Isaku Kida: Publisher, historian, and recorder of New York Japanese American events

Mr. Kida was born in Fukuoka Prefecture on June 10, 1905. After graduating from Aoyama Gakuin’s English normal school, he came to the United States and attended Oberlin College. However, with just one more paper to be completed towards his doctorate in theology, he abandoned his aspirations to the ministry and, in 1932, move to New York. Two years later, he joined the OSS’s military intelligence group, and served in India. The end of the war found him in Yunan province in China.

On November 15, 1945 the first edition of the Hokubei Shimpo was published. Mr. Kida became the first stockholder in the new endeavor. When publisher Takeshi Haga returned to Japan in 1952, Mr. Kida became the man in charge. In 1963 the paper was renamed “The New York Nichibei” which it remained until its closing issue on July 1, 1993. For forty-eight years the newspaper recorded in English and in Japanese, the history of Japanese American events in New York. In 1958 Kida married Emi, a graduate of Doshisha University. With her able assistance he continued publishing the paper until his eighty-eighth birthday.

Immediately following the end of WW2 Mr. Kida wrote an editorial stressing the urgent need for a concerted effort to send relief to war-torn Japan’s needy millions. As a result, in 1946 The New York Committee for Relief to Japan was formed. Mr. Kida was one of the members. Later, the focus of this group was directed toward aid and welfare for local Japanese and Japanese Americans, and promotion of friendship between Japanese and Americans. Thus the Japanese American Association was born, with Mr. Kida continuing to be an able and dedicated Director. He continued to report on activities and trends within the Association, serving as a sympathetic purveyor of news within the local community.

For these efforts ad accomplishments Mr. Kida was awarded the Order of the Sacred Treasure, Fifth Class, in 1978.

A copy of each edition of the New York Nichibei from its beginning on November 15, 1945 until its final edition on July 1, 1993 was donated to the JAA. Gogatsu Shobo has published selected pages in reduced size, a copy of which Mr. Kida has donated to the Association. Negotiations are under way with Professor Norio Tamura of Tokyo University of Economics concerning microfilming the entire 48 years of the paper under the auspices of the “Aisaku Kida Donation and Tokyo University of Economics Fund.”