.