The Latest from NichiBei.org
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UCLA to sell treasured Japanese garden amid financial difficulty
The University of California, Los Angeles plans to sell its Hannah Carter Japanese Garden and the adjoining home to raise money for endowments, the institution announced in a statement issued in November of last… [more ... ]
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Nisei Writers Explore the ‘Aftershock’ of War
MAKING HOME FROM WAR: Stories of Japanese American Exile and Resettlement Edited by Brian Komei Dempster (Berkeley, Calif.: Heyday Books, 2010, 224 pp., $18.95, paperback) “Making Home From War” captures… [more ... ]
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A CALL TO ACTION: JCCCNC spearheads multimillion-dollar grassroots relief effort
On March 11, 2011, the world witnessed one of the most horrific and devastating natural disasters in Japan’s history. The country’s pain, sorrow and loss were felt worldwide. Within hours of the disaster,… [more ... ]
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THE KAERU KID: Travel advice from the Kid for a Happy New Year
The Nichi Bei asked me to provide answers to many travel questions for a special New Year’s article. My number one advice is: GO NOW. Waiting until retirement may result in old age problems that discourage… [more ... ]
From the Nichi Bei Weekly

THE KAERU KID: Go, going, Ghana (pt. 2)
January 20, 2012 By The Kaeru Kid
Editor’s Note: This is the second of a two-part series. We again traveled by taxi to the Accra suburb of Teshie to see coffin makers ply their trade. The coffins are elaborate and limited only by imagination and money. It can take up to a month to construct coffins that resemble fishes, cars, boats, cigarettes, [...]

THE GOCHISO GOURMET: Turning a new leaf
January 20, 2012 By Ryan Tatsumoto, Nichi Bei Weekly Columnist
Well, it’s the start of the new year, the Year of the Dragon. The Year of the Water Dragon, if you want to get technical, and it doesn’t officially start until Jan. 23. But it’s that time once again, that we make little promises to ourselves to change for the better; to be a better [...]

Buying American, Japan bashing in the post-industrial
January 20, 2012 By Tomo Hirai
UPDATE: It appears I was mistaken, and this was all just a clever ruse. I rescind my offer and reactionary knee jerk reaction. What? Something wrong happened on the Internet? Well LOOK OUT BLOGOSPHERE BECAUSE I’M A SHARK AND I JUST CAUGHT THE SCENT OF BLOOD. No, I’m not talking about SOPA or PIPA, which are [...]

THE KAERU KID: Go, going, Ghana
January 12, 2012 By The Kaeru Kid
Editor’s Note: This is the first of a two-part series. Where? The lure of a fantastic low airfare offer and a chance to stay with couch surfers to save on accommodation costs hooked me, a sucker to travel anywhere I have not been before. A relatively expensive visa was required, as well as a yellow [...]

Lotus Preschool in San Jose’s Japantown turns 25, celebrates the love
August 12, 2011 By JESSICA SAVAGE, Nichi Bei Weekly Contributor
News
UCLA to sell treasured Japanese garden amid financial difficulty
The University of California, Los Angeles plans to sell its Hannah Carter Japanese Garden and the adjoining home to raise money for endowments, the institution announced in a statement issued in November of last year. The property, which is located a mile from the campus, in Bel Air, was a gift from Edward Carter, then [...]
Mirkarimi’s wife allegedly mentions prior abuse in video
A video taken of San Francisco Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi’s wife shows her crying and pointing to a bruise on her arm that allegedly occurred during an argument on New Year’s Eve, and she alludes to possible prior domestic violence incidents from earlier last year, according to court documents. Mirkarimi was set to be arraigned on [...]
Furutani loses LA City Council bid
LOS ANGELES — Joe Buscaino, an officer of the Los Angeles Police Department, beat state Assemblyman Warren Furutani in a two-person run-off for a vacant city council seat on Jan. 17, garnering 60.69 percent of the vote with a lead of more than 3,000 votes, according to unofficial Los Angeles County results. The Los Angeles [...]
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In Sports

KEEPING POSTED: Mauch Yamashita, Nisei baseball legend, passes away
It was the end of a unique, remarkable sporting era for California’s colorful, historic Japanese American baseball world. A sad day, when one of its cherished, most popular diamond assets — Masato “Mauch” Yamashita — suddenly passed away Dec. 7, 2011. Mauch Yamashita, 88, died at Lodi Memorial Hospital, following a heart attack. A native [...]
In Travel

Editor’s Note: This is the second of a two-part series. We again traveled by taxi to the Accra suburb of Teshie to see coffin makers ply their trade. The coffins are elaborate and limited only by imagination and money. It can take up to a month to construct coffins that resemble fishes, cars, boats, cigarettes, [...]
In Books

A legendary artist’s lifetime of loneliness
THE EAST-WEST HOUSE: Noguchi’s Childhood in Japan By Christy Hale (New York: Lee and Low Books, 2009, 32 pp., $17.95, hardcover) Always having been curious about the life of biracial artist Isamu Noguchi, I was pleased to receive this book to review. Palo Alto, Calif. author and illustrator Christy Hale has created a lovely picture [...]














Remembering Gordon Hirabayashi, from one resister to another
January 20, 2012 By YOSH KUROMIYA
It was through a news report in the early nineteen forties that I first became aware of the remarkable Gordon Hirabayashi. Shortly after the bombing of Pearl Harbor he had surrendered to the authorities and asked to be imprisoned for violating the curfew order that was imposed on all those of Japanese ancestry. He apparently disagreed [...]