In 1899 Kyutaro Abiko (我孫子 久太郎 Abiko Kyūtarō), a newspaper seller, established the Nichi Bei Shimbun (日米新聞 Nichi Bei Shinbun). The Nichi Bei Foundation said that Kyutaro Abiko was "known to historians as the most influential Japanese immigrant to America," and that the newspaper was "the most influential Japanese American newspaper in the country prior to World War II." The daily circulation peaked at 25,000 during the 1920s, and although it had dropped to 9,400 by 1941 the Nichi Bei remained more or less even with its competitors. After Abiko's death in 1936, his wife Yonako took over the business, and in 1939 the Nichi Bei building and equipment were destroyed in a fire. The company acquired a new location in 1940 but ceased operations less than two years later, when the newspaper was fo