Biography Essay

Yoshiko Uchida almost single-handedly created a body of Japanese-American literature for children, where none existed before. As the first Nissei writer to devote an entire career to writing for young people about her own rich cultural heritage, she expanded the range of children's reading, with important results for young readers of all ethnic backgrounds.

Uchida was born in Alameda, California, on 24 November 1921, the second daughter of Takashi ("Dwight") and Iku Umegaki Uchida. Dwight Uchida immigrated to the United States from Japan in 1903 and worked for the San Francisco offices of Mitsui and Company, where he eventually became a manager. His daughter remembered him as a cheerful man with gregarious habits and a love of gardening. Iku Umegaki, the eldest daughter of a prefectural governor of Japan, immigrated to the United States in 1916 to marry Dwight Uchida. Both were graduates of Doshisha University, one of the early...