More than a century ago, Japanese families migrated to Hawaiʻi and the United States, including families connected to Japan’s government-sponsored contract migration system. Today, ancestral land still registered under private family names connected to some of these emigrant families remains within the present-day Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni in Japan.
The Japan-U.S. Heirs and Land Records Center (JHLRC) is reconstructing this largely forgotten cross-Pacific history through primary-source records held in both countries. Japanese family registers, historical land ledgers, property records and maps are compared with U.S. census records, passenger and immigration records, draft registrations, vital records, cemetery records and other archival sources.
JHLRC is investigating approximately 32 families and has established documentary Japan-U.S. connections for approximately 13 families.
The project preserves and digitizes records, produces Japanese-English translations and historical summaries, reconstructs migration and family histories, and develops publicly accessible educational materials. Its purpose is to reconnect descendants with historical records that have been separated across the Pacific for generations while creating a verifiable public archive for researchers, educators, Japanese American communities and future generations.
