How do you find out information from Japan on a family?
I know that my husband's grandfather is Arthur Sato.
His father's name is something like Masazzo Sato born about 1863/1868 and lived in NY. There he married Grace Delia McIntyre and had 2 children. We were told by many family members that Masazzo(?) was related to or descended from the last Shogun of Japan. Would like to pursue this story if anyone can help. The grandchildren all had a framed picture of the man they were related to, and they said it was Tokugawa Yoshinobu, original name Tokugawa Keiki
Masazzo came over here to the U.S.A. around 1888 but have not found the immigration record yet. He did own a large piece of land in NY when he settled here, but lost it somehow to the state.
A friend that is from China said that the first name can actually give you the town of origin and then the house, but I would like to find out everything I can: his ancestors, his correct spelling, if there is a crest, any siblings, etc. If anyone can help, I would greatly appreciate it. Another family member just told me that he may have been from Yokahama, Japan, cause their aunt remembers him talking about that city.
1910 census
http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db=1910USCenIndex...
1920 Census
http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db=1920usfedcen&a............