Although Yuji Ichiocka is no longer with us, his legacy as an Asian American studies pioneer and activist is still with us. His work led to major changes in the studies of Asian Americans and the myths and stereotypes surrounding them. In addition, he coined the popular term “Asian American” in the late 1960’s.
Ichiocka was born on June 23, 1936 in San Francisco as a Japanese American. He and his family were incarcerated at Tanforan Assembly Center and Topaz when he was young during World War II. At the time, there was a large fear and mistrust of Japanese Americans in America. After the war ended, Ichiocka and his family were able to return to San Francisco. There, he attended and completed Berkeley High School in 1954. Afterwards, he completed three years in the army and went to study at UCLA, graduating as a history major in 1962. Ichioka went to Columbia University for graduate school for Chinese studies and dropped out to work with juvenile delinquent youth for a New York social service agency. Four years later, in 1966, he traveled to Japan to study its language, culture and his heritage. Ichiocka was inspired by what he saw there and his experiences influenced him to learn more about the Japanese immigrant experience in America, which still has a relevance today. In 1967, Ichioka entered a M.A. program in East Asian studies at UC Berkeley. His studies there were the stepping stones to his activism work. At Berkeley, Ichiocka became a student activist and founded AAPA, the Asian American Political Alliance.
He founded the organization with his then girlfriend and later spouse, Emma Gee. It was the college’s first pan-Asian American organization. The organization wanted to reflect the struggles Asian Americans faced with coming to terms with their dual identities and undergoing the immigrant or second generation experience. AAPA was known for initiating the “yellow power” movement over the next two years and worked to educate not only the students of Berkeley, but those of San Francisco State as well. Not only was AAPA one of the first organizations of its kind, but it united different Asian American groups and gave them a voice. Some of its notable accomplishments include its participation in the Third World Liberation Front, which was “a coalition formed with the Afro-American Student Union, the Mexican American Student Committee, and the Native American Indian Association that fought for the creation of a Third World College (including African, Asian, and Chicano studies) taught by Third World faculty” (Cui 1). The AAPA organization was also active with their participation in the “Free Huey” and “Anti-Vietnam War” movements which were pressing issues at the time. Unfortunately, the organization disbanded in 1969 after the Third World Liberation Front strikes ended.
Yuji Ichiocka taught UCLA’s first Asian American Studies class in 1969. Shortly after, the Asian American Studies Center formed at UCLA and Ichiocka was its associate director. Additionally, Ichiocka decided to organize the Japanese American Research Project (JARP) with his classmate, Yasuo Sakuta. In 1974, they published “A Buried Past” , the first bibliography of the JARP collection. The collection had objects and text from prewar Japan. This collection later influenced Ichiocka to publish a series of journal articles focusing on previously unseen parts of the Japanese American experience. Eventually, he also wrote a book inspired by the collection:
"His award winning 1988 book The Issei: The World of the First Generation Japanese Immigrants, 1885-1924, drew from these articles. He later pursued the study of the interwar period, looking at the coming of age of the Nisei generation and such previously taboo topics as Japanese nationalism among Japanese Americans and Japanese Americans in the Japanese empire” (Niiya 1).
One of Ichiocka’s prominent accomplishments and the one he was the most known for was the coining of the term “Asian American”. Today, this term is used often and is used to refer to May’s designation of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage month. Before the first use of the term “Asian American”, most Asian groups would simply refer to themselves by their ethnic subgroups such as Japanese, Filipino, etc. A broader term to refer to Asians was “oriental”. However, this term held racist and colonialist connotations. The term “Asian American” not only united ethnic subgroups linguistically, but also helped unite Asian American activists in their fight for obtaining greater rights.
Without a doubt, Yuji Ichiocka was one of the most important people in the field of Asian American Studies and in the fight for Asian American equality. His accomplishments not only redefined who Asian Americans were and what they stood for, but educated non-Asians on the struggles Asian Americans and Asian immigrants faced. It is clear that his work will endure for a long time to come.
- Priyal Gupta