death_place death_date birth_place other_names nationality birth_date known_for article_title birth_name
yakutat , alaska 9 december 1941 denbo mura , japan shoki kayamori japanese 9 june 1877 photography seiki kayamori
 seiki kayamori
seiki kayamori

seiki kayamori -lrb- 1877 -- 1941 -rrb- was a japanese photographer who lived in yakutat , alaska , before world war ii .
his photographs captured the village 's residents , mostly tlingit indians , at a time when the fish canning industry and other outside influences were beginning to change or eclipse traditional ways of life .
kayamori lived in yakutat for some 30 years and never returned to japan .
but even before pearl harbor was bombed , the u.s. federal bureau of investigation suspected him and other japanese immigrants on the west coast of spying .
two days after the attack , awaiting his arrest , kayamori committed suicide .
no credible evidence has ever been produced to indicate that he was a spy .
today , about 700 of kayamori 's photographs are housed at the alaska state historical library in juneau .
