“Developing Process of the Overseas Chinese Community in Yokohama; from the End of Edo Era to the Early 1920s.”(Yamakawa Press, 2018)

Izumi Ito(Vice Director and Senior Curator, Yokohama Museum of EurAsian Cultures)

It is my great honor to receive the 36th MASAYOSHI OHIRA Memorial Foundation Prize for my book; “The Chinese in Yokohama: How their community flourished between the Edo Era and the Great Kanto Earthquake Revival”. I would like to express my greatest gratitude and thanks to The MASAYOSHI OHIRA Memorial Foundation and everyone related to it.
I have been studying the history of the Chinese Society in Yokohama for more than 30 years, and this book is the result of what I have discovered. In 1985, soon after I entered graduate school, I was walking through Yokohama Chinatown, when I suddenly began to wonder about when and how the area had developed. Although I was born in Yokohama, and very familiar with Chinatown as a local resident, I realized that I actually knew very little about the history of this town. In those days, in most studies dealing with the history of foreign relations in Yokohama, focused almost entirely on Westerners, and there were very few studies devoted to Chinese people living in the city. This was the reason I decided to choose the theme of the history of Yokohama’s Chinatown as the topic for my Master’s degree thesis.
Since then through my research, I have collected many historical materials, and held exhibitions about Chinatown’s history at the Yokohama Archives of History (where I worked for a number of years). I am happy to say that my work led me to be introduced to many Chinese friends living in Yokohama and their support was pivotal to the success of my research. My book is based on these studies and their stories.
In the spring of 2020, everyone in our society is facing a crisis because of Covid19. Yokohama Chinatown is no exception, but in addition to the economic hardships, its residents are also faced with hateful accusations that they are somehow responsible for the pandemic, and receiving letters saying “Go back to China”. I am very saddened and angered by this problem. The Chinatown in Yokohama has a history of more than 160 years, and generations of Chinese residents have been born and raised here. For them this city is their hometown. I feel strongly that there is a need to educate the public about the history of Chinese society in Yokohama in order to correct these misunderstandings. As I receive this MASAYOSHI OHIRA Memorial Foundation Prize, I am very much encouraged to continue on my quest to discover even more about the history of Yokohama Chinatown, and to do everything I can to realize a happy multi-ethnic society.
In closing, I would like to express special thanks to Yamakawa Shuppansha Ltd. for publishing my book; to my beloved teachers; and to my family who have supported me for such a long time.

Profile
Ito Izumi graduated from the Yokohama City University in 1985 and studied at the Graduate School of Humanities and Sciences of Ochnomizu University, from which she received her Ph.D. in Human Sciences in 2017. Her research interests focus on the history of the Overseas Chinese in Yokohama. For thirty years she has worked as a researcher at the Yokohama Archives of History and a curator at Yokohama Museum of EurAsian Cultures, researched the historical materials concerning the Chinese People living in Yokohama. She also held several exhibitions to introduce the history of Yokohama Chinatown. Her recent publication is an exhibition catalog entitled “Yosooi no Yokohama Chinatown (Clad in History and Glamour: Chinese Women and Their Clothing in Yokohama Chinatown)” ,Yokohama Museum of EurAsian Cultures, 2019.