Terasawa, Kuniko (1896–1991)

Kuniko Terasawa was born in Iida City, Naganoken, in Japan. She was the daughter of Kintaro and Yoshi Muramatsu. She married Uneo Terasawa in 1921 and they had two daughters, Kazuko and Haruko. She was the leader behind a newspaper, The Utah Nippo, that supplied information to first-generation Japanese who had migrated to the United States before World War II. The newspaper ran for 52 years and used metal type, which printed Japanese symbols.

Her death in 1991 marked the end of what is called in Japanese the Issei, meaning first-generation Japanese Americans. This ironically was the demographic that her writings were meant to reach out to. Her work in her advanced years earned her awards and recognition from her state of Utah and from the ...