Special Feature (Research Note)／特集（研究ノート） Fieldwork Note on Tatar Migrants from the Far East to the USA For Reviews of Islam Policy in Prewar and Wartime Japan
NUMATA Sayoko
Ⅰ . Introduction Ⅱ . From the Far East to the USA Ⅲ . Current situation in San Francisco Bay Area Ⅳ . Future research issues
極東出身の在米タタール人に関する調査 戦前・戦中期日本における「回教政策」再評価のために 沼田 彩誉子
戦前・戦中期において、日本および日本占領下にあった満州・朝鮮半島に居住していたタター ル人の多くは、戦後アメリカやトルコへと渡った。両国では2012年現在も、彼らや彼ら の家族が暮らしている。本稿では、こうした極東出身のタタール人のうち、アメリカ合衆 国カリフォルニア州サンフランシスコ・ベイエリア（以下ベイエリア）へ移住した在米タター
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中東学会28-2.indb 127 2013/02/14 13:15:49 ル人に焦点をあてる。聞き取り調査を中心に、戦前・戦中期日本での生活、戦後の極東地 域からの移住、およびベイエリアにおける現況をまとめる。 従前「在日タタール人」と呼称される彼らは、戦前・戦中期における日本の「回教政策」 と深く関わる存在である。一例をあげれば、早稲田大学に保管される大日本回教協会寄託 資料には、彼らに関する文書・写真資料が所蔵されている。しかしながら「在日タタール人」 の多くが戦後、極東地域から移住したために、彼らの存在、あるいは彼らの所有する資料 は、日本では長らく忘却されてきた。アメリカやトルコに暮らす極東出身のタタール人や 彼らの家族への聞き取りにより、既存文書・写真の特定や新規資料発見が大いに期待され る。関係者の逝去・高齢化が進むなか、戦前・戦中期に関わる聞き取りおよび写真や書簡 など私文書の調査は、喫緊の課題である。 このとき、戦前・戦中期における「回教政策」が独善的なものであった事実を忘れては ならない。そのため、先行研究の多くは、「在日タタール人」を「回教政策」の対象や道具 として扱ってきた。しかしながら、戦前・戦中期の日本とイスラーム関係の新たな理解を 目指すとき、当時の「在日タタール人」と日本との関係が必ずしも良好だったわけではない にしても、彼らの視点から改めて日本の「回教政策」を評価することが求められる。その ためには第一に、現在の状況を正しく把握・理解し、インフォーマントとの関係を慎重に 構築することが不可欠である。本稿は、彼らの移住経験に着目しつつ、聞き取り・資料調 査を通じてその歴史を見直す作業への、第一歩として位置づけられる。 本稿で扱うデータは、2012年4月25日から5月7日にかけて筆者が行ったベイエリアで の調査に基づくものである。日本での生活や移住の経験、ベイエリアにおける在米タター ル人の状況について、合計9名の関係者への聞き取りを中心とする、フィールドワークを行った。 日本では、東京、名古屋、神戸、熊本がタタール人の主な居住地となり、組織や学校、 モスク、印刷所などが設立された。タタール人の流入が始まった1920年代当初、クルバ ンガリーがコミュニティ形成のイニシアチブをとった。しかし1933年にイスハキーが来日 すると多くのタタール人は彼のもとに集まり、東京ではクルバンガリー派とイスハキー派 の対立が起こるようになった。イスハキー、クルバンガリーがともに離日した後は、イブ ラヒムがコミュニティの指導者とされた。日本の戦局悪化に伴い、タタール人の多くは軽 井沢や有馬温泉へと疎開を強制された。 モスクや学校が空襲の被害を免れたため、タタール語による教育やタタール人の集まり は戦後も継続された。しかし 1953年のトルコ国籍付与に伴い、彼らの大部分はトルコや アメリカへと渡っていった。 極東からベイエリアへの最初の移住は、1923年までさかのぼることができる。日本で 羅紗の行商を行っていたタタール人の一部が、関東大震災で被災し、渡米したのである。 しかし、戦前のアメリカ移住は少数で、移民の数が増加したのは、戦後であった。
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中東学会28-2.indb 128 2013/02/14 13:15:50 終戦後のアメリカへの移住は、大きく2つのパターンにわけることができる。すなわち、 極東からアメリカへ直接移住した場合と、トルコでの生活を経て、アメリカへと移住した 場合である。いずれの場合も、終戦後に始まった極東からの出移民は、1950年代から60 年代に集中している。 1917年のロシア革命を機とする避難民を第一世代とするなら、第二世代、すなわち日 本、満州、朝鮮半島を出生地とする彼らの子どもたちが、親や兄弟、結婚相手とともに、 あるいは単身でトルコやアメリカへと移住した。2012年現在、ベイエリアでは、移住経 験を持つ60～80歳代の第二世代、第三世代にあたる米生まれの30～50歳代の子どもたち、 第四世代にあたる20歳代以下の孫たちが暮らしている。 ベイエリアでは1960年に、在米タタール人の組織として「アメリカン・トルコ・タタール・ アソシエーション」（American Turko Tatar Association。以下ATTAと略）が設立された。 2012年5月現在、ATTA全体では会費納入者、シニア、子どもを合計して263名の極東 出身の在米タタール人とその家族がおり、このうち187名がベイエリアに居住している。 ATTAを設立し、集まりの場ではタタール語での会話がなされていた第二世代に比べると、 第三世代のタタール語習得率やタタールへの関心、集まりへの参加率には、差がみられる。 第二世代の高齢化による世代交代が進む今、タタールの言語や文化の保持は重要な課題と なっている。 カリフォルニア州コルマのサイプレス・ローン記念公園には、ATTAが購入、管理する 4か所のムスリム墓地がある。合計302の墓のうち、160は埋葬済み、142はすでに購入され、 使用者が決まった状態である。1962年に亡くなった人物が、この墓地へ最初に埋葬された。 在米タタール人に関する今後の課題は次の2点に集約される。(1)第二世代へのさらな る聞き取り調査、(2)個々人が所蔵する写真、書簡などの私文書資料の探索とそれら資料 に関する情報の収集である。
I. Introduction
Many source materials concerning Japanese Islam Policy in prewar and wartime Japan have been found recently, including Deposited Materials by the DNKK (Dai- Nippon Kaikyo Kyokai, Greater Japan Muslim League) of Waseda University. This work had been cataloged and its photographic source materials scanned into a digital database [ROAS 2005; 2006]. Similar materials must also be searched, not only in Japan but on a global scale as well, as the policy they detail involved many foreign Muslims.
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中東学会28-2.indb 129 2013/02/14 13:15:50 Approximately 200 Tatar migrants live in the San Francisco Bay Area currently, including the “Zainichi Tatarjin” (Tatars in Japan) who were associated with Japanese Islam Policy and who played an important role in the recognition given Islam in prewar and wartime Japan. Most Tatar migrants who lived in the Far East (i.e., Japan and the Japanese occupied countries) before and during World War II migrated to the USA or Turkey after the war.(1) They and their families are still living in these countries. Pictures and documents concerning the Tatar migrants can be found in source materials such as Tokyo Kaikyo Gakkou [1937], Misawa [2012], and ROAS [2005; 2006]. However, their existence and their private collections have been largely forgotten as most of them emigrated from the Far East after the war ended. By interviewing Tatar migrants living in the USA or Turkey today, it is possible to identify the people in the pictures and discover new facts or materials about them and their migration. This research must be done quickly, however, because the second generation who witnessed Japanese Islam Policy is at an advanced age. It should be noted that Japanese Islam Policy was self-serving in that it tried to put Tatar migrants to use for its own activities. Because of this, many previous studies have treated Tatar migrants as subject to or a means of furthering this policy [e.g., Ikei and Sakamoto, eds. 1999; Esenbel and Inaba, eds. 2003; Matsunaga 2009 and so on]. However, Japanese Islam Policy must be assessed from the viewpoint of the Tatar if a new understanding of the relationship between Japan and Islam is to be achieved. With this goal in mind, it is necessary to understand the Tatars’ current situation correctly and to build a good relationship with them. This paper is only a first step towards reassessing Tatar migrant history by regarding “Zainichi Tatarjin” as Tatar migrants from the Far East. We will achieve this by focusing our attention on the experiences of migrants through interviews and collected materials. We will also discuss the lives of Tatars in prewar and wartime Japan, the migration processes, and the current situation of migrants living in the San Francisco Bay Area (Bay Area)(2) in light of the fact that they witnessed firsthand Japanese Islam Policy. The main sources for this paper are derived from my fieldwork in the Bay Area from April 25 to May 7, 2012. It was during this time that I stayed in Burlingame with a Tatar family,(3) second-generation Tatar migrants born in Japan. The purpose of my work in the Bay Area was to uncover the experiences of each migrant and the
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中東学会28-2.indb 130 2013/02/14 13:15:50 overall situation of the Tatar migrants in the Bay Area. As many Tatar migrants are living in Burlingame, in or around the house in which I stayed, they can easily visit each other on foot or by car (see Figures 1 and 2). In fact, during my stay, Sukiyaki and Peremech (a typical food of the Tatars) parties were held at the house and three to four Tatar migrants attended those parties as guests. In total, I interviewed nine Tatar migrants and their families, including the guests at the Sukiyaki and Peremech parties (see Table 1).
Table 1: Attributions of the interviewees
Sex Year of Birth Generation Place of Birth Abdullah Male 1934 2nd Japan Nuriye Female 1945 2nd Japan Fatima Female 1929 2nd Japan Ibrahim Male 1930 2nd Japan Hasan Male 1931 2nd Manchuria Ravil Male 1936 2nd Manchuria Huseyin Male 1928 2nd Japan Naile Female 1972 3rd USA Jack Male unknown unknown unknown (Note) (1) All names are assumed names. (2) As for Jack, he is an 80-year-old partner of non-Tatar who is married to a Tatar lady of the second generation. (Source) Made by the author based on the interviews.
Figure 1: Map of the West Coast of the Figure 2: Map of San Francisco Bay Area United States of America
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中東学会28-2.indb 131 2013/02/14 13:15:50 II. From the Far East to the USA
1. Lives in prewar and wartime Japan After the 1917 Russian Revolution, Tatars of the Volga-Ural region immigrated to Manchuria, Korea, and Japan. Those who went to Japan initially worked as wool peddlers active in Tokyo, Yokohama, and Kobe in the early 1920s. The number of peddlers and their families living in Tokyo and Yokohama decreased as they escaped to Kobe or the USA after the Great Kanto Earthquake in 1923. However, Tatar migrants soon appeared again in Tokyo seeking business opportunities in 1924 [Okubo 1924a; 1924b]. More than 1,000 Tatar migrants lived in prewar Japan, primarily in Tokyo, Nagoya, Kobe, or Kumamoto [Matsunaga 2003: 201]. Tokyo and Kobe were especially crowded with Tatar migrants. From the 1920s to 1933, the Tatar community in Tokyo was formed under the initiative of Kurbangali, who spearheaded the establishment of the Tokyo Muslim Association (Tokyo’da Mahallei-i İslamiye, Tokyo Kaikyo Dan) in 1925, the Muslim graveyards in 1926, the Tokyo Muslim School (Tokyo’da Mekteb-i İslamiye, Tokyo Kaikyo Gakkou) in 1927, and the Tokyo Muslim Printing House (Tokyo’da Matbaa-i İslamiye, Tokyo Kaikyo Insatsujo) in 1931 [Tokyo Kaikyo Dan n.d.; Dündar and Misawa, eds. 2010]. However, this community, which had been unified under Kurbangali’s leadership, was split into two groups after Ishaki appeared in 1933. In 1934, Ishaki opened branches of the Idil-Ural Turk Tatar Cultural Association in Tokyo, Nagoya, Kobe, and Kumamoto. Most Tatar migrants joined the association, but a struggle ensued between the followers of Ishaki and those of Kurbangali in Tokyo, where a Japanese-style house was used as both school and office by members of the association. Although Ishaki left Japan in 1936, the struggle did not end [Matsunaga 2009; Usmanova 2007]. In the meantime, a performance was held in Kobe to collect contributions to establish a mosque and welcome Ishaki at the small school of the Kobe Turko Tatar Association, which was renamed the Idil-Ural Turk Tatar Cultural Association in 1933. Kobe Mosque was built in 1935 after sizeable donations were received from wealthy Indian merchants [Fukuda 2010]. The Tatar school was located next to the mosque. Nuriye was six years old when entered this school in 1951 and studied there for
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中東学会28-2.indb 132 2013/02/14 13:15:50 four years (the duration of study changed from six to four years in 1952). In reflecting on her experiences at the school, she said, “In 1951, 14 children were studying there. There was a big map of the world on the wall. We learned much from the map. Also, at the Tatar schools in Tokyo, Nagoya, and Kobe, we were taught Islamic teachings along with the Tatar language.”(4) Approximately 20 families were living in Nagoya before the war. They had the Nagoya Mosque, which was opened in 1936, and a Tatar school but began to leave Nagoya for Kobe as the Pacific War broke out in 1941. Only one family remained in Nagoya during the war, and this family moved to Kobe after the war.(5) Fatima, who was born in Nagoya in 1929, said, “Everybody from there [Nagoya], we had our own Tatar community and our own school, so I went there, [to the Tatar school] like 6 years. And then we had a Japanese teacher and an English teacher [who] used to come. They used to teach us Japanese and English. I went to the Tatar school 6 years, and after I finished 6 years I went to a Japanese school for maybe 1 year, and I didn’t like it.”(6) Ibrahim, who was born in Nagoya in 1930 and is the younger brother of Fatima, recalled that he began to study at the Tatar school there at the age of 5 or 6. After 4 years, he graduated and was then admitted to the Japanese “Maruta Shougakkou” (Maruta Elementary School).(7) From 1938 to 1945, changes in the Tatar community depended on the political situation in Japan. Tokyo Mosque was established in 1938 with the financial backing of Japanese nationalists, military authorities, and the Japanese government. Japanese Islam Policy tried to unify the Tatar community so that it would advance Japanese propaganda. Kurbangali, who was proving an obstacle to Japanese Islam Policy, was arrested by the police in June 1938 and told to leave Japan. After he left, Abdurresid Ibrahim was chosen as the community leader [Komatsu 2008; Matsunaga 2009]. Near the end of World War II, many Tatar migrants were forced to evacuate to Karuizawa or Arima. Although the Japanese government justified these evacuations as having been done to protect lives, it actually forced these evacuations to it could supervise the nonaligned foreigners. After the war ended in 1945, the Tatar migrants who returned to Tokyo or Kobe barely managed to eke out a living in postwar Japan. As the mosques and Tatar schools had escaped the flames of war, children could still be educated in the Tatar language and the Tatar people were provided with meeting places. However, the
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中東学会28-2.indb 133 2013/02/14 13:15:51 number of Tatar migrants in Japan began to decline. Many of them moved to the USA, Turkey, and so on after being granted Turkish citizenship in 1953.
2. Migration to the USA The first immigration from the Far East to the Bay Area occurred after the Great Kanto Earthquake in 1923. Some of the Tatar migrants who worked in Japan as wool peddlers were badly affected by the earthquake and thus immigrated to the USA. An article in the Tokyo-Asahi newspaper of September 27, 1923, reported that the Tatar migrants went to the USA with the help of the American Embassy (see Figure 3). In 1965, Abdullah visited one of the migrants who emigrated from Japan to the USA after the Great Kanto Earthquake. This migrant was a woman whose husband was a friend of Abdullah’s father. Although they had sent Abdullah’s father a letter and given him their address, Abdullah could meet this woman, who was over 70 years old, only once. He said of this meeting that, “Only the people of my father’s group [the first generation] knew the history of the migration in 1923. Those who are living here [the second generation] don’t know much about it. Among the people of our group, there was only one person [who] knew the history, but he died.”(8) Thus, while some people immigrated from Japan to the USA before World War II, the number of migrants began to increase after the war ended.
Figure 3: Report on the Foreign Victims of the Great Kanto Earthquake
(Source) The evening edition of the Tokyo-Asahi newspaper of September 27, 1923, p.1.
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中東学会28-2.indb 134 2013/02/14 13:15:51 The migration to the USA after the World War II can be divided into two groups. The first is those who directly migrated from Japan, Manchuria, and Korea to the USA, and the second is those who passed through Turkey on their way to the USA. In either case, most immigrants from the Far East arrived in the USA in the 1950s and 1960s. We refer to the refugees who initially immigrated to the Far East because of the 1917 Russian Revolution “the first generation”; we can call their children, who were born in the Far East and moved to Turkey or the USA, “the second generation.” While some from the second generation migrated with their parents, brothers, sisters, or partners, others migrated alone. The reasons given in my interviews with them for this migration are as follows: outbreak of the Korean War and the fear of the rise of communism; simplification of the migration procedures after acquiring Turkish citizenship; a desire to live together with families or relatives who had already emigrated from the Far East; hope for a new world; and the desire for a good education, marriage, or job. Clearly then, the reasons for an individual to migrate were not limited. These immigrants decided to migrate according to their social conditions, the situations within their families or personally, and according to their thoughts at the time.
3. Establishment of ATTA The American Turko Tatar Association (ATTA) was established in the Bay Area in 1960(9). According to the ATTA website, they held meetings at the houses of different members in their early years: “On May 15, 1960 at the Odd Fellows Hall in Burlingame, thirty people gathered to hold the community’s first formal planning meeting. On this day, it was decided to establish an organization with the name of the American Turko-Tatar Association, Incorporated, with the goal of preserving the cultural, ethnic and religious interests of the local Tatar community. … In the ATTA’s early years, meetings were held at the houses of different members. However, as the number of members increased, in order to provide them with a suitable meeting place, the community soon decided that there was a need for a real center. … In 1966, the ATTA Board of Directors unanimously approved to purchase a building in El Camino Real in Burlingame.” Following completion of a remodeling project, a kitchen, a main hall, an office, and two rest rooms were included in the building. After this, again according to the
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中東学会28-2.indb 135 2013/02/14 13:15:51 Figure 4: Bina (‘Building’ in the Tatar language) of ATTA in Burlingame
(Source) Taken by the author on May 3, 2012
web site (see Figure 4): “With untiring efforts of our early members, The Bay Area Tatar Community finally owned its own home. For years, the Bina [‘Building’ in the Tatar language] has hosted countless religious events, cultural occasions and activities for its members and the community as a whole.” [http://attasf.org/home/atta-history.php (June 7, 2012)] I will now describe the current Tatar situation in the Bay Area by focusing on the ATTA.
III. Current situation in the San Francisco Bay Area
1. Number of ATTA members We can estimate the number of Tatar migrants in Bay Area by looking at the number of ATTA members. Currently, in (i.e., in May 2012), there are 236 regular members who are paying membership fees and over-75 senior members who no longer have to pay membership dues. Of these members, 163 reside in the Bay Area, especially in Burlingame, Millbrae, San Mateo, San Jose, and San Francisco; the other 73 members are living in other areas in the USA such as Los Angeles, Arizona, New
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中東学会28-2.indb 136 2013/02/14 13:15:52 York, Seattle, or Ohio or outside the USA in nations such as Japan or Finland. There are 49 children (under the age of 21) who, like the senior members, are exempt from paying membership dues. Of this number, 46 reside in the Bay Area. Thus, in total, ATTA has 285 members, including regular members, seniors, and children. Of this number, 209 live in the Bay Area (see Table 2).(10) There are 22 “New Tatars,”(11) including nine children, in the ATTA. These New Tatars immigrated to the USA directly from Tatarstan, and so on, and consequently have no immigration experience in the Far East. As all New Tatars are living in the Bay Area, we can say that the number of Tatar migrants from the Far East and their families, including partners of non-Tatars, numbers 263; in the Bay Area specifically, we find 187 (see Table 3). If we accept that some of the Tatars of the third generation are not members of the ATTA, although their parents are, we can state with some certainty that the number of Tatar migrants and their families in the Bay Area exceeds 187.(12)
Table 2: Number of ATTA members including New Tatars (May 2012) (Total) Members& Children including New Tatars 285 SF Bay Area 209 Out of Area 76 Members (Paying &Sr.) including New Tatars 236 SF Bay Area 163 Out of Area 73 Childrenincluding New Tatars 49 SF Bay Area 46 Out of Area 3 (Source) Made by the author based on the interview with Nuriye and ATTA documents.
Table 3: Number of ATTA members excluding New Tatars (May 2012) (Total) Members& Children excluding New Tatars 263 SF Bay Area 187 Out of Area 76 Members (Paying &Sr.) excluding New Tatars 223 SF Bay Area 150 Out of Area 73 Children excluding New Tatars 40 SF Bay Area 37 Out of Area 3 (Source) Made by the author based on the interview with Nuriye and ATTA documents.
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中東学会28-2.indb 137 2013/02/14 13:15:52 2. Generation Three generations of Tatar migrants live in the Bay Area. Those who are now between 60 and 80 years old are from the second generation, who emigrated from the Far East. Their children, who now range from 30 years old into their 50s, make up the third generation; and their grandchildren are the fourth generation. The language acquisition level of the third generation is not as high as that of the second generation, which established ATTA and can speak the Tatar language when they meet. Naile, who was born in Burlingame in 1972 and is a third-generation Tatar migrant, stated that, “The number of young people living around Burlingame is about 20. I think it is only six of us that speak Tatarcha [Tatar language] well. The rest of the kids understand Tatarcha and can speak poorly, but can at least say a few words like hello, thank you, good-bye. Their parents don’t speak Tatarcha in their houses. Whether their children can talk Tatarcha or not depends on the parents. We [young people] get together once every 2 or 3 months.”(13) While the second generation went to Tatar schools and talked with their parents in Tatarcha at home, third-generation Tatars were taught in English at school. Therefore, the language acquisition level of the third generation mainly depends on their parents’ attitudes towards their Tatar heritage and culture. A decline in interest in the “Tatars” and a low rate of participation in ATTA meetings can thus be found among the third generation. People in their 50s, which make up the so-called “lost generation,” especially tend not to become ATTA members or attend meetings, although they continue to pay their membership fee. As Naile said of them, “They are not involved in the Tatar community.”(14) With this generational change, following ATTA’s mission—“to serve the community by promoting Tatar heritage and culture; to promote, support and assist cultural, educational, religious and charitable work; to promote members’ interest in public welfare; and to cooperate with others in cultural, civic and social development” [http://attasf.org/home/atta-mission.php (10 June 2012)]—is becoming difficult.
3. Muslim graveyards of ATTA The ATTA bought and manages four Muslim graveyards at Cypress Lawn Memorial Park in Colma, California (see Figure 5). Only ATTA members can purchase individual grave sites from the ATTA. Other Muslims use other areas in the park.(15)
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中東学会28-2.indb 138 2013/02/14 13:15:52 Figure 5: Muslim Graveyards of ATTA in Cypress Lawn Memorial Park
(Source) Taken by the author on May 2, 2012.
Within these four ATTA graveyards, there are 302 grave sites; 160 are occupied and 142 have been bought by members for future use. There are still some spaces left as some members have not yet purchased a site. The price of an individual grave site is about $5000; the total amount for interment is $10,000, including gravestone fee, cost of digging graves, and so on. After this sum has been paid, there is no annual fee and no additional charge for maintenance of the grave site.(16) A Tatar migrant who died in 1962 was the first person to be buried in an ATTA grave site. Thanks to maintenance by Cypress Lawn Memorial Park staff and ATTA members, although this migrant had no family members in the Bay Area, his grave has been maintained. Sometimes ATTA also helps families financially that are running short of funds to maintain the graves.(17) Before every Bayram, ATTA members, who are mainly drawn from the third generation, volunteer to clean up all of the graves one by one. Nuriye said that at these cleaning times, she tries to tell the young generation about those in the first and second generations who are already buried there.(18)
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中東学会28-2.indb 139 2013/02/14 13:15:52 IV. Future research issues
In this paper, I summarized my fieldwork in the San Francisco Bay Area as a first step toward a larger review of Tatar migrant history. At this stage, we must address two research issues. The first is to conduct further interviews with the second generation. It is urgent that we address the experiences of each migrant concerning a variety of topics, including his or her: Tatar schooling; involvement in Tatar migrant meetings; experiences with air raids; evacuation to Karuizawa or Arima; memories of rationing; and lives in the USA or Turkey. The second is to collect materials related to Tatar migrants. To do this, we must obtain information about their families, relatives, and friends who appear in source material pictures, such as in Deposited Materials by the DNKK and the private collections of Tatar migrants. By obtaining this information, we can, for example, learn about people living in Kurume in prewar Japan (see Figure 6) or the passengers of the Batman, which was the ship that carried approximately 30 Tatar migrants from Japan to Turkey (see Figure 7).(19)
Figure 6: Tatar Migrants in Kurume, Kyushu (1934-35?)
(Source) Private collection of Nuriye.
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中東学会28-2.indb 140 2013/02/14 13:15:52 Figure 7: Passengers of the Batman, Tokyo, Japan (1956)
(Source) Private collection of Abdullah
As the second generation that witnessed the Japanese Islam Policy is now of an advanced age, urgent research is needed on the Tatar migrants. To conduct this research well, we must understand their current situation and build a good relationship with them. It is clear that to achieve a new understanding of Islam policy in prewar and wartime Japan, we must study the viewpoints of the Tatar migrants from the Far East.
Notes
(1) Some Tatar migrants settled in Australia or Canada. I am currently gathering information about them. (2) Since September 2011, I have also been conducting research on Tatar migrants living in Istanbul and Ankara. (3) Abudullah, who was born in Tokyo in 1934, is Imam of the American Turko Tatar Association (ATTA). Nuriye, who was born in Kobe in 1945, is a board member of ATTA. (4) Interview with Nuriye at her house in Burlingame, CA, on April 30, 2012. (5) Ibid.
141 Fieldwork Note on Tatar Migrants from the Far East to the USA (Numata)
中東学会28-2.indb 141 2013/02/14 13:15:53 (6) Interview with Fatima at her house in Burlingame, CA, on April 30, 2012. (7) Interview with Ibrahim at his house in San Mateo, CA, on May 3, 2012. (8) Interview with Abdullah at his house in Burlingame, CA, on May 6, 2012. (9) The Moslem Unity Association, Inc. was founded in New York in 1927. After its foundation, the association name was changed twice — first to the American Islamic Association, Inc. in 1964 and then to the American Tatar Association, Inc. in 1974 [http://www.atany.com/ATA_WEB/ history.html (June 7, 2012)]. I am planning to conduct fieldwork on Tatar migrants in New York. (10) Interview with Nuriye at her house in Burlingame, CA, on May 2, 2012. All numbers are based on ATTA documents. (11) Tatar migrants from the Far East call them “Yanga Kilgenler,” “Yanga Tatarlar,” or “Yanga Kilgen Tatarlar” in the Tatar language. (12) Interview with Nuriye at her house in Burlingame, CA, on May 2, 2012. Among the members, 111 were born in the Far East, 48 were born in Japan, 53 were born in Manchuria, and 10 were born in Korea. Seventy eight of the members are living in the Bay Area, including 37 who came from Japan, 34 who came from Manchuria, and 7 who came from Korea as of August 2012 (Telephone interview with Nuriye on August 12, 2012). All numbers are based on ATTA documents. (13) Interview with Naile at her parents’ house in Burlingame, CA, on May 6, 2012. (14) Ibid. (15) Interview with Nuriye at her house in Burlingame, CA, on May 2, 2012. (16) Interview with Nuriye at her house in Burlingame, CA, on May 6, 2012. (17) Ibid. (18) Interview with Nuriye at Cypress Lawn Memorial Park in Colma, CA, on May 2, 2012. (19) Other families departed for Turkey on other ships.
References
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中東学会28-2.indb 142 2013/02/14 13:15:53 Esenbel and Inaba Chiharu, 197–215. Istanbul: Bogazici University Press. ―――. 2009. Zainichi-Tatar jin: Rekishi ni Honrou sareta Islam-kyouto tachi. Toyoshoten. Misawa, Nobuo, ed. 2012. Tatar Exiles and Japan: Koji OKUBO as the Mediator. Tokyo: Asian Cultures Research Institute, Toyo University. Okubo, Koji. 1924a. “Nihon e Kita Rosia no Kaikaikyouto-hinanmin ni tsuite (1)” Kokusai Chishiki 4 (2): 96–108. ―――. 1924b. “Nihon e Kita Rosia no Kaikaikyouto-hinanmin ni tsuite (2).” Kokusai Chishiki 4 (3): 108–119. ROAS (Research Office of Asian Societies, Faculty of Human Sciences, Waseda University). 2005. Waseda Daigaku Toshokan Shozou Dai-Nippon Kaikyo Kyokai Kitaku Shiryou Mokuroku. ROAS. ―――. 2006. Photography Collection of the Greater Japan Muslim League, Ver. 1. “Constructing Database for Relations between Japan and Islam” Project, supported by JSPS, ROAS. Tokyo Kaikyo Dan. n.d. Nihon ni Shinni suru Kaikyouto. Tokyo Kaikyo Dan. Tokyo Kaikyo Gakkou. 1937. Tokyo Muslim School 10th Anniversary Album. Tokyo Kaikyo Gakkou. Usmanova, Larisa. 2007. The Türk-Tatar Diaspora in Northeast Asia-Transformation of Consciousness: A Historical and Sociological Account between 1898 and the 1950s. Tokyo: Rakudasha.
ABSTRACT NUMATA Sayoko Fieldwork Note on Tatar Migrants from the Far East to the USA: For Reviews of Islam Policy in Prewar and Wartime Japan
Most of the Tatar migrants who lived in the Far East before and during World War II migrated to the USA or Turkey after the war. They and their families are still living in these countries. In this paper, their lives in prewar and wartime Japan, as well as their migration processes and their current situation living in the San Francisco Bay Area (Bay Area), will be discussed. The main sources on which this paper is based come from my fieldwork in the Bay Area from April 25 to May 7, 2012. Tatars of the Volga-Ural region immigrated to Japan, Manchuria, and Korea after the 1917 Russian Revolution. More than 1000 of them settled in prewar Japan, primarily in Tokyo, Nagoya,
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中東学会28-2.indb 143 2013/02/14 13:15:53 Kobe, or Kumamoto. The Tatar community in Tokyo formed under the initiative of Kurbangali from the 1920s to 1933. This community split into two groups after Ishaki arrived on the scene in 1933. Although most of Tatar migrants gathered under the Idil-Ural Turk Tatar Cultural Association led by Ishaki, there was a struggle among the migrants in Tokyo. Thereafter, from 1938 to 1945, change in the Tatar community was dependent on the political situation in Japan. The Japanese Islam Policy at the time was to unify the Tatar community and put it to use for Japanese propaganda. After Ishaki and Kurbangali left Japan in the late 1930s, Abdurresid Ibrahim was chosen as the Tatar community leader. The number of Tatar migrants in Japan began to decline in the post-World War II era. Many of them moved to Turkey, the USA, and so on after being granted Turkish citizenship in 1953. The migration to the USA after the World War II can be divided into two groups. The first is those who directly migrated from Japan, Manchuria, and Korea to the USA, and the second is those who passed through Turkey on their way to the USA. In either case, most of the Tatar migrants immigrated to the USA from the Far East in the 1950s and 1960s. The American Turko Tatar Association (ATTA) was established in 1960 in the Bay Area. As of May 2012, the number of Tatar migrants from the Far East and their families, including partners of non-Tatar, who are ATTA members living in the Bay Area numbers 187. The ATTA bought and is managing four Muslim graveyards at Cypress Lawn Memorial Park in Colma, California, to serve the needs of its community. In total, three generations of Tatar migrants are living in the Bay Area. The first generation, who initially immigrated to the Far East because of the Russian Revolution, are all now deceased. Therefore, the oldest of these generations consists of people ranging in age from 60 years old into their 80s; this is, in fact, the second generation that emigrated from the Far East. Their children, who are from the third generation, range in age from 30 years old into their 50s. There is also now a fourth generation, who are the children of the third. The language acquisition level of the third generation is not high when compared to that of the second generation. A decline of interest in being identified as “Tatar” and a low rate of participation in ATTA meetings can therefore be found among this third generation. Future research issues are to: (1) conduct further interviews with those in the second generation of Tatar migrants, and (2) collect additional materials related to Tatar migrants.
Ph.D. candidate, Graduate School of Human Sciences, Waseda University, Visiting Researcher, Asian Studies Center, Boğaziçi University 早稲田大学大学院人間科学研究科博士後期課程、ボアジチ大学アジア学研究センター客員研究員
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