NVC Foundation Japanese American Memorial Wall

Born: April 9, 1880 (Meiji 12) in Odahara no-yumi-machi, Sendai-shi, Miyagi-ken, Japan
Died: November 2, 1957 in Seattle, WA, USA

Graduated from Todai University (Tokyo Teikoku Daigaku), now called Tokyo Imperial University, with a law degree.

Graduated from The Baptist Theological Seminary of Yokohama.

In 1928, Rev. Wada was sponsored as a missionary under the Los Angeles City Mission Society in California to minister to the farm workers in the Garden Grove and Pomona area. The American Baptist Home Missions Society paid to have Rev. M. Wada come to the USA.

On March 13, 1942, the FBI executed an arrest warrant under emergency authorization from the Assistant US Attorney. Rev. and Mrs. Wada were taken to the LA County Jail. Rev. Wada was then taken to the INS Tuna Canyon jail prior to being transferred to Army Control at Santa Fe, New Mexico. Rev. Wada was then held at Lordsburg DOJ Camp, 29-H-J-614 C.I, until the end of 1943.

Rev. and Mrs. Wada were reunited in Crystal City, Texas prior to be paroled to Amache Internment Camp in Colorado where the Homma family and Midori Wada were being held. Ruth Hara, a Wada cousin from Morioka, was also at Amache in Block 12.

At Amache, 12-H-5-B, Rev. Wada was a pastor at Amache Christian Church. While at Amache, Rev. Wada visited some of the Japanese Federated Christian Churches, one of them at the Minidoka Relocation Center in Idaho. This is where he met several families from Seattle, Washington and Rev. Emery Andrews. Rev. Andrews, his family and Miss Esther McCollough relocated with the church to Twin Falls, Idaho, so that they could commute to the Minidoka War Relocation Assembly camp and minister to the internees. Rev. Andrews and the Home Missions Society asked Rev. Wada to relocate to Seattle after the war.

On September 7, 1945 after WWII, Rev. and Mrs. Wada along with the Homma family relocated to Seattle, Washington. Rev. Wada became the senior pastor of Japanese Baptist Church in Seattle. The Wada and Homma families lived in the church parsonage. Rev. Masahiko Wada served with Rev. Emery Andrews, Nisei pastor, at Japanese Baptist Church until his retirement in 1955.