The year seemed to pass extremely fast. It is a combination of the current turmoil in the world order and the fact that it just takes more effort these days to conduct our lives as we get older. Hopefully, The North American Post and Soy Source have played a positive role in helping you to successfully navigate through this past year.
It has been our pleasure to provide timely and interesting content through our network of writers and contributors, locally and from Japan. Each picture and story has, hopefully, brought a unique perspective to either a current or historical event that was key to your understanding of the Japanese American (JA) experience and its role in maintaining a vibrant community. Dedicated readers have also shown their support through monetary donations and valuable feedback to keep our paper moving forward in a positive direction. Thank you for those efforts.
Support for our twice-yearly NAP-sponsored tours to Japan has been overwhelming. Not only do travelers gain a richer understanding of our ancestral roots by participating; also these tours serve as cultural ambassadors to Japan. If you have not already attended one of our tours (or would like to travel again), please watch for our new 2026 tour itinerary announcements in upcoming issues of the newspaper. Elaine Ko will lead again the 2026 Spring tour. Bruce Rutledge and I hope to again lead the 2026 October Autumn tour to Ehime prefecture and to Uwajima City on Shikoku Island, where my father came from.
As most of you are aware, the community newspaper publishing business is still facing serious challenges in this difficult media and economic environment. Although recent efforts have been made on both the national and regional fronts to assist, a viable solution is still not imminent. As a result, it is more important than ever for us to continue reporting and archiving on local JA events and stories so we can keep recording our community activities. We know many of you enthusiastically embrace this mission, which is why you continue to read The North American Post. Thank you.
Happy Year of the Horse to our community of readers and advertisers! We are grateful for your continuing support.
Tomio Moriguchi
Publisher
