Although the majority of Japanese immigrants settled in Hawaii, California, and the West Coast, some pushed further inland, to work on the railroad and coal mines, ending up in Nebraska. A few died from illness, the Spanish Flu, train accidents, their gravestones written in Japanese characters. Others returned to Japan or moved to larger cities. But some stayed, put down roots, raised families, farmed, published newspapers, opened businesses, worked in meat packing plants, laundries, pool halls, and restaurants. This talk will illustrate their journey from Japan, and some of the various paths that brought them here, as well as the transitions they made along the way.

Speaker: Julie Ushio, a member of the Advisory Board at Japanese Hall, Legacy of the Plains Museum, in Gering. She grew up in Alliance, Nebraska, where her Japanese grandparents settled.