William and Hazel Gorham: profile of naturalized Imperial Japanese subjects

Gorham in his later years

William Reagan Gorham (ウィルアム・Ｒ・ゴーハム {Wiruamu · Āru · GŌHAMU}) was one of the first American tech entrepreneurs / engineers to move to Japan permanently and work with Japanese companies on technology, primarily automobile and aviation engines and technology.

He first came to Japan to introduce airmail (at first between Tokyo and Osaka) to Japan, bringing two aircraft, three engines he constructed, and a pilot with him along with his family. He received an investment from 中央モータース㈱ {Chūō Mōtāsu ㏍} (Chūō Motors, Co.) However, demand for aircraft had cooled slightly after World War 1, and Chūō Motors dissolved, so he set up a company designing trucks with four American engineers he brought from the States to Kawasaki.

GPS system not included

He would be known for patenting a three wheeled motor vehicle — called the ゴルハム式三輪車 {Goruhamu-shiki sanrinsha} (Gorham-type 3-wheeled vehicle) — while under the employment as an engineering manager at 実用自動車㈱ {Jitsuyō Jidōsha ㏍} in Osaka, which would later become part of the modern Nissan car company that we know today. However, during the Great Depression which affected Japan around 1921, even that employer was not able to afford the salary he commanded.

Recruited away from his employer by 鮎川義介 {AIKAWA Yoshisuke}, a powerful entrepreneur and the first president of Nissan's 財閥 {zaibatsu} (financial clique), to work at 戸畑鋳物㈱ {Tobata Imono ㏍} (Tobata Castings Co.) as their chief engineer, he resigned from his current job to jump at the new opportunity. He would later travel to various places such as Hong Kong, India, Shanghai, and other countries in the South Sea. He would remain connected to 鮎川 {AIKAWA/AYUKAWA} for the next twenty eight (28) years in Japan, and Gorham would become an esteemed consultant, introducing the concept of America's "technological rationalism" to many famous Japanese technology companies which are now global brands.

A biography by 桂木洋二 {KATSURAGI Yōji}

Birth:

San Francisco, California; January 4, 1888

First visited Japan:

1901 (age 13) for three (3) months: 東京 {Tōkyō}, 横浜 {Yokohama}, 日光 {Nikkō}, 京都 {Kyōto}

Marriage:

December 4, 1911 (age 23) to Hazel H. Hoch (until death; 39 years)

Children:

• William Hoch Gorham [Jr.] ("Billy") (b. 1915 in Oakland, California; d. 2003)
• Don Cyril Gorham (b. 1918 in Oakland, California; d. 2011)

Japan Immigration:

1918 (age 30)
Residences: 大阪 {Ōsaka}，九州 {Kyūshū}，東京 {Tōkyō}
Employment:

1. 実用自動車㈱ {Jitsuyō jidōsha ㏍} (Practical Automobile Manufacturing Co.)
2. 戸畑鋳物㈱ {Tobata imono ㏍} (Tobata Castings Co.)
3. 東亜電機工業㈱ {Tōa denki kōgyō ㏍} (Toa Electric Industry Co.)
4. 日産自動車㈱ {Nissan jidōsha ㏍} (Nissan Automobile Co.)
5. 日立精機㈱ {Hitachi Seiki ㏍} (Hitachi Precision Machine Tool Co.)
6. 富士自動車㈱ {Fuji jidōsha ㏍} (Fuji Motors Co.)
7. 工業相談㈱ {Kōgyō Sōdan ㏍} (Industrial Consulting Co.)

Japan Naturalization:

May 26, 1941 (age 53)
Japanese legal name: 合波武　克人 {GŌHAMU Katsundo

Death:

東京都目黒区長者丸 {Tōkyō-to Meguro-ku Chōjamaru} — presently 品川区上大崎二丁目 {Shinagawa-ku Kami-Ōsaki 2 chōme}, October 24, 1949 (age 61)

• Christian funeral at 銀座教会 {Ginza kyōkai} (Ginza Church)
• Buddhist wake at 銀座フェニックスプラザ {Ginza Fenikkusu Puraza} (Ginza Phoenix Plaza)
• buried at 多磨霊園 {Tama reien} (Tama Cemetery)

Gorham's story is unique in that like the previously discussed Russian naturalized Imperial Japanese subject Eliana Pavlova, who brought dance and ballet to Japan, he naturalized during the era of the Constitution of the Empire of Japan aka the Meiji Constitution, and he did so as a family unit with his American wife. There had been a few women who married Japanese men and took Japanese nationality during this era under principles of jus matrimoni (nationality acquisition through marriage, which was more commonly recognized/allowed back then), but the Mr. and Mrs. Gorham are the first known American couple to change their citizenship together.

William Gorham was the son of a San Francisco based engineer, and was building gasoline & kerosene engines and vehicles before he was a teenager in a backyard toolshed that he liked to call his production factory.

His father, William Joseph Gorham, was the Far East sales representative for Goodrich Rubber Company for over 20 years, selling / exporting tires to China and Japan. He would cross the Pacific Ocean annually. During his lifetime he would cross the Pacific 76 times by ship. His father would first take him to Japan during a business trip in his teenage years.

Modern designs are diesel, but Seagram still uses motorized pumps for firefighting

Gorham Engineering ("GECO") was established in San Francisco 1911, and it soon had one hundred (100) employees. It made not only gasoline & kerosene engines, but some of its engineers also made boats. Gorham "Senior"'s 23 year old son invented and patented a gasoline engine that worked as a fire-fighting pump. The patents associated with that invention were later acquired by Seagrave Fire Engine and Pump Company, which was in Columbus, California at the time.

Eventually GECO would open an additional manufacturing plant in Oakland, California, and expand to thousands of employees. Their hit products were their kerosene engines (diesel engines were still new and patented) and were shipped all across East Asia. Even in the 21st century, some of GECO's designs can be seen in far off places in Japan, like 北海道函館市 {Hokkaidō, Hakodate-shi} (Hakodate City, Hokkaido Prefecture).

When William R. Gorham emigrated from America to Japan, he was already a successful and wealthy engineer and entrepreneur.

Changing their citizenship

World War Ⅱ was being fought in Europe, and Japan, a member of the Axis Powers along with Germany and Italy, was under an oil, iron ore, and steel embargo from the "ABCD line". About 80% of the Japanese domestic economy depended on imported oil — not just for the military, but also for commercial production.

Yes, this movie is a Michael Bay love story.

The British, Americans, and other Europeans who were residents of the Empire of Japan were concerned about war starting from late 1939 to early 1940. After Japan had joined Germany and Italy in the Tripartite Pact, the United States Embassy in Tokyo started to advise its citizens that they should leave Japan in early December of 1941.

It is perhaps for this reason that Mr. and Mrs. Gorham decided to seek citizenship. Although the Empire of Japan was not deporting foreigners at the time (they would not do so or declare their intent to do so until after Pearl Harbor and America's entry into the war), William Gorham had devoted his life and career to Japan and improving Japanese engineering. According to his biography, he wanted to ensure that this would not be disrupted.

The Family

Hazel Gorham, who attended art school, was known for her 生け花 {ikebana} (Japanese floral arrangement), Japanese garden and pottery expertise in the West. She authored many of the original English books on the subjects of Japanese ceramics and flower arrangement. Additionally, she taught English privately in her home. Two of her students were royalty: HIH Princess Mikasa (崇仁親王妃百合子 {Takahito Shinnōhi Yuriko}) and HIH Princess Fushimi Tomoko (朝融王妃知子女王 {Asa akira Ōhi Tomoko Joō}). Mrs. Gorham vowed to stay with her husband in Japan and become Japanese with him. She regularly frequented both 青山学院大学 {Aoyama Gakuin Daigaku} (Aoyama Gakuin University) and 学習院 {Gakushūin} (Peers School) until her sixties.

"The Americans are here!"

They sent both of their children to a regular Japanese school, not international schools. When the family moved from Kyūshū to Tōkyō, they attempted to enroll their children, 9 and 11 years old at the time, into 成城学園 {Seijō Gakuen}. As they were the first non-"Oriental" foreigners to attend, the school principal was initially reluctant to admit them, but after learning that the American children could not only understand and speak Japanese fluently, they could read and write it, the school admitted them as the first children from the west with William Gorham's persuasion. During the militarization ramp-up period of Imperial Japan, the U.S. citizen Don Cyril took part in compulsory military training (being exempted/excluded only from "strategic planning conferences") from the Japanese perspective, with him planting red flags on the top of small sand dunes indicating where the "enemy" was!

Their oldest son, William "Billy" Gorham, did not seek citizenship, and left Japan after middle/intermediate school to attend high school in America. He would later graduate from Caltech. After his military deferment ran out in 1943, he became a Naval Agent and interrogated Japanese POWs and camp administration in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. After the end of the war he was sent to Saipan to help with the surrender, then back to Tokyo to study the effects of U.S. bombing. Later in his career he'd end up working for Otis Elevator in the International Division, though he turned down two relocation opportunities to Japan because his immediate family couldn't come with him.

Don Cyril Gorham

Their second son, Don Cyril Gorham, also did not seek citizenship (he was an adult at the time and thus did not naturalize together with his family). He would graduate from Tokyo Imperial University (東京帝国大学 {Tōkyō Teikoku Daigaku}) — now the University of Tokyo (東京大学 {Tōkyō Daigaku}) — with the Japanese equivalent of a B.A. (文学士 {bungaku-shi}) He wanted to stay on in Japan and go to graduate school and study Japanese literature, but his parents advised him to study for his Ph.D. in linguistics in America, where he would be more effective at improving Japan/U.S. relations. Don ended up working for the ONI after being commissioned into the U.S. Naval Reserve to fight against the Japanese Imperial military.

"The Great Japanese Empire"

Mr. and Mrs. Gorham applied for citizenship as a pair in May 17, 1941. Their application to naturalize and become Imperial Japanese subjects was officially approved and granted to both of them less than one week (!) later, on May 26, 1941. Although both Mr. and Mrs. Gorham were esteemed and accomplished and well known for their contributions to Japan, this lightning speed hints that the matters of bureaucracy and paperwork and red tape were quite different for Japanese naturalization back in those days.

William Gorham chose 当て字 {ateji} (sinogram characters corresponding to foreign sounds) for his family name:

合波武　克人 {GŌHAMU Katsundo

• 合 {gō} refers to merger, or combining
• 波 {ha} refers to the waves (of the Pacific Ocean)
• 武 {mu} refers to martial affairs (symbolizing the Empire of Japan of the time)

In other words, he chose a name which symbolized a bridge between Japan and America, an attempt to harmonize the West and the East.

Published May 22, 1941

The New York Times deemed the event to be newsworthy and published it. The newspaper article focused on the act of "renouncing" the U.S. citizenship more than the act of becoming a Japanese Subject (not citizen/national, as this did not happen until the modern Constitution). Why did they focus on the renouncing so much? Japan was actually an ally with the Entente Powers during World War Ⅰ, cooperating with the United States against Germany. It was right after the end of Japan's involvement with that Great War when Gorham first immigrated to Japan as an adult with his wife and two children (one of them an infant at the time). Changing one's nationality to Japanese was perhaps considered treasonous to most Americans during World War 2.

Staying in Tokyo During the War

There are some that theorize that the Gorhams had to naturalize in order to avoid being deported after the US & UK declared war on the Empire of Japan and Japan delivering its 14-Part Message to the United States. However, they naturalized before the above events occurred. Additionally, many colleagues of Gorham, such as American Buddhist scholar Richard Gard, were guaranteed "safe custody" by Japanese in high positions. There are no records of any naturalized civilian Americans or British, who were foreign residents living in the four main islands of Japan, being forcibly deported or interned during World War 2.

The Empire of Japan would attack Pearl Harbor in Hawaii less than seven months later, leading the United States' Congress and the United Kingdom to declare war on the Empire of Japan and enter World War Ⅱ.

Meguro was firebombed, but not as much as east Tokyo

William and Hazel Gorham would stay in their Tokyo home throughout the war and did not evacuate to the countryside. Their home managed to survive the Tokyo air raid bombings, but all of the neighboring houses burned down. Their home almost burned down as well, but Mrs. Gorham protected the upstairs and Mr. Gorham protected the garage. They took in a neighboring Japanese family (including their cook and co-worker) whose home had burned down, and provided some canned foods to them as fresh food was scarce. During the War it was impossible for mail to be delivered or arrive from overseas, so Mr. and Mrs. Gorham were unaware of the state of their children. They were not even aware that they were part of the war effort with the U.S. military. Travel between homes was restricted for all Japanese, meaning they had few visitors during that period. Because of wartime restrictions on lights, their living room was very dimly lit and empty through the evenings.

After the War

Tommy Lee Jones doesn't resemble
Douglas MacArthur.

After the war, Hazel Gorham would guide and help the housewives of the Occupational Forces that were in stationed in Japan, while spending much of her time in the summer in 箱根 {Hakone} escaping the summer heat while her husband commuted to work (by car, of course) from 大田区田園調布 {Ōta-ku Den'en chōfu} (Den'en-Chōfu, Ōta Ward). He would join her at the resort in 神奈川県 {Kanagawa-ken} Kanagawa Prefecture at the end of Friday and stay through the weekend.

He never missed a day of work, and he refused to visit doctors and was a believer in Christian Science. Although he needed glasses to read documents in his later years, he attempted to conceal this from his colleagues as much as possible.

William Gorham would eventually die of kidney atrophy and a liver related disease.

Death

A web site devoted to Tama Cemetery, Japan's first public cemetery (most people are cremated in Japan) writes this about William & Hazel Gorham:

+Roy Berman's English translation used with thanks & permission

Original	English Translation
Tama Cemetery fountain Husband & Wife together アメリカ合衆国サンフランシスコ近隣出身。 航空郵便システムを展開し飛行機製造会社を設立するのを目的とし、自分の技術を紹介し使用するために1918（Ｔ７）来日。 エンジン、飛行機、自動車、電話交換機、高速タレット旋盤などを設計、紹介した。また単発双葉飛行機を持ち込み、日本軍に売った。 後年キャノンのコンサルタントとなり、より効率的な生産システムの開発に尽力。 更に、国産精機（後の日立精機）のコンサルタントも務め、工作機械の設計にも携わった。４０年代始め、国際情勢が緊迫し始め、日本政府は外国人の追放を始めた。 ゴーハムは悩んだ末、41.5.26に日本に帰化した。日本名を『合波武　克人（ゴーハム・カツンド）』と名乗った。 　息子のDon C. Gorhamは帝国大学を４１年３月に卒業し、大学院で日本文学の研究を続けたいと思ったが、両親の希望によりアメリカに戻り、文学の博士号を取得、アメリカにいて日米の関係を改善するような仕事に就くよう命じた。 当時の外人に対する反感、治安警察（特高）などの状況を考えると、ゴーハム氏の決断がいかに悲壮なものであり、いかに日本を愛していたかということが分かる。 戦後、ゴーハムは日産自動車の役員となり、工業の分野で意欲を燃やし、会社のみならず日本復興の工業化や経済の発展に重要な中枢となり、後の高度成長期の先駆者的存在であった。志し半ばの４９病により没す。グランプリ出版から「日本人になったアメリカ人技師―ウィリアム・ゴーハム伝」等も出ている。 Gorham stone on far right ＊墓所には二基。右側が自然石に「ウィリアム・アール・ゴーハム / ヘーゼル・エッチ・ゴーハム」とカタカナで刻み、下に母国語と生没年が刻む。左側は洋型「斎藤家」。双方の墓石の間に墓誌が建つ。 ＊ウィリアムの妻はヘーゼル。1911年１２月 （Ｍ４４）グラマースクールの同級生であった。旧姓はホック。1918（Ｔ７）夫と来日し、後に夫と共に日本に帰化。太平洋戦争中も日本に留まった。 なお、二人の息子は米国軍人として日本と戦うことになったという。著書に『Ｊａｐａｎｅｓｅ　＆　Ｏｒｉｅｎｔａｌ　Ｃｅｒａｍｉｃｓ』。	Born near San Francisco, in the United States of America. Came to Japan in 1918 (Taishō 7) to introduce and use his technology, with the goal of developing air mail systems and establishing an airplane manufacturing company. He designed and introduced engines, airplanes, automobiles, telephone switches and fast turret lathes. He also imported single engine biplanes and sold them to the Japanese military. In later years he became a consultant for Canon and assisted them by developing a more efficient production system. He also worked as a consultant for Kokusan Seiki (Later became Hitachi Seido Co., Ltd.) and was also involved in designing machine tools. In the early 40s the international situation began growing tense, and the Japanese government started deporting foreigners. After painful consideration, Gorham became a naturalized Japanese citizen on May 26, 1941. He took the Japanese name of 合波武 克人 {GŌHAMU Katsundo}. His son, Don C. Gorham, graduated from Tokyo Imperial University in March of 1941, and although he wanted to continue his study of Japanese literature in graduate school, in accordance with his parents wishes he instead returned to America, intending to receive a doctoral degree in literature, and intending to find a job related to the improvement of Japanese / American relations. Thinking of the circumstances of the antipathy towards gaijin at the time and the 特高 {tokkō} [Special Higher Police; comparable to the Nazi Gestapo], one can understand how heroic Gorham's decision was, and how much he must have loved Japan. Postwar, Gorham became an employee at Nissan Automobiles and challenged himself in the industrial field. He worked not just for the sake of his own company, but became a key figure in the rebirth of Japan's industrialization and economic development, and was a forerunner to the later high growth period. He died a premature death due to illness in 1949. Grand Prix press's, “The legend of William Gorham: the American Engineer who became Japanese” and others have appeared. * There are two graves on the plot. The natural stone on the right has "William R. Gorham / Hazel H. Gorham" etched in Japanese syllabet, and at the bottom their names and dates are etched in their native language. To the left is the western stone for the SAITŌ family. In between the two stones is an epitaph. * William's wife was Hazel. She was a classmate in grade school with him in December of 1911 (Meiji 44). Her maiden name was Hoch. She came to Japan with her husband in 1918 (Taishō 7), and naturalized to Japanese with her husband. She remained in Japan during the Pacific War. Her two sons fought against Japan in the U.S. military. She is the author of "Japanese & Oriental Ceramics".
＜「多磨霊園に眠る著名人たち」ＨＰ小松さん提供＞	<from Komatsu's "Celebrities who sleep at Tama Cemetery">

As one of the stated reasons for William Gorham to become Japanese was that he wanted to die and be buried in Japan, he was given a funeral at the Christian 銀座教会 {Ginza Kyōkai} (Ginza Church) where over six hundred people attended — and was one of the largest funeral ceremonies for a civilian after the War. His gravestone name was etched by his professional colleague and friend, 斎藤喜平 {SAITŌ Kihei} from 東亜電機工業㈱ {Tōa Denki Kōgyō ㏍} (Toa Electric Industry Co., Ltd.)

The living wife's in red.

As per Japanese tradition, only the husbands death date is carved on the joint tombstone. If the husband dies first, his name is etched and filled in with black ink and the still living wife's name would be etched in in red ink. When the wife passed away and finally "joined" her husband, the red ink would be replaced with black ink. This is to symbolize that the marriage is forever joined and they're always together, both in the mortal life and the afterlife.

They are buried, not cremated, as is the usual tradition in Japan. While only their pre-naturalization names — both in 片仮名katakana (syllabet) and the original アルファベットarufabetto (alphabet) — are written on the stone, their plot is located in the Japanese section of the cemetery, not the area reserved for foreigners.

A fan of 100% Katakana-ized Japanese

ｶﾅﾓｼﾞｶｲ {kanamojikai} pamphlet

There is a reason why William Gorham's 漢字 {kanji} naturalized name was not written on his tombstone and his and his wife's name was written in カタカナ {katakana} (syllabet [often, but not always, for foreign words]): William Gorham was an member and promoter of the ㈶カナモジカイ {kana moji kai} [sic] (Japanese Syllabet-Letter Association), a non-profit foundation, formed in 1920, now currently under the jurisdiction of MEXT. He would create and distribute advocacy pamphlets on his own. This foundation promoted:

• writing Japanese horizontally, left-to-right, top-to-bottom
• writing Japanese in only カタカナ {katakana} ([angular] syllabet)

Prior to postwar educational reform in Japan, the Japanese language used almost 10,000 Han sinograms and newspapers used about 5,000. While William Gorham was proficient in the Japanese language of the era, he did not read and write it very well. Gorham, an industrialist, believed that the invention of the typewriter and technology necessitated the use of a 50 character syllabet, and that there were too many characters to learn during schooling.

What made kanji digital universally

Japan did modernize and standardize its spoken and written language after the War, greatly reducing the amount of characters learned, as well as simplifying the ideographs. Postwar Japanese population literacy rate today is around 99%. It would not be until the 21st century when most technology worldwide ("globalized" and "internationalized" software) could input, process, and display Japanese — horizontally or vertically — without customization.