The Nikkei and the LARA Postwar Relief Efforts to Japan

A Talk by Professor Masako Iino, Tsuda College

After the Pacific War ended in 1945, a relief agency called Lara (Licensed Agencies for Relief in Asia) was formed. Between 1946 and 1952, twenty percent of the relief supplies sent to Japan by LARA were collected by Nikkei in Canada, the U.S., and South America. This talk will examine this period of rebuilding and compare the situation of Nikkei communities in these three diverse regions.

About the Speaker:
Masako Iino is past President and Professor of American History and Immigration Studies at Tsuda College in Tokyo. She has also taught at McGill University and Acadia University and was a visiting professor at UC Berkeley. She was a member of the Executive Committee of the Japanese Association for American Studies, President of the Japanese Association for Canadian Studies, and was awarded with the Governor General’s International Award for Canadian Studies in 2001.