Important Japanese Exhibit Opens At JB

 A new history exhibit, "Rising Sun in the Sunshine State" opened at the Beaches Branch, June 9, 2015, and will be up through July. A reception was held, followed by a program attended by 115 people. This important piece of Duval County history was created by Elsie Oishi (standing to right of the podium, as she was being introduced), who serves the Jacksonville Historical Society as their volunteer expert genealogist, and REALM Consulting. The exhibit tells the story of Tokutaro Takami, his family, and friends. The Takami family arrived from Japan at the turn of the 20th century. They settled in Duval County, bought property, invested in businesses, educated their children, served in the military and became an integral part of the American dream.

The story was told by Elsie Jun Oishi, Tokutaro's granddaughter. Her interest in her family’s history started in 1988 after she read an article about the Japanese community in Duval County. It took Ms. Oishi, a former JPL senior librarian, 25 years to research her family history and she came to realize that her family was the first Japanese family in Jacksonville Beach.