Nisei Vue (magazine)

Short lived pictorial magazine published in Chicago by and for a Nisei audience. Modeled on such mainstream magazines as Life and Look , Nisei Vue mixed articles and photographs to highlight mostly positive aspects of Nisei life. Nisei Vue was one of two very similar such magazines published in Chicago , the other being Scene , which began publication a year later.

The first issue of the quarterly magazine was dated Spring 1948. "Here is your first issue of the Nisei Vue, the first attempt by the Nisei to publish a pictorial publication devoted primarily for the interest of the Nisei," read the issue's introduction. Published by Art Hayashi, with Shigemi Mazawa serving as editor-in-chief, the 34-page issue featured unsigned articles on Sansei orphans, resettlement, and glowing profiles of Mike Masaoka and Rev. Jitsuo Morikawa, along with other short profiles, a story on a Nisei girls club in Chicago, coverage of a beauty contest and fishing tournament, and a fashion spread. As with other issues, the cover featured a cheesecake image of a Nisei woman, in this case a Chicago art student and commercial artist Nori Kenmotsu. The cover price was 25¢ with the subscription cost set at $1. The second issue appeared in September, with publisher Hayashi noting that 10,000 copies had been printed. In what was perhaps a sign of financial difficulties, he also noted that the new subscription rate would be increased to $1.25. [1]

In February of 1949, Nisei Vue became a monthly, with the subscription rate raised to $2 per year. But by that summer, publisher Hayashi noted the difficulties inherent in the monthly schedule in announcing the return to a quarterly publication schedule. The magazine suspended publication for good in March of 1950. [2]

Authored by Brian Niiya , Densho

For More Information

Nisei Vue in Densho Digital Repository. http://ddr.densho.org/ddr/densho/266/ .

Lim, Shirley Jennifer. Feeling of Belonging: Asian American Women's Popular Culture, 1930–1960 . New York: New York University Press, 2005.

Footnotes

  1. Pacific Citizen , October 2, 1948, p. 5, accessed on Jan. 12, 2018 at http://ddr.densho.org/ddr-pc-20-39/ .
  2. Pacific Citizen , January, 8, 1949, p. 8. accessed on Jan. 12, 2018 at http://ddr.densho.org/ddr-pc-21-1/ ; Nisei Vue , Summer 1949, p. 2; Pacific Citizen , March 4, 1950, p. 5, accessed on Jan. 12, 2018 at http://ddr.densho.org/ddr-pc-22-9/ .

Last updated June 12, 2020, 4:28 p.m..