[A Guide to Self-Supporting, Independent Study in North America] Hokubei yugaku annai: Dokuritsu jikyu

Osaka: Okashima Shoten, 1903. First Edition. Trade paperback. Good. A rare guide to coming to America published during the brief window during the first years of the 20th century when it was legal for Japanese citizens to emigrate to the United States, before the 1907 Gentlemen's Agreement made the process much more difficult. Still, this book reflects the tenor of the times. In the section on clearing immigration on arrival in the US, one of the role-play examples (in English) is "Q: Are you an anarchist or not? A. Not at all." (p. 98).

"A guide to America for students which compliments [Seinen no to-Bei (America-bound Youth)] by the same author. Discusses passport procedures, the passage, arrival formalities and provides information on being a 'school boy', matriculation problems, and the American educational system"-A Buried Past, 132.

The author of this book was the first ordained Japanese episcopal priest and the founder of the church's Japanese mission in San Francisco. Yoshimura was an enthusiastic promoter of Japanese immigration to the US, and he spent several years in Texas in the early 20th century promoting rice farming to Japanese immigrants. For more on Yoshimura, see Thomas K. Walls, The Japanese Texans and the entry for "Asiamericans in the Episcopal Church" in Asian American Religious Cultures (2015). In the preliminary pages of this book, Yoshimura offers support to all Japanese immigrants who present themselves at the Episcopal mission in San Francisco.

[2], 12, [4], 4, [2 leaves of halftone plates], 182, [4] pages. The plates show Stanford University, the University of California (Berkeley), a group of male Japanese students, and the Sutro Baths.

OCLC: 672961595 (National Diet Library), 51479302 (Yale). First edition (first printing). A very good copy in stapled wrappers. Old dampstain affecting several pages; staple rusted; one plate MISSING the outer half-inch. LACKING the rear wrapper (apparently blank, based on a microfilm copy seen by your cataloguer) and the spine. The front cover appears to have been reattached to the first leaf.