Yuri Kochiyama, née Mary Yuriko Nakahara, was an iconic activist. Revered as an ancestor by many communities, her endeavors are associated with Asian American Studies, ethnic studies, and movements for Black Liberation and in support of political prisoners. During a lifetime of compassionate community service, and in partnership with her husband Bill Kochiyama (1921-1993), she exemplified instincts and conduct that resonate across a vast network of collaborators and have contributed to public sector folklore praxis that centers equity and justice.

The daughter of Japanese immigrants, Kochiyama was born in 1921 and grew up in San Pedro, California. She lived most of her adult life in New York, where she and her husband raised six children in their Harlem apartment. Among the formative events that shaped her political consciousness were: 1) the US government’s World War II forced removal and incarceration of West Coast Japanese Americans, which precipitated her father’s death and her family’s imprisonment in Arkansas; 2) her 1958 introduction to one of the Little Rock Nine, after which she closely followed civil rights protests in the South; and 3) her association with Malcolm X and the Organization for Afro-American Unity. 

In New York, the Kochiyamas held open houses to welcome returning Asian American GIs and host visiting activists such as the Freedom Riders and Japanese atomic bomb survivors. They joined their Harlem neighbors to call for safe streets and equitable education. Yuri Kochiyama also tutored English-language learners; she demonstrated against employment discrimination; and she corresponded with political prisoners to ensure that they were not forgotten.

Kochiyama modeled a committed community practice, allyship, and reciprocity. She was collaborative, attentive, and a connector of dots. She knew that powerful knowledge exists outside of formal institutions. “Harlem was a university without walls,” she said. She expressed gratitude and shared attribution generously. She was dedicated to coalition building—finding common cause across different struggles, from Puerto Rican independence to Black Liberation, Japanese American Redress and Reparations to anti-imperialism. And for Kochiyama, no interaction was a one-off project, but rather the beginning of a sustained relationship. 

The people she mentored describe her apartment as a “community center,” a place where they were introduced to new ideas and people, where large gatherings might spill into the hallway. They say she was a hub of pre-internet social networking, the force that kept people in touch: a contributor to Movement newspapers; a conduit of information; a dispatcher of newsletters, flyers, article clippings, petitions. Kochiyama was also affiliated with academic institutions via residencies and the college-speaking circuit. Through these, she reached young generations of activist scholars, inspiring in them practices and principles that they have adapted across many disciplines in their efforts to uplift diverse experiences.

Among her publications:

Passing It On—A Memoir, edited by Marjorie Lee, Akemi Kochiyaa-Sardinha, and Audee Kochiyama-Holman.  (2004).

Discover Your Mission: Selected Speeches & Writings of Yuri Kochiyama. (1998).

S. Kim