Seattle Hiroshima Club

Seattle Hiroshima Club
Remembering Home, Supporting the Next Generation

Members and guests of the Seattle Hiroshima Club gather at the summer picnic, enjoying intergenerational fellowship. Photo credit:  Seattle Hiroshima Club.

The Seattle Hiroshima Club was founded in 1901 as a mutual-aid organization at a time when Japanese immigrants were not yet fully accepted into the broader community. Before World War II, when many Japanese residents lived in Seattle’s Nihonmachi (Japantown), the club played an important role in sustaining community ties. Its activities were suspended during the war and resumed in 1947. Today, 125 years after its founding, the club has about 220 members.

At the heart of the organization is a commitment to connect across generations and backgrounds. Its annual New Year’s gathering, usually held in February or March, draws about 180 people and includes the Hiroshima Ondo (Japanese folk music). Other activities include a summer picnic, golf tournament, sake brewery tour, Mariners baseball outings, and a monthly, joint, karaoke gathering with other kenjinkais.

The spirit of mutual support that shaped the club from its earliest days remains strong. Building on postwar efforts to support Hiroshima’s recovery and donations toward the rebuilding of Kure City Hall, members have continued to assist communities affected by disasters. The club also works with the Hiroshima Prefecture on programs such as gubernatorial recognition for members age 80 and older and youth exchanges that connect generations on both sides of the Pacific Ocean.

Supporting the next generation is another longstanding priority. Since 1964, the club’s scholarship program has helped high school students with Hiroshima roots. The original $75 award rose to $1,000 in 1990, $1,500 in 2018, and $3,000 in 2021. This year, the program expanded from three recipients to five and broadened eligibility to include college and graduate students. Board member Miki Kusunose, who received a scholarship five years ago, said the support meant more than financial assistance, it helped strengthen pride in his roots and reaffirm his sense of identity.

As an organization connected to Hiroshima, the club also sees preserving the memory of the atomic bombing and promoting peace as important responsibilities. Its official YouTube channel features club-conducted interviews with hibakusha (被爆者, atomic bomb survivors) which are subtitled in English. It includes rare testimonies from Japanese Americans born in Washington State who experienced the bombing and from survivors who later immigrated to the United States.

Each August, the club serves as a co-sponsor of the floating lantern ceremony at Green Lake. It has also worked with Seattle Betsuin Buddhist Temple for more than 50 years to hold an annual memorial service.  What began as a grassroots effort by volunteers has grown into an interfaith space for remembrance. It includes Jewish and Christian religious leaders joining the observance since last year. For the club, praying for peace and carrying these memories into the future are central parts of its identity.

Looking ahead, the club hopes to remain an organization people continue to need. The challenges facing Japanese immigrants and Japanese Americans a century ago are different from those of today, and the group wants to evolve with the times.“We want to create a welcoming place where everyone feels they belong—not just people like me, whose families have been involved for three or four generations, but anyone who wants to deepen the connection between Seattle and Hiroshima. We want people to feel, ‘There is a place for me here,’” Vice President Brent Kawahara said. “We welcome everyone who loves Hiroshima and values community.”