was an ''

issei is a Japanese-language term used by ethnic Japanese in countries in North America and South America to specify the Japanese people who were the first generation to immigrate there. are born in Japan; their children born in the new country are ...

socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...

, printer, and newspaper publisher.Before Internment: Essays in Prewar Japanese American History By Yuji Ichioka Page 300

Biography

Oka was born in

Kōchi Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Shikoku. Kōchi Prefecture has a population of 757,914 (1 December 2011) and has a geographic area of 7,103 km2 (2,742 sq mi). Kōchi Prefecture borders Ehime Prefecture to the northwest and ...

, the former feudal domain of Tosa. He was employed at the Yorozu choho (Complete Morning Report), where he became friends with anarchist Kotoku Shusui,

Sakai Toshihiko was a Japanese socialist, writer, and historian. He is also known by the pen name . He is also known for his translation with Shūsui Kōtoku. Biography Sakai was born as the third son to a samurai class family in what is now Miyako, Fukuoka. ...

, and

Kinoshita Naoe was a Japanese Christian socialist activist and author. Biography Kinoshita was a native of Matsumoto, Nagano. After graduating from the predecessor of Waseda University, he returned to Nagano to work as a journalist and lawyer. He later conver ...

. In 1902, Oka Shigeki immigrated to America, where he became head of the San Francisco branch of the

Heimin-sha (also spelled ''Heimin Shimbun'') was a socialist and anti-war daily newspaper established in Japan in November 1903, as the newspaper of the Heimin-sha group. It was founded by Kōtoku Shūsui and Sakai Toshihiko, as a pacifist response to th ...

(Society of Commoners). He helped Kotoku Shusui make contact with American socialists, and anarchists during his stay in America. Before Kotoku returned to Japan, Oka gave advice to Kotoku on how to start a revolution in Japan. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, following the signing of

Executive Order 9066 Executive Order 9066 was a United States presidential executive order signed and issued during World War II by United States president Franklin D. Roosevelt on February 19, 1942. This order authorized the secretary of war to prescribe certain ...

, Oka was interned at Heart Mountain Internment Camp. In 1943, he was recruited by the

British Armed Forces The British Armed Forces, also known as His Majesty's Armed Forces, are the military forces responsible for the defence of the United Kingdom, its Overseas Territories and the Crown Dependencies. They also promote the UK's wider interests, s ...

to print propaganda materials, such as the ''Gunjin Shimbun'' 'Soldier News'' in

Kolkata, India Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, commer ...

.Nisei linguists: Japanese Americans in the Military Intelligence Service During World War II By James C. McNaughton page 289 Naoki Oka is Shigeki Oka's brother.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oka, Shigeki Japanese socialists Japanese rebels American male journalists American journalists of Asian descent American writers of Japanese descent British Army personnel of World War II Japanese emigrants to the United States Japanese-American internees 1878 births 1959 deaths People from Kōchi Prefecture

Biography

See also

References