3/11 photo by Jill Beppu
"They called it Shirakawa.."White River"..after the English name for the valley community.
Issei immigrants from Japan first came in the 1890's to labor in the fields, forests, and railroad gangs.
The fertile farmlands beckoned them to stay, and by the 1920's hundreds of Issei were planting
crops and nurturing families here. Enduring a flood of resistance, they built a legacy for the sake of their
children and succeeding generations, only to see it battered by the waves of war."
Stan Fleweling, author / historian
