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{ "url_title": "Scene (magazine)", "title_sort": "scenemagazine", "links": { "json": "http://encyclopedia.densho.org/api/0.1/articles/Scene%20(magazine)/?format=api", "html": "http://encyclopedia.densho.org/Scene%20(magazine)?format=api" }, "modified": "2020-06-12T16:28:58", "title": "Scene (magazine)", "body": "<div class=\"mw-parser-output\">\n <div id=\"databox-Magazines\" style=\"display:none;\">\n <p>\n Name:;\nYearFounded:1949;\nFirstDate:April 1949;\nFinalDate:;\nFinalIssue:August 1955;\nFrequency:monthly;\nEditor:Robert Y. Ozaki (editor-in-chief to Oct. 1949; associate editor subsequently), Togo Tanaka (editor-in-chief from Nov. 1949), Shigemi Mazawa (editor, managing editor, general manager (from May '53)), Richard Takeuchi (editor, associate editor (from May '53)), Shigeru Nagata (Editor of the Japanese Section), George Morimitsu (Contributing Editor), Jobo Nakamura (Contributing Editor), Dyke Miyagawa (Contributing Editor/Editor), Joe Oyama (Contributing Editor),\n <a class=\"encyc notrg\" href=\"/Eddie_Shimano/\" title=\"Eddie Shimano\">\n Eddie Shimano\n </a>\n (Contributing Editor), Peter Ohtaki (Contributing Editor), Henry Tani (Contributing Editor), Larry Tajiri (Contributing Editor), Bill Hosokawa (Contributing Editor), Min Yasui (Contributing Editor), Steven Sakai (Contributing Editor), Eiji Tanabe (Contributing Editor), Mike Iwatsubo (Contributing Editor), Eugene Okada (Contributing Editor), Eileen O'Brien (Contributing Editor), Welly Shibata (Contributing Editor), George Nakamoto Mitsushio (Contributing Editor); Ayako Kumamoto (Feminine Scene Editor); Kay Tateishi (Contributing Editor); Hugo Yamamoto (Contributing Editor); Toyo Takata (Contributing Editor); Yosh Tashiro (Contributing Editor); I. Herb Gordon (Contributing Editor); Masao Ekimoto (Contributing Editor); Henry Mori (Contributing Editor); Lawrence Nakatsuka (Contributing Editor); George Ishihara (Contributing Editor); Carl Kondo (Contributing Editor); Seiko Ogai (Contributing Editor); Tooru Kanazawa (Contributing Editor); Masamori Kojima (Contributing Editor); Robert Kubicek (Editorial Director); Jack Nakamoto (Contributing Editor); George Ishibashi (Contributing Editor); Louise Suski (Associate Editor (from July '53)); Josephine Sakurai (Contributing Editor); Ayako Nakamura (Contributing Editor); Suimei Azumi (Contributing Editor);\nFormerEditors:;\nStaffWriters:;\nPhotographers:Wayne Miller, Ken Mazawa, Louie Sato, Kiyo Okawa, Mary Matsumura, Carl Iwasaki, T. K. Shindo, Jack Iwata, Tom Okada, Hideo Niiyama, N. Ohara, Toge Fujihara, John Nakamura, Fred Yamaguchi; R.B. Laing; Dr. Henry Takahashi; George Ochikubo; Vince Tajiri; Elmer Ogawa; Benny Katada; R. Wenkam; Paul Iida;\nFounder:;\nPublisher:James Nishimura;\nCompany:;\nCirculation:;\nCountry:;\nLanguage:;\nISSN:;\nWorldCatLink:;\n </p>\n </div>\n <div class=\"floatright\">\n </div>\n <p>\n Japanese American pictorial monthly magazine that ran from 1949 to 1955. Largely produced by and for\n <a class=\"encyc notrg\" href=\"/Nisei/\" title=\"Nisei\">\n Nisei\n </a>\n trying to enter mainstream American life in the first decade after the war,\n <i>\n Scene\n </i>\n magazine highlighted \"successful\" Japanese Americans as well as Japanese culture. In later years, the magazine sought both pan-\n <a class=\"encyc notrg\" href=\"/Nikkei/\" title=\"Nikkei\">\n Nikkei\n </a>\n (particularly Japanese Brazilian) and pan-Asian American readerships.\n </p>\n <p>\n James T. Nishimura was the founder and original publisher of\n <i>\n Scene\n </i>\n . A older Nisei whom\n <a class=\"encyc notrg\" href=\"/Larry_Tajiri/\" title=\"Larry Tajiri\">\n Larry Tajiri\n </a>\n described as \"a former San Francisco rice broker\" before the war, Nishimura and two partners started General Mailing Company in 1944, a successful mailing and packaging business, in Chicago after the war. Along with\n <a class=\"encyc notrg\" href=\"/Togo_Tanaka/\" title=\"Togo Tanaka\">\n Togo Tanaka\n </a>\n , the prewar English section editor of the\n <i>\n <a class=\"encyc notrg\" href=\"/Rafu_Shimpo_(newspaper)/\" title=\"Rafu Shimpo (newspaper)\">\n Rafu Shimpo\n </a>\n </i>\n , Nishimura and partners also started Chicago Publishing Company, an early client of which was a young Hugh Hefner.\n <sup class=\"reference\" id=\"cite_ref-ftnt_ref1_1-0\">\n <a class=\"\" href=\"#cite_note-ftnt_ref1-1\">\n [1]\n </a>\n </sup>\n </p>\n <p>\n The first issue of\n <i>\n Scene\n </i>\n bore a May 1949 cover date. In \"A Statement of Policy\" that appeared in the July 1952 issue, the editors wrote that \"it was planned as a publication that would help to heal the wounds of war—both here at home and across the Pacific\" and listed three aims for the magazine:\n </p>\n <blockquote>\n <p>\n (1) To produce a unique picture-and-word record of life in America as seen and felt and experienced by Japanese Americans; (2) to interpret this record to fellow Americans, and to the peoples of Canada and Japan as the Japanese American's reaffirmation of faith in American democracy; and (3) to help rebuild friendliness and understanding among all people.\n </p>\n </blockquote>\n <p>\n In a 1997 oral history, Tanaka told James Gatewood, \"We were bound by a common hope that something like this could create better understanding between people in Japan and the United States.\"\n <sup class=\"reference\" id=\"cite_ref-ftnt_ref2_2-0\">\n <a class=\"\" href=\"#cite_note-ftnt_ref2-2\">\n [2]\n </a>\n </sup>\n </p>\n <p>\n <i>\n Scene\n </i>\n was clearly modeled on mainstream photo magazines such as\n <i>\n LIFE\n </i>\n and\n <i>\n Look\n </i>\n as well as ethnic magazines such as\n <i>\n Ebony\n </i>\n , which was founded in 1945, and\n <i>\n <a class=\"encyc notrg\" href=\"/Nisei_Vue_(magazine)/\" title=\"Nisei Vue (magazine)\">\n Nisei Vue\n </a>\n </i>\n which first appeared in the spring of 1948. The editor-in-chief for the first issues was Robert Y. Ozaki, though Tanaka would assume that post with the November 1949 issue and would remain there until the sale of the magazine and its move to Los Angeles in the spring of 1954. Many of the best known Nisei journalists and photographers from all over the country contributed to the magazine, including\n <a class=\"encyc notrg\" href=\"/Bill_Hosokawa/\" title=\"Bill Hosokawa\">\n Bill Hosokawa\n </a>\n ,\n <a class=\"encyc notrg\" href=\"/Louise_Suski/\" title=\"Louise Suski\">\n Louise Suski\n </a>\n , Larry Tajiri,\n <a class=\"encyc notrg\" href=\"/Hikaru_Iwasaki/\" title=\"Hikaru Iwasaki\">\n Carl Iwasaki\n </a>\n , and\n <a class=\"encyc notrg\" href=\"/Jack_Iwata/\" title=\"Jack Iwata\">\n Jack Iwata\n </a>\n . The subscription rate was set as $2 annually, rising to $3 in April 1951.\n </p>\n <p>\n The early issues of the magazine set the general tone for its entire run. The core ingredients included a mixture of articles about notable Japanese Americans and Japanese American life along with articles about Japan and Japanese culture. Most issues had covers that featured attractive Nikkei young women. Other elements of the magazine changed over time, seemingly in an attempt to draw different audiences. Early issues included substantial Japanese language sections—up to a third of the total content—until the sudden death of Japanese language editor Shigeru Nagata in early 1953. Subsequent issues had little or no Japanese language content. Beginning with the May 1952 issue,\n <i>\n Scene\n </i>\n began covering Nikkei in Brazil, with text in Portuguese, and the October 1952 issue featured Sachiko Tomikawa of Sao Paolo, \"SCENE's first Portuguese-speaking cover girl.\" But the Portuguese section and South American bureau would be short lived. The July 1952 issue announced that\n <i>\n Scene\n </i>\n would henceforth strive \"to become America's outstanding magazine of Asia,\" though little evidence of this new orientation would appear other than the occasional feature on Chinese culture or profile of a Chinese or Korean American. Later issues added recipes and children's folktales in search of yet other audiences. Though most of its content could be described as lightweight, it did sometimes cover politics and current affairs and did for a time include an editorial page. Perhaps most notably, it expressed opposition to the\n <a class=\"encyc notrg\" href=\"/Immigration_Act_of_1952/\" title=\"Immigration Act of 1952\">\n McCarran-Walter bill\n </a>\n in 1952, one of the few mainstream Japanese American publications to do so.\n <sup class=\"reference\" id=\"cite_ref-ftnt_ref3_3-0\">\n <a class=\"\" href=\"#cite_note-ftnt_ref3-3\">\n [3]\n </a>\n </sup>\n </p>\n <p>\n The search for new audiences no doubt reflected anxieties about circulation and profits. While early issues of\n <i>\n Scene\n </i>\n claimed that 25,000 copies a month were being sent out, later issues pegged the circulation as 16,000 (July 1951) and 18,500 (July 1953). Contemporaneous assessments by Hosokawa and Tajiri in the\n <i>\n <a class=\"encyc notrg\" href=\"/Pacific_Citizen_(newspaper)/\" title=\"Pacific Citizen (newspaper)\">\n Pacific Citizen\n </a>\n </i>\n note that these figures were not enough to make it profitable and that it lost substantial amounts of money, Tajiri claiming that it lost a quarter of a million dollars in its first four years. According to Tanaka, for \"most of us it was a labor of love and financing. We couldn't really afford to do it.\"\n <sup class=\"reference\" id=\"cite_ref-ftnt_ref4_4-0\">\n <a class=\"\" href=\"#cite_note-ftnt_ref4-4\">\n [4]\n </a>\n </sup>\n </p>\n <p>\n In March of 1953, Nishimura resigned as president of Chicago Publishing Company for health reasons, and Tanaka took on that position, while remaining as editor-in-chief. A year later, Chicago Publishing sold the magazine to Los Angeles based Jaffe Publications, and the entire operation moved west, with no March, April or May 1954 issues published. Masamori Kojima took over as publisher and editor (uncredited for the latter) starting from the June 1954 issue.\n <sup class=\"reference\" id=\"cite_ref-5\">\n <a class=\"\" href=\"#cite_note-5\">\n [5]\n </a>\n </sup>\n <i>\n Scene\n </i>\n limped through a final year, before announcing that it would be consolidated with\n <i>\n Fortnight,\n </i>\n another Los Angeles based magazine with the September 1955 issue, marking the end of the line after seventy-three issues.\n <sup class=\"reference\" id=\"cite_ref-ftnt_ref5_6-0\">\n <a class=\"\" href=\"#cite_note-ftnt_ref5-6\">\n [6]\n </a>\n </sup>\n </p>\n <p>\n <i>\n Scene\n </i>\n is little remembered today and has been the object of little scholarship, no doubt due to the difficulty in accessing it, since no library or archive has a full run. In collaboration with the\n <a class=\"encyc notrg\" href=\"/Japanese_American_National_Museum/\" title=\"Japanese American National Museum\">\n Japanese American National Museum\n </a>\n , Densho has digitized sixty-seven issues.\n </p>\n <div id=\"authorByline\">\n <b>\n Authored by\n <a class=\"encyc notrg\" href=\"/Brian_Niiya/\" title=\"Brian Niiya\">\n Brian Niiya\n </a>\n , Densho\n </b>\n </div>\n <div id=\"citationAuthor\" style=\"display:none;\">\n Niiya, Brian\n </div>\n <div class=\"section\" id=\"For_More_Information\">\n <h2>\n <span class=\"mw-headline\" id=\"For_More_Information\">\n For More Information\n </span>\n </h2>\n <div class=\"section_content\">\n <p>\n Harden, Jacalyn D.\n <i>\n Double Cross: Japanese Americans in Black and White Chicago\n </i>\n . Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2003.\n </p>\n <p>\n Lim, Shirley Jennifer.\n <a class=\"external text offsite\" href=\"https://archive.org/details/feelingofbelongi00lims\" rel=\"nofollow\">\n <i>\n Feeling of Belonging: Asian American Women's Popular Culture, 1930–1960\n </i>\n </a>\n . New York: New York University Press, 2005.\n </p>\n <p>\n Murata, Alice K.\n <i>\n Japanese Americans in Chicago\n </i>\n . Chicago: Arcadia, 2002.\n </p>\n <p>\n <i>\n Scene\n </i>\n magazine in the Densho Digital Repository.\n <a class=\"external free offsite\" href=\"http://ddr.densho.org/ddr/densho/266/\" rel=\"nofollow\">\n http://ddr.densho.org/ddr/densho/266/\n </a>\n .\n </p>\n <p>\n Tajiri, Larry. \"Importance of 'Scene' Magazine.'\"\n <i>\n Pacific Citizen\n </i>\n , September 23, 1955, 8.\n <a class=\"external free offsite\" href=\"http://ddr.densho.org/ddr-pc-27-38/\" rel=\"nofollow\">\n http://ddr.densho.org/ddr-pc-27-38/\n </a>\n .\n </p>\n <p>\n Togo Tanaka oral history, interviewed by James Gatewood, Dec. 13, 1997, in\n <i>\n REgenerations Oral History Project: Rebuilding Japanese American Families, Communities, and Civil Rights in the Resettlement Era: Los Angeles Region, Volume II\n </i>\n . Edited by Japanese American National Museum, 2000.\n <a class=\"external free offsite\" href=\"http://content.cdlib.org/view?docId=ft358003z1&brand=calisphere&doc.view=entire_text\" rel=\"nofollow\">\n http://content.cdlib.org/view?docId=ft358003z1&brand=calisphere&doc.view=entire_text\n </a>\n .\n </p>\n </div>\n </div>\n <div class=\"section\" id=\"Footnotes\">\n <h2>\n <span class=\"mw-headline\" id=\"Footnotes\">\n Footnotes\n </span>\n </h2>\n <div class=\"section_content\">\n <div class=\"reflist\" style=\"list-style-type: decimal;\">\n <div class=\"mw-references-wrap\">\n <ol class=\"references\">\n <li id=\"cite_note-ftnt_ref1-1\">\n <span class=\"mw-cite-backlink\">\n <a class=\"\" href=\"#cite_ref-ftnt_ref1_1-0\">\n ↑\n </a>\n </span>\n <span class=\"reference-text\">\n Larry Tajiri, \"Importance of 'Scene' Magazine,\"\n <i>\n Pacific Citizen\n </i>\n , September 23, 1955, p. 8, accessed on Jan. 12, 2018 at\n <a class=\"external free offsite\" href=\"http://ddr.densho.org/ddr-pc-27-38/\" rel=\"nofollow\">\n http://ddr.densho.org/ddr-pc-27-38/\n </a>\n ; Alice K. Murata,\n <i>\n Japanese Americans in Chicago\n </i>\n (Chicago: Arcadia, 2002), 80; \u2028Togo Tanaka oral history, interviewed by James Gatewood, Dec. 13, 1997, in\n <i>\n REgenerations Oral History Project: Rebuilding Japanese American Families, Communities, and Civil Rights in the Resettlement Era: Los Angeles Region, Volume II\n </i>\n (Edited by Japanese American National Museum, 2000), p. 441, accessed on November 21, 2013 at\n <a class=\"external free offsite\" href=\"http://content.cdlib.org/view?docId=ft358003z1&brand=calisphere&doc.view=entire_text\" rel=\"nofollow\">\n http://content.cdlib.org/view?docId=ft358003z1&brand=calisphere&doc.view=entire_text\n </a>\n .\n </span>\n </li>\n <li id=\"cite_note-ftnt_ref2-2\">\n <span class=\"mw-cite-backlink\">\n <a class=\"\" href=\"#cite_ref-ftnt_ref2_2-0\">\n ↑\n </a>\n </span>\n <span class=\"reference-text\">\n \"A Statement of Policy,\"\n <i>\n Scene\n </i>\n , July 1952, p. 7; Togo Tanaka oral history, p. 445.\n </span>\n </li>\n <li id=\"cite_note-ftnt_ref3-3\">\n <span class=\"mw-cite-backlink\">\n <a class=\"\" href=\"#cite_ref-ftnt_ref3_3-0\">\n ↑\n </a>\n </span>\n <span class=\"reference-text\">\n \"A Statement of Policy\"; \"What Price Victory?,\"\n <i>\n Scene\n </i>\n , August 1952, 14. In the latter editorial, the opposition to McCarran-Walter came after its passage.\n </span>\n </li>\n <li id=\"cite_note-ftnt_ref4-4\">\n <span class=\"mw-cite-backlink\">\n <a class=\"\" href=\"#cite_ref-ftnt_ref4_4-0\">\n ↑\n </a>\n </span>\n <span class=\"reference-text\">\n <i>\n Scene\n </i>\n , September 1949, 9;\n <i>\n Scene\n </i>\n , July 1951, p. 5;\n <i>\n Scene\n </i>\n , July 1953, 3; Bill Hosokawa, \"Scene: A Good Gamble,\"\n <i>\n Pacific Citizen\n </i>\n , October 23, 1953, 8, accessed on Jan. 12, 2018 at\n <a class=\"external free offsite\" href=\"http://ddr.densho.org/ddr-pc-25-43/\" rel=\"nofollow\">\n http://ddr.densho.org/ddr-pc-25-43/\n </a>\n ; Tajiri, \"Importance of 'Scene' Magazine\"; Togo Tanaka oral history, 445.\n </span>\n </li>\n <li id=\"cite_note-5\">\n <span class=\"mw-cite-backlink\">\n <a class=\"\" href=\"#cite_ref-5\">\n ↑\n </a>\n </span>\n <span class=\"reference-text\">\n Kojima (1922–88) was a journalist, labor organizer, and political activist who had been the editor of the English section of the\n <i>\n Chicago Shimpo\n </i>\n and of the post-war Los Angeles Japanese American newspaper\n <i>\n Crossroads\n </i>\n . He became well known as an aide to Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley in the 1970s and 1980s.\n </span>\n </li>\n <li id=\"cite_note-ftnt_ref5-6\">\n <span class=\"mw-cite-backlink\">\n <a class=\"\" href=\"#cite_ref-ftnt_ref5_6-0\">\n ↑\n </a>\n </span>\n <span class=\"reference-text\">\n Tajiri, \"Importance of 'Scene' Magazine.\"\n </span>\n </li>\n </ol>\n </div>\n </div>\n <!-- \nNewPP limit report\nCached time: 20230521153633\nCache expiry: 86400\nDynamic content: false\nComplications: []\nCPU time usage: 0.018 seconds\nReal time usage: 0.024 seconds\nPreprocessor visited node count: 188/1000000\nPost‐expand include size: 2877/2097152 bytes\nTemplate argument size: 2146/2097152 bytes\nHighest expansion depth: 5/40\nExpensive parser function count: 0/100\nUnstrip recursion depth: 0/20\nUnstrip post‐expand size: 3502/5000000 bytes\nExtLoops count: 0\n-->\n <!--\nTransclusion expansion time report (%,ms,calls,template)\n100.00% 16.004 1 -total\n 19.66% 3.147 1 Template:Reflist\n 9.40% 1.504 1 Template:Databox-Magazines\n 8.87% 1.419 1 Template:AuthorByline\n 8.31% 1.329 1 Template:Published\n-->\n <!-- Saved in parser cache with key encycmw:pcache:idhash:2215-0!canonical and timestamp 20230521153633 and revision id 30019\n -->\n </div>\n </div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"toplink\">\n <a href=\"#top\">\n <i class=\"icon-chevron-up\">\n </i>\n Top\n </a>\n</div>", "categories": [ "http://encyclopedia.densho.org/api/0.1/categories/Newspapers/?format=api" ], "sources": [ "http://encyclopedia.densho.org/api/0.1/sources/en-ddr-densho-266-9-1/?format=api" ], "coordinates": {}, "authors": [ "http://encyclopedia.densho.org/api/0.1/authors/Brian%20Niiya/?format=api" ], "ddr_topic_terms": [ "https://ddr.densho.org/api/0.2/facet/topics/topics-26/objects/" ], "prev_page": "http://encyclopedia.densho.org/api/0.1/articles/Sayonara%20Slam%20(book)/?format=api", "next_page": "http://encyclopedia.densho.org/api/0.1/articles/Seabrook%20Farms/?format=api" }