Henry Yoshitaka Kiyama. The Four Immigrants Manga: A Japanese Experience inSan Francisco, 1904-1924. Berkeley, Calif.: Stone Bridge Press, 1999. 152 pp. $12.95,paper, ISBN 978-1-880656-33-4.

Reviewed by Roger Chapman
Published on H-US-Japan (January, 1999)
Henry (Yoshitaka) Kiyama's The Four Immi‐

Japanese immigrant life in Southern California. Atgrants Manga is a wonderful primary-source doc‐

the same time, it offers an unusual historicalument for anyone interested in gaining insight on

glimpse of San Francisco, highlighting several

the Japanese immigration experience in San Fran‐well-known events: the 1906 earthquake, the 1915

cisco near the beginning of the twentieth century.

Panama-Pacific International Exposition, World

Originally published in 1931, it happens to be one

War I, the 1918 influenza epidemic, and the begin‐of the first modern "comic books" produced in thening of Prohibition in 1919.

United States (Manga--pronounced mahn ga--is Ja‐
panese for comics.) Though Kiyama was influ‐
enced by the classic gag-strip comic-book style
published in American newspapers of the 1920s,
his work is believed to be one of the first printed
as a book with entirely new material.

Told in fifty-two panels, presumably because
the artist intended to serialize them on a weekly
basis in newspaper form, The Four Immigrants
Manga opens with Henry and his three friends ar‐riving by boat in San Francisco in 1904 (pp. 30-31).
The first thing they do is give themselves Ameri‐

In its original incarnation, The Four Immi‐

can names: Henry, Charlie, Frank, and Fred. Eachgrants Manga was bilingual, written in Japanesecharacter comes to America to pursue a specificand English, but this newly reprinted version hasdream. Henry's reason is to become an artist.

been fully reproduced in English. The translator,

Frank wants to be a businessman and Fred a

Frederik L. Schodt, also provides an informativefarmer, while Charlie simply desires to study

introduction as well as notes and commentary. As

American democracy. Thereafter, each episodethe author of three books relating to Japan, twoprovides the reader with antic adventures and life

specifically on Japanese comics, Schodt brings toproblems, as well as the inner thoughts of thethe task a considerable degree of expertise. [1]characters. The book ends with Henry and Frank

Kiyama's work is autobiographical, providing
as a visual narrative a first-person account of theboarding a ship to return to Japan, the restrictive

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Immigration Act of 1924 serving as a backdrop

Certainly, in modern parlance, the drawings(pp. 132-33, 147).

of Chinese and African Americans are by nomeans "politically correct." In fact, the images ofAccording to Schodt, the historical setting for

Chinese men with slant eyes and pigtails and theThe Four Immigrants Manga is one in which thebig-lipped African Americans who appear once orissue of race was a serious factor in the dynamics

twice in the story are rendered in styles pio‐that unfolded. "European and Asian civilizations

neered by white cartoonists in the early part ofwere for very different reasons both expanding,the 20th century. Kiyma was merely imitating theand in California they met head on and clashed,"

cartoon styles that he would have found in any

explains Schodt (p. 14). After Congress adopted

American newspaper at the time (pp. 15-16).

the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, the Japanese
began to replace the cheap labor pool in theSchodt further suggests that Kiyama's work

American West. While Japanese workers received

should be seen as "a subtle racial democracy... forbetter treatment than the Chinese, they were

there is something to offend nearly everyone--

nonetheless discriminated against by Americans

even the whites are often referred to in highlyof European descent. Moreover, when Japan went

derogatory terms (p. 16)." However, a more accu‐

to war against Russia in 1904 and proved militari‐

rate assessment might suggest that this is simply aly superior, the seeds for Western distrust of thecase of "othering" by the one who has been "oth‐Japanese were sown.

ered." The real issue here is not to moralize
against examples of racism we perceive, but toHenry and his pals encountered many in‐understand the meaning of ethnicity as it was un‐

stances of racial discrimination during their stay

derstood in the context of the period under dis‐in San Francisco, as their arrival coincided with acussion.

growing intolerance toward Japanese. Mayor
James D. Phelan, in fact, was agitating for their ex‐

One theme that becomes clear in the narra‐

pulsion. Later, the Japanese Exclusion League wastive is the economic struggle of living in America.

formed. For the observant artist Kiyama, there

In humorous fashion the myth of streets paved

was the sense of "being made aware of... 'outsider'with gold is exposed to bitter reality. As Frankstatus, and... the rigid racial hierarchy that existed

notes in an early episode, "People say you can getin the city, which was firmly controlled by Euro‐rich in America without lifting a pinky. What apean Americans (p. 15)." As an immigrant, Kiya‐

joke!" (p. 35). After a series of jobs working as do‐

ma apparently felt a need to document his experi‐

mestic servants, two of our heroes go off to work

ence living in America. Perhaps this was a way toon a farm, where because they are from the city

maintain his sense of self-identity and to over‐they are paid twenty-five cents less in wages (p.

come any feelings of inferiority due to societal52). The Horatio Alger myth is also turned on its

marginalization. The humor he chose to employ

head. After gambling away a month's pay in a sin‐

may have also served as a psychological outlet,

gle night in Chinatown, Charlie, now a field work‐for the artist as well as the intended Japaneseer, complains to himself, "I can't believe how un‐readers. In some respects, the book was a subver‐

lucky I am! This is a classic example of how thesive work, in that it exposed in a satirical fashion

capitalists get richer and richer, and the proletari‐

the unfairness of the dominant culture.

at never have a chance..." (p. 64). But even more
noble attempts to advance economically goOn the other hand, it is interesting to notewrong, such as when the Gold Gate Bank failed af‐that Kiyama betrays his own prejudices, depicting

ter our heroes invest their savings (pp. 90-91). A

other races in a less than flattering light. But

Japanese doctor, tired of making a "measly $2.50"

Schodt offers this caution:

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on house calls, invests $50 in the rice fields of Co‐

Harvard University, is one who has been calling

lusa only to lose all when there is a dramatic drop

for a broader examination of American literaturein the market--but prior to that he had reasoned,written in languages other than English. [2] His"I can get rich while snoring away in my sleep

argument is that we cannot really know the "out‐(pp. 104-5)." It is easy to imagine that many Japa‐

lines of American literature" if we choose to nar‐nese living in San Francisco back then would

row our focus on texts that were written only inhave smiled and nodded appreciatively at theseEnglish. With that in mind, Sollors has been advo‐

true-to-life tales of economic failings.

cating more readable translations of the "enor‐
mous, largely uncharted, and invisible body of lit‐

Portraying economic realities as they wereerature that one editor termed 'non-English litera‐

could be seen as a didactic aspect of the cartoons.

ture of the United States.'" By translating Kiyama's

This could also extend to the whole problem ofwork, Schodt has provided a valuable contribu‐

discrimination, as the artist offers insights on howtion to the study of non-English American litera‐

to cope. After the 1906 earthquake, two of our he‐ture by making visible what would otherwise

roes pick up their relief rations only to fear that a

have remained invisible.

policeman might confiscate their goods, so they
follow closely behind a white woman and pretend

Although some people may reject a comic

to be her domestic servants until they pass out ofbook as literature, in terms of understanding cul‐potential danger (pp. 72-73). That episode teaches

ture and attitudes it can be quite instructive. As athe importance of using street wits in order tojournalist commented in a 1931 edition of the San

overcome potential problems. After a visiting Ja‐

Franciscopanese seismologist is hit on the head with a rock,News), in an article reviewing The Four Immi‐

apparently thrown by a racist, a Japanese immi‐

grants Manga: "It includes most of the major inci‐

grant jokingly suggests that it was an act of God,dents and problems of the time, and has consider‐

the same explanation given for earthquakes (pp.

able value as a profile of Japanese in America. It's

74-75). The lesson here is that there is nothing you

far more interesting than reading some poorlycan do about acts of racism, that like an earth‐written history book."

quake they sometimes happen without warning.

Nichi

Bei ( TheJapanese-AmericanNotes

This is not exactly an idealistic solution, but for[1]. See the following books by Frederik L.

back then it was probably the best pragmatic ob‐

Schodt: Dreamland Japan: Writings on Modern

servation that could be offered. After Charlie

Manga (Berkeley, Calif.: Stone Bridge Press, 1996);

serves in the American army during World War I,

America and the Four Japans: Friend, Foe, Model,

he goes to the court and asks to be made a citizen,Mirror (Berkeley, Calif.: Stone Bridge Press, 1993);

only to be informed by the judge, "Um! Not for

Manga! Manga! The World of Japanese Comics

Orientals yet." Afterwards, his buddy Frank(Tokyo: Kodansha International, 1983).

taunts him over his failed strategy (pp. 118-19).

[2]. See the following essays by Werner Sol‐

Again, here is a warning that life in America is un‐

lors: "The Blind Spot of Multiculturalism: Ameri‐fair, that even heroism in unlikely to triumph

ca's Invisible Literature," The Chronicle of Higher

over institutionalized racism.

Education, 30 October 1998, B4-B5; "From 'Eng‐

This translation of Kiyama's The Four Immi‐

lish-Only' to 'English Plus' in American Studies,"

grants Manga comes to us at a time when serious

American Studies Association Newsletter, Marchattention is being given to the question of what

1998; "For a Multilingual Turn in American Stud‐

constitutes American literature. Werner Sollors,ies," American Studies Association Newsletter,chair of the American-Civilization Program atJune 1997. Also, see Werner Sollors, ed., Multilin‐

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gual America: Transnationalism, Ethnicity, andthe Languages of American Literature (New YorkUniversity Press, 1998).
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Citation: Roger Chapman. Review of Kiyama, Henry Yoshitaka. The Four Immigrants Manga: A JapaneseExperience in San Francisco, 1904-1924. H-US-Japan, H-Net Reviews. January, 1999.
URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=2619

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