News

Cultural elements reinterpreted for Peace Plaza renovation

San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department and the Japantown Task Force held a virtual community briefing Feb. 28 to discuss the cultural elements that will be implemented in the Japantown Peace Plaza. The plaza, which will undergo a $32 million renovation expected to start in the spring of 2024, will reinterpret several key cultural elements […]

For Asian Americans, Yeoh, Quan’s Oscar wins are theirs too

LOS ANGELES — Edward Dion Fariñas watches the Academy Awards every year but the Filipino American didn’t expect to have such a visceral reaction when hearing Ke Huy Quan and Michelle Yeoh’s awards announced. “I had a squeal come out that I was not expecting,” said Fariñas, who was watching Sunday from his Austin, Texas, […]

Councilmember Margaret Abe-Koga enters supervisor race

Longtime Mountain View Councilmember Margaret Abe-Koga has more to give as she looks beyond serving in her city. Abe-Koga, 52, is the first to enter the race for the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors District 5 seat. She announced her bid to replace incumbent Supervisor Joe Simitian at a Lunar New Year event hosted […]

San Francisco board open to reparations with $5M payouts

SAN FRANCISCO — Payments of $5 million to every eligible Black adult, the elimination of personal debt and tax burdens, guaranteed annual incomes of at least $97,000 for 250 years and homes in San Francisco for just $1 a family. These were some of the more than 100 recommendations made by a city-appointed reparations committee […]

Congressional resolution honors victims of shootings in Half Moon Bay, Monterey Park

U.S. Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Palo Alto, introduced a resolution in the House of Representatives on March 7 honoring the lives of the victims of two mass shootings in California in January, including ones that took the lives of seven farmworkers in Half Moon Bay. The resolution was introduced along with Rep. Judy Chu, whose district […]

Day of Remembrance program looks to future while returning to roots

After two years of virtual programming, the Bay Area Day of Remembrance Consortium returned to its roots hosting its annual event as an in-person event. Attendees packed the Christ United Presbyterian Church in San Francisco’s Japantown Feb. 19, with many more observing via an online stream for the 44th annual Bay Area Day of Remembrance. […]

Hayward, Calif. community holds dedication for Japanese American Memorial

Dozens of Bay Area community members paid tribute to the 606 Japanese American residents of the Hayward, Calif. area who were forcibly removed from their homes in 1942, at a ceremony Feb. 4, dedicating a new public sculpture installed at the Hayward Heritage Plaza. The sculpture, designed by artist and historian Patricia Wakida, was commissioned […]

L.A. Day of Remembrance focuses on inter-community support

LOS ANGELES — The 2023 Day of Remembrance, held Feb. 18 at the Japanese American National Museum in Little Tokyo, urged the Japanese American community and individuals to work together with other communities “to fight for a strong and democratic society.” Organizers dedicated the event, titled “Uniting Our Voices: Making Democracy Work for All,” to […]

On Black Reparations: Attorney Donald K. Tamaki

From the historic coram nobis cases to the state task force to study Black reparations, attorney Donald K. Tamaki has been at the heart of landmark social justice issues for the past 40 years. The senior counsel at Minami Tamaki LLP sat down with the Nichi Bei News to discuss his current role as the […]

Japanese Americans won redress, fight for Black reparations

SAN FRANCISCO — When Miya Iwataki and other Japanese Americans fought in the 1980s for the U.S. government to apologize to the families it imprisoned during World War II, Black politicians and civil rights leaders were integral to the movement. Thirty-five years after they won that apology — and survivors of prison camps received $20,000 […]

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