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Description
The Hiroji Hosaka Family Letters is comprised of 30 letters and postcards, a copy of Hiroji Hosaka's FBI case file, photographs, and business cards. The letters are correspondence between him and his family members and friends mainly while he was imprisoned in the Santa Fe Internment Camp and the Heart Mountain incarceration camp during World War II. The family letters describe the pressing situations that the family faced such as closing his hotel business and selling their properties in a short time due to the mass removal and incarceration of people of Japanese ancestry from the West Coast. Most of the items in this collection have been digitized and are available online.
Background
Hiroji Hosaka (1890 January 7-1987 August 3) was an Issei immigrant who arrived at Honolulu, Hawaii in 1907 as a plantation laborer. He was born in Fukuoka, Japan on January 7, 1890, and boarded Amerika Maru when he was 17. He resided in Hawaii until 1922, working as a plantation laborer, taxi driver, houseboy, and sales clerk. His wife, Takino Hosaka (1892 April 18-1943 August 6) was an American citizen who was born in Hawaii on April 18, 1892 and spent her childhood in Japan. Hiroji and Takino married in Hawaii in October 1914 and their first son was born on October 15, 1918. They moved to California in 1922 and their second son, Teruo, was born in Los Angeles in 1928. They started a hotel business, operating "Aloha Hotel" at 301 Clay St., Los Angeles, California in 1929. Their first son was sent to Japan when he was young possibly even before the family moved to Los Angeles and he lived in Fukuoka where Hiroji originally came from while their second son, Teruo, remained with the parents in the United States. Hiroji Hosaka was a devoted Christian and earned a degree in accounting from USC. He was a prominent member in the Japanese American community in Los Angeles since he was a master of kyudo (Japanese archery), which is one of the Japanese martial arts, and he also served as an auditor for Nihonjinkai and Japanese Chamber of Commerce of Los Angeles, as a secretary for Fukuoka Kenjinkai, and as an official for Daiichi Rafu Gakuen, that is, a Japanese language school in Los Angeles respectively. Japanese organizations were associated with the Consulate-General of Japan and supported the Japanese government and military. Because of his association with Japanese organizations and language school as well as his expertise in Japanese martial arts, he became one of the FBI targets as an influential and dangerous enemy alien.
Extent
1 box (1 document box)
Restrictions
All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Director of the Gerth Archives and Special Collections. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the Gerth Archives and Special Collections as the owner of the physical materials and not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained.
Availability
There are no access restrictions on this collection.