Kida, Isaku, 1905-1996

<p>Isaku Kida was born Nobuyuki Kawase in Fukuoka, Japan in 1905. He graduated from Aoyama Academy in 1928 with a degree in education and taught English in a junior high school for two years before immigrating to the United States in 1930 in order to study theology at Oberlin College. He left Oberlin and moved to New York, New York in 1932. He became interested in Communism and changed his name to Isaku Kida in order to protect his family in Japan from any negative association with him.</p>

<p>Kida joined the <i>Hokubei Shimpo</i> in December 1945. Despite having no previous newspaper experience, he moved up through the ranks, becoming the chief editor in 1949, chief executive in 1952, and finally president, director, general manager, and managing editor in 1977. Kida contributed to, edited, and published the paper until failing health forced him to retire and cease publication in 1993. He died in 1996.</p>

Isaku Kida (1905-1996) immigrated to the United States from Japan in 1930 as a student of theology. Following Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, he fell under the suspicion of the FBI for his growing interest in Communism. Arrested and interned at Ellis Island, he was subsequently released to work as a language instructor for the Office of Strategic Services. Nearing the end of WWII, Isaku became a business manager, and later, president of the <i>Hokubei Shimpo</i> (renamed <i>New York Nichibei</i> in 1945). During its run from 1945 through 1993, the paper documented the life of New York's postwar Japanese American community, serving not only as a place to obtain community news but also as an important outlet for Asian American writers. A range of progressive causes from civil rights to women's and gay rights found expression within its pages. In addition, the paper regularly documented developments in the Asian American Movement born in Chinatown in the late 1960s and 1970s, the Asian American arts movement, and the redress movement of the 1970s and 1980s.