Linda’s Orchard

Being able to journey back in time from the 21st Century to the 19th Century and to see the many centuries of our family has been a great value to help me understand the journey through many nations, across oceans, in many communities, and facing many challenges. Your work from many years ago has become a reference for many in my family. The documentation of family history and multiple generations of stories has strengthened our familial bonds and has yielded many unanticipated benefits over time.  Thank you so very much for your professionalism, consulting, and support of our family history.

~ Kenneth Hayashida, MD

Through her various workshops on Japanese American genealogy, and especially through her leadership of genealogists at the Nichi Bei Foundation’s pilgrimages to the former Angel Island Immigration Station and the Wakamatsu Tea and Silk Farm Colony — the first sizable settlement of Japanese in America — Linda Harms Okazaki has helped thousands of Japanese Americans and others reclaim their family history. In addition to the Nikkei Angel Island Pilgrimage and Wakamatsu Pilgrimage, Linda has helped countless others dive deeper into their genealogical journey by writing a column, entitled “Finding Your Nikkei Roots,” in the Nichi Bei News since 2018. We are proud to collaborate with Linda on her work, both through in-person consultations and through her ongoing column, which continues to help the Japanese American community discover their family history. She provides such a meaningful and valuable service, deeply rooted in our shared desire to preserve history, particularly family history.

~ Kenji Taguma – President, Nichi Bei Foundation

Linda brought an abundance of insight, intelligence, and professionalism to our book project, a biography of the photographer George Masa. She is a superb collaborator working closely with us as the authors but also partnering effectively with a team of researchers in Japan and the West Coast. She provided excellent progress reports and thoroughly documented the findings. Her leadership and the work of the research team exceeded our highest hopes.

~ Paul Bonesteel & Janet McCue, co-authors, George Masa: A Life Reimagined (expected publication Sept 2024)

For at least the last decade, I’ve had many opportunities to attend Linda Harms Okazaki’s genealogy workshops and lectures, such as in Oakland at the California Genealogical Society, at some of our Nikkei Genealogical Society meetings that Linda and I are co-founders of, or as part of a Legacy Family Tree webinar. Whether delivering a workshop or lecture, providing professional consultant services to her clients, or volunteering genealogy research services during the bi-annual Nikkei Angel Island Pilgrimage, the highest quality that is Linda’s work is a testament not only to what an excellent genealogist and researcher she is, but also to what an amazing teacher, colleague, and partner she is to our genealogy community. 

~ Melinda Yamane Crawford, co-founder Nikkei Genealogical Society