Two scarce 1945 original pamphlets encouraging Japanese Nisei, recently released from West Coast Internment Camps, to relocate to Philadelphia:

WANTED, A Friendly Community For Family Resettlement, Found The City For Family Relocation, Philadelphia / Philadelphia .. Why? We The Relocatees Speak To You In Our Own Words Because We Are Sincerely Interested In You ... Published by the Philadelphia District Office of the War Relocation Authority, Philadelphia, PA. 1945 first edition. Illustrated by Masao Yabuki. Illustrated wraps, 10.5" x 8", 13 numbered pages, mimeographed sheets, staple bound. Contributions from Japanese Internees relating their experiences and from which Internment Camp they were imprisoned and released. VERY GOOD Condition: some age toning and light wear to the covers, spine fold split at the ends, staples are oxidized and no longer holding inner pages, internally light signs of age and use, otherwise bright, clean and unmarked. Scarce, none found in OCLC collections worldwide.

Philadelphia 1945 Young Penn Meets Nisei.Plant'g Friendship Hiroshi Uyehara, Editor. Published under the auspices of the Philadelphia Nisei Council and the International Institute, Philadelphia, PA. 1945 first edition. Cover illustration by Masao Yabuki. Illustrated wraps, 8.5" x 5.5", 24 pages including covers, mimeographed sheets, staple bound, map frontispiece, b&w drawings throughout, last 4 pages in Japanese. From the introduction: "If Philadelphia be your choice, this booklet that we have compiled out of our actual experiences and up-to-date facts may be of help in introducing you to the 'ins and outs' of this city that we have come to love and has become home to us." VERY GOOD Condition: staples oxidized and light signs of age otherwise thighs, bright, clean and unmarked. Scarce, only one copy found in OCLC collections worldwide at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

The Philadelphia Nisei Council was a grassroots organization established in May 1945 to support and encourage Japanese Americans to resettle in the Philadelphia area after leaving West Coast Internment Camps. The internees homes and property were seized by the US government and the only possessions they had on release were carried in suitcases. They had to make new lives for themselves and their families and many did not want to go back to where they were before the war. The Council acted as a vital relocation social network, publishing and distributing informational pamphlets offering advice on finding employment, local housing, hostels, schools, food, fun and general help navigating the post war Philadelphia community. Philadelphia earned its moniker the "City of Brotherly Love" at key moments in national history, the establishment of a community for recently imprisoned Japanese Americans during World War II was one such moment. After the Pearl Harbor attacks, President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered the removal of 120,000 Japanese Americans from their homes on the West Coast to prison camps inland. This violated Japanese Americans' right to due process, stripped many families of wealth, and caused generational hardship. After the east coast was opened to resettlement in January 1944, the Philadelphia War Relocation program helped find new homes and employment for thousands of Japanese American evacuees who had nothing to return home to on the West Coast.