Two Libraries Save a Midwestern Japanese Book Collection

Courtesy Cha-Ami Japanese Cultural Center

Books from a Japanese lending library created by collector Yoko Breckenridge are now on the shelves of the Cha-Ami Japanese Cultural Center in St. Anthony, Minnesota.

Manabu. That is the Japanese word for “learn.” A young girl named Yoko desperately wanted to learn while growing up on the northwest coast of Japan, but her family was poor and could not afford her education. She worked on a Chinese farm and watched other children go off to class and wished she were one of them. Determined as she was, she borrowed textbooks from these peers and copied them by hand by candlelight after her work was done.

Later, Yoko became a sensō hanayome, a term used to describe Japanese women who wed foreign military men in the wake of World War II. She married Roger Breckenridge, who was stationed overseas with the U.S. Army, and they moved to Minnesota in the early 1960s. She took with her a love of knowledge and her books.

There she formed a library. What started as a single shelf at the Japanese Fellowship Church in Bloomington, Minnesota (a suburb of Minneapolis), blossomed. So much so that the library grew to tens of thousands of Japanese books, free to access.

When Yoko Breckenridge, who also became a prize-winning barber and real estate agent, closed the library in 2023 after her health declined, there were fears her massive collection would be lost. Locals would not allow it. Many of Breckenridge’s books are now being held in two facilities: the Cha-Ami Japanese Cultural Center in Saint Anthony, Minnesota, and a barn on a professor’s farm in Cannon Falls, Minnesota, which is being renovated to house a major portion of Breckenridge’s beloved collection.

Marnie Jorenby

The barn being renovated to house part of Breckenridge’s collection.

Courtesy Marnie Jorenby

Books from Yoko Breckenridge’s collection.

The books “serve as a bridge between generations, helping elders stay connected to their roots while allowing younger generations to discover and understand their cultural heritage,” said Shizuka Durgins, founder and president of the Cha-Ami Japanese Cultural Center. The nonprofit organization aims to “promote an inclusive and diverse environment where people can come together and share their stories and experiences.” It now houses approximately 2,000 of Breckenridge’s books.

“She wanted to have a place for Japanese women to gather, share their love of books, and support each other,” said Marnie Jorenby, a senior lecturer of Japanese at the University of Minnesota. Jorenby is ensuring Breckenridge’s wish continues to be fulfilled by converting a barn on her property into a repository for 25,000 of Breckenridge’s books and a communal meeting place to gather and share stories. “Wandering through a library,” Jorenby said, “puts one in front of all sorts of books. … A library provides fellowship.”

Durgins concurs. “Through these books, we hope to offer the community a doorway into Japanese culture, language, and everyday life,” she said. “We want people of all backgrounds to discover not just stories but also a deeper understanding of Japan’s traditions and values.”

From copying books by hand as a young girl, Breckenridge went on to facilitate her own library in Minneapolis, a place that brought the city’s multilingual communities together. She once told Jorenby, “The door of a library should always be open.”

And it will be. And not just one library, but two for anyone to learn—manabu.