The Hokubei Hochi Foundation is a nonprofit 501c3 organization established in September 2011. We are seeking financial sponsors as well as individuals who wish to assist us with the following projects and programs described here. In addition to the projects, we sponsor civic, educational, and arts and cultural programs, many held at the Nagomi Tea House in Seattle’s International District.

北米報知財団は2011年９月に新しく設立 された501(c)(3)規定の非営利団体です。私たちは様々なプロジェ クトにおいてスタートアップの段階におり、次のプロジェクト、プログラムを支援して下さるスポンサーや個人を募っております。北米報知財団はシアトルインターナショナルディストリクトの和みティーハウスにおいて市民、教育的、アート、文化的なプログラムを支援しております。

Nikkei Newspaper Digital Archive Project – “History of North American Post Newspaper”

The Hokubei Hochi Foundation is pleased to announce a partnership with the University of Washington on an exciting project to digitize the past issues of The North American Post newspapers. This will allow the public to access information through KEY WORD SEARCH using the latest digital technology.

4Culture has provided seed funding for this project.  4Culture is the cultural services agency for King Country, Washington and support citizens and groups who preserve our shared heritage, and create arts and cultural opportunities for residents and visitors. (www.4culture.org).

The U.W. Digital Initiatives Program and the Suzallo Library Microfilm Department, have come on board as key partners to assist in the planning and implementation of this complex project.  The post-WWII North American Post (Hokubei hochi) newspaper dates back to 1946.  The pre-WWII paper up until the Japanese American internment was published under The North American Times (Hokubei jiji) beginning in 1902.  Most of the early issues of both papers are written in Japanese.

Many newspapers have digitized for ready access for online readers, most notably, The New York Times, and locally, The Seattle Times and other news publications.  Some have used the newer technology of Optical Character Recognition (“OCR”) wherein the news pages are scanned and words or characters are “recognized” using specialized software.  We have conducted initial testing using OCR software in both English and Japanese and have found the accuracy rate to be low because of the poor quality of the news print and other factors.

We are currently researching and testing the approach of manually entering key words into the U.W.’s CONTENTdm data management system.  This approach is initially proving to be effective and more accurate.  At the end of the project, content of past issues can be searched using key word search and be made available online to the general public.

This project will launch a pilot sample of issues starting in 1946 with plans to publish it on the U.W. Library Digital Collections website.  We hope to secure sponsors to continue digitizing the other years.  The foundation is excited to produce a prototype model that can be replicated by other small community newspapers and publications across the country and indeed globally.

Many thanks to our Project Team members comprised of Glenda Pearson and Anne Graham and Theo Gerontakas, U.W.; Shawn Schollmeyer of the National Digital Newspapers Program; Maiya Gessling, Foundation’s intern and UW student; Gina Kessler, U.W. Masters of Information School graduate student; KJ Hiramoto and Rena Kawasaki, bilingual translators under independent study at UW Bothell; volunteer and Foundation Board member Yohji Kameoka; Project Advisors Shihou Sasaki and Tomio Moriguchi of The North American Post, and Eddy Harrison, U.W. East Asia Library.

北米報知新聞既刊号をデジタル化するプロジェク トにおいて北米報知財団は4Cultureとワシントン大学からのパートナーシップを結んだことをご報告させていただきます。最新のデジタル技術を 使ったキーワード検索も可能になる予定です。4Cultureからは既に当プロジェクトのための出資を頂いております。4Cultureは我々の共有資産を保持するグループ、市民を支援し、訪問者、居住者に芸術創作、文化的な機会を提供するKing Countryにおける文化的なサービスエージェンシーである。 (www.4culture.org)

”The U.W. Digital Initiatives Program”とSuzallo図書館マイクロフィルム部門は重要なパートナーとしてこの複雑なプロジェクトの計画と実行を支援して頂いております。北米報知新聞は戦後の1946年に遡り、戦前は日系人の抑留が始まるまで北米時事新聞として発行されました。初期の新聞は全て日本語で書かれていました。

ニューヨークタイムズ紙、シアトルタイムズ紙など多くの新聞はオンラインの読者のためにデジタル化されています。これにはOptical Character Recognition (“OCR”)という紙面をスキャンし文字を認識する技術が使われています。私たちはこのOCRを英語、日本語どちらに対しても試験運用しましたが当時の印刷技術が十分でなかったなどの原因により文字認識の正確性に問題があると判断致しました。

私たちは現在データマネジメントシステム”U.W.’s CONTENTdm”にキーワードを打ち込むという手法を試しています。この手法は現段階ではより効率的で正確であり、当プロジェクトが完成すれば既刊号の内容をキーワード検索でき、一般の方々に公開が出来ます。

1946年に始まる出版物のサンプルから始めそれらを”U.W. Library Digital Collections”に出版する予定です。また、私たちは他年の出版物のデジタル化を続けるためにスポンサーを募っています。国中そして世界中の小さな新聞社、出版社によって繰り返されるであろう原型の作成に携われることに喜びを感じております。

INAUGURAL STUDENT INTERN PROGRAM

Maiya Gessling has been serving as our first student intern selected as part of our inaugural Student Internship Program.  Maiya is a junior at U.W. majoring in International Studies and has been selected to intern with the North American Post, the Pacific Northwest’s oldest bilingual English and Japanese community newspaper. Maiya travelled to Japan on October 1-11, 2012 as part of the internship and write about her experiences over the coming year.  Her mother and grandmother are from Okinawa.

Maiya Gesslingさんが学生インターンプログラムに選ばれたことをご報告申し上げます。Maiyaさんはワシントン大学３年生で国際学を専攻しており、ノースウェストで最も古い日米バイリンガル紙を発行する北米報知新聞社でインターンをしてきました。彼女は2012年10月1日～11日までの一環として、またその経験をもとに記事を書くために日本に滞在する予定です。彼女の母親と祖母は沖縄出身です。

Special appreciation to our program’s Lead Sponsors:  Yoshi Yokoyama, owner of I Love Sushi restaurants, GOBO Enterprises, and the Okinawa Kenjin Club of Washington State.  

Thank you to the many other donors for your support!

Maiya さんの旅行に必要な資金の全額調達までの目標を、現在達成しつつあります。こちらの寄付は、税金控除の対象として認められております。この件につきましては、どうぞ以下のメールアドレス、もしくは電話番号までお気軽にご連絡ください。

Please look for Maiya’s articles in the North American Post (bilingual English/Japanese community newspaper) and the Soy Source (Japanese language newspaper) in the coming months!  For NA Post subscription information, please contact: buz@napost.com, or call (206) 623-0100.

A testimonial from two of the past interns who traveled to Japan on their own:

Kendall Kosai, former staff writer, The North American Post newspaper

“As a Yon-sei (4th generation) Japanese American, interning with the North American Post newspaper and traveling to Japan has given me the unique opportunity to connect with not only my heritage, but also my community.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Travis Suzaka, 2008 Intern

“I first started interning with The North American Post as a student at the University of Washington , while taking a course on Japanese Internment Camps. Through my experiences reporting on local events in the Japanese American community, I realized the importance of this decades-old newspaper; to tell the stories of the past, provide a social web, and preserve the culture and traditions of the Nikkei in Seattle. Ever since then, I’ve continued to stay involved in organizations and events with my fellow Yonsei friends.

During my internship, I had the opportunity to work in a bilingual environment with very inter-culturally-minded staff. Conversing with my supervisors really inspired me to further my language capabilities which led me to study abroad in Tokyo.

Several years after my internship and studying/working abroad in Japan, I’m back in Seattle working in the community and using my Japanese on a daily basis. I continue to learn Japanese calligraphy, shamisen, and tea ceremony.

Growing up in the multicultural American school system, culture and family history was always a big topic of discussion. When talking to Japanese people, one question that always arises is where my family is from in Japan. I’m appreciative that I can confidently say that I have roots to Japan and be able to explain the history of my family. I am also passionate every time I have the chance to visit family in Hiroshima, to learn about my ancestors and the legends of our family history that go back centuries before, and I think it’s important for other Yonsei to have the opportunity as well to learn about their cultural roots.”