A Major Property-Rights Issue Involving U.S. Citizens
More than 100 years ago, Japanese landowners immigrated to the United States. Their descendants became U.S. citizens, while ancestral land remained in Japan.
Today, land still registered under private family names connected to these families lies within Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, Japan.
This is not only a story of Japanese American migration. It is a present-day inheritance and property-rights issue involving living descendants in the United States.
The Japan-U.S. Heirs and Land Records Center (JHLRC) is investigating approximately 32 families. For approximately 13 families, we have established documentary connections between Japanese family records and U.S. public records.
Our work helps identify descendants, connect records across generations, and provide heirs with information relevant to their ancestral land. Further legal review is needed to clarify the applicable rights and historical arrangements.
Why Your Support Matters
The next stage requires obtaining and reviewing additional public records, reconstructing family relationships, translating documents, locating descendants, and preparing reliable records for inheritance-related procedures and legal review.
Donations made through SIMA support the approved charitable research, documentation, translation, archival, and heir-outreach activities of the project. They are not represented here as donations for an individual heir’s litigation expenses.
Your support can help turn years of research into information and concrete progress for families whose records span Japan and the United States.
Learn more: https://jhlrc.org/en/
