Show Notes
A Japanese artist builds a life between two worlds in California, only for an executive order to take everything. What would you do with the hours that remained?
The Bullet That Closed a Life Between Two Worlds
This episode explores the life of Chiura Obata, a Japanese artist who immigrated to the United States and built a career as an instructor and co-founder of art societies. It delves into his experiences leading up to the attack on Pearl Harbor and the subsequent challenges he faced.
Person: Chiura Obata Born: November 18, 1885 Birthplace: Okayama, Japan Location: San Francisco, California Event: Pearl Harbor Attack
- Chiura Obata was drawing before he could write sentences, beginning formal training in Sumi-e around 1892. - At 14, he ran away from military school to pursue art, becoming an apprentice and winning a prize as a teenager. - In 1903, at 17, he immigrated to Seattle with plans to study American art and then go to Paris. - He co-founded the Fuji Club, the first Japanese American baseball team, and sketched the aftermath of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. - After the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, a bullet was shot through the window of his art supply shop on Telegraph Avenue.
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