Public Radio: For this Seattle samurai, cartoons were key to illustrating Japanese American perspectives

This KUOW Soundside episode traces Sam Goto’s five-year run drawing Seattle Tomodachi for The North American Post, capturing the Japanese American experience in the Pacific Northwest with humor and reflection. Born in Seattle in 1933, Goto balanced life as a dental technician and artist, shaping a strip where a young boy navigates assimilation and heritage—echoing Goto’s own path. After Goto’s passing at 84, his daughter, Kelly Goto, curated a retrospective, Seattle Samurai: A Cartoonist’s Perspective of the Japanese American Experience, gathering his art and life into a single volume. The show frames the comics as a lens on identity, community, and everyday choices, and points listeners to the book site and a remembrance piece for deeper context.