Yukiko "Yuki" Kawakami (June 27, 1918- November 22, 2016) was born at the Union Hotel on Skid Row in Seattle on June 27, 1918, and upon her graduation from Garfield High School she began working for the Social Security Administration. In April 1942, since Kawakami and her family were the only Japanese Americans in their neighborhood, they were among the first group in Seattle to be sent to Camp Minidoka in Idaho for interment immediately following the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Yuki left Minidoka in May 1943 to work at the Denver Social Security office. She returned to Seattle in 1946 and married Danichi Sato. They had one child together, a son named Den J. Sato. Danichi Sato died in 1960. After she retired from her job at the Social Security Administration, she began a long period of 19 years working toward a college degree from the University of Washington, taking just one class at a time. She graduated in June 2001 weeks before her 83rd birthday, one of the oldest graduates in the university's history. Yuki Sato was a long-time member of the Japanese Presbyterian Church, serving as their pianist/organist for over 40 years.
The Furuya Company, founded by Masajiro Furuya in 1892, became the most successful business in Seattle's Nihonmachi (Japantown), now the International District. The Furuya Company served as a multipurpose business and provided services in real estate, construction, mailing, printing, and banking.
Employment as one of the "Furuya Men" at Furuya Company was an important career opportunity for skilled and educated Japanese Americans in Seattle due to rampant discrimination by white-owned companies, but at Furuya the pay was still low and the employees were overworked. 12 hour shifts and seven day work weeks were the norm, and there were no vacation days excepting the once-a-year company outing to the Furuya Resort House. Many Japanese Americans were employed by the firm, but lost their life savings, businesses, and land due to the company's bankruptcy during the Great Depression.
Many photographs in this collection show summer employee picnics at the Furuya Resort House. The resort was built on six acres of the Bainbridge Island, WA, shoreline in 1905. The extravagant building and grounds were used for events, agricultural and horticultural experimentation, and was open to local Japanese prefectural organizations and University of Washington students on Sundays. The house and many of the plants are still on the property, and are currently owned by the Whitman family, who continue to host an annual Japanese Community Picnic.
Photographs of Japanese Americans at M. Furuya Company employee picnics at the Furuya resort at Crystal Springs, Washington, photographs of a clerk at the Union Hotel, and a reception held for Waka Yamada, a woman's rights campaigner. There are also detailed notes about the photographs included along with information on Yuki Sato, Masajiro Furuya, and Waka Yamada
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Donor: Gerald W. Elfendahl, November 11, 2018
Processed by: Michaela Kraft, October 2021
Written on verso: M. Furuya Co.'s Employees' picnic. Place: Summer resort of M. Furuya, Crystal Springs, Wash.
From accompanying material: Full name of owner is Masajiro Furuya.
Written on verso: 1913- Union Hotel Washington St. Seattle, Wash. K. Kawakami.
From accompanying material: Yuki Sato was born at the Union Hotel in 1918.
Written on verso: Eighth Ave.- 200 Block (North of Yesler Way).
Written on verso: held at Mr. Furuya's summer home.
From accompanying material: Group is posed on the west, shoreside front lawn of Furuya Resort in summer. A young monkey puzzle tree (Araucaria araucana) is growing at the bottom of porch steps in left of photo.
Written on verso: held at Mr. Furuya's summer home.
From accompanying material: Group is posed on west, shoreside front lawn of Furuya Resort in summer.
Written on verso: Mr. Furuya's summer home.
From accompanying materials: Group is posed on west, shoreside front lawn of Furuya Resort in summer.
Written on verso: Held at Mr. Furuya's summer resort.
From accompanying materials: View is of the southwest, shoreside front lawn of Furuya Resort, and shows other features than the 1923, 1925, and 1926 views. It reveals more of the covered porch that surrounds the resort's main floor seen above, more of the landscape's trees and plantings, and one of several arches that hold up the porch and allow basement storage access. The arches are a signature feature of other similarly aged elaborate residences built along the shore to the north overlooking the bay.
Written on verso: Mr. Furuya's summer home
From accompanying materials: The group is posed on the southwest, shoreside front lawn of Furuya Resort. The same elderly man is seen similarly positioned near the center in the 1923, 1925, 1926, 1928, and 1929 photos- all of the 1920's portraits in Yuki Sato Collection.
Man in center is probably Masajiro Furuya.
Waka Yamada was born Asaba Waka in Kurihama Village, Japan, to a poor peasant family. When she turned 18, she traveled to nearby Yokohama to find employment, but was kidnaped and trafficked to Seattle. Once in Seattle, she was a victim of prostitution, and became known as "Arabian Oyae." While in captivity as a sex slave, she met a Japanese journalist named Shinzaburo Ritsui, who promised her freedom, but ultimately trafficked her himself in San Francisco. Yamada eventually escaped and found refuge at Cameron House, a Presbyterian mission set up to help prostitutes who have escaped their traffickers. In 1903, she met and married Kakichi Yamada and the two moved back to Tokyo, Japan.
Once back in Japan, Yamada began exploring feminist literature, writing for the magazine Bluestocking, and speaking out about women's rights in relation to their roles as wives, mothers, and guardians. This differed from many other feminist views of the time, which largely favored independence and equality. Her ideals did align with the views of imperial Japan, which promoted the importance of good wives and mothers as roles central to the war effort. However, she found herself at odds with many Western feminists, who believed that women's equality with men was paramount and staunchly opposed imperial Japanese goods.
Regardless, Yamada became a celebrity in her own right, going on international tours and even being invited to visit Eleanor Roosevelt at the White House on December 7, 1937. Yamada became and remained a prominent community organizer for Japan throughout her life, helping to advocate for the "Maternal and Child Protection Act," the formation of the New Women's Association, and the creation of a school in Tokyo centered on aiding those escaping prostitution.
Written on verso: Reception held for Waka Yamada, a women's rights campaigner in Japan. She was once a prostitute in the red-light district of Seattle. The reception [was] held at one of the Japanese American restaurants in Japan Town.
From accompanying material: Waka Yamada is sitting at a head table in the middle or center of the group.