Yoshiteru Murakami

“We may be different, but we are all people,” Yoshiteru Murakami once said. Known as “Yosh” to his family and friends, Murakami was an esteemed educator and a beloved member of the Northfield community. He was also a St. Olaf alumnus, class of 1951, making history as the first person of color in the St Olaf Choir. Murakami was passionate about music, setting high standards for himself and his students. “If you think that your results are perfect,” his rehearsal room sign read, “maybe your standards are imperfect.”

Farewell to Yosh Murakami (Lutheran Standards, Feb 4, 1975).

Born in Long Beach, California, Murakami “was a normal boy, a normal American… until December 7, 1941,” as he recalled in a public speech.  “All of a sudden I was dirty. All of a sudden I was sinister. All of a sudden I couldn’t be trusted.” Murakami and his family, along with thousands of other American citizens of Japanese ancestry, were uprooted and  “relocated” to internment camps at the dawn of the Pacific War. The Murakami family ended up in Manzaner. “We were assigned numbers, herded into a troop train and shipped to… the Mojave Desert. For two years, tarpaper barracks with loosely constructed floors were the only home and straw-filled bags covered with blankets the only beds for about 10,000 Japanese-Americans crowded into one square mile… In a place where we say there is freedom and justice for all… We wondered why we were behind barb wire but not the Germans or Italians.”

Murakami performing with the Special Service Band (1947). Photo courtesy of St Olaf College Archive.

It was in the internment camp that Murakami’s talent for music was discovered. St. Olaf was an ideal place to pursue his education. Unfortunately, many colleges and universities at the time denied admissions to Japanese American students, including the University of Minnesota. It was a hard fought battle on all fronts. Acting President J. Jorgen Thompson of St. Olaf decreed in 1942 that the college would give Nisei, second-generation Japanese Americans, the same opportunities as all other students, according to Jeff Sauve from St. Olaf Archives. After countless paperwork and FBI investigations, Murakami became one of ten Japanese American students enrolled in St Olaf between 1943 and 1944, representing seven of the ten internment camps nationwide. Of the ten students, the majority of them stayed for a semester or two; only Murakami and one other, Helen Kinoshita, actually graduated.

After his second year in college, Murakami was called to serve in Japan as an interpreter for the US military. It was during this period that he met his future wife, Mikiko Anzai. He returned to St Olaf in 1948, completed his degree in music and got married in 1951, then went on to become an outstanding music educator in the Northfield school system and Concordia College at Moorhead among many other institutions for the decades to come. His four children—Paul, Stephen, Jane, and Jonathan—were all born in Northfield.

“In spite of all the shame, this is the best country I know,” Murakami remarked in a public talk. “This is where I want to live, this is where I want to die, this is where I want to raise my children. And, if this country is attacked, I will serve to defend it.”

Murakami serving in the US military in Japan, in front of the Eda residence (1946). Photo courtesy of Jane Murakami.

Murakami passed away at the age of 48, on January 13, 1975, due to Addison’s disease. Yet the memories of him live on “in the hearts of the many students whose lives he touched and whose aspirations he strengthened,” noted by Paul Stoughton, the director of music from 1935-73 at Northfield High School.

References:

Carol Fyrand, “Japanese American Tells of Camps.” (St Olaf Alumni Files Collection, St Olaf Archive, n/d).

Susan Hvistendahl, “Yosh Murakami: Beloved Northfield Vocal Music Teacher.” (Northfield Entertainment Guide, June 2012, pp.42-45).

Jeff Sauve, “Tidbits from the Archives: Nisei Oles.” (St. Olaf College Archives, published online May 18, 2006).