In 2016, I penned an op-ed describing the fear many in the transgender community felt following the election of President Donald Trump. We rushed to process paperwork for gender change requests and name changes, stocked up on medications and braced for the worst. A little over six years on, we continue to survive, but each […]
Your historical immigration records are being held hostage. Again.
February 16, 2023 by Leave a Comment
The USCIS Genealogy Program has proposed an outrageous new fee hike, which will also change how some documents are provided. The fee for initiating an Index Search for an individual will rise from $65 to $100. If the person searched has digitized records, they will be provided. If there are no digitized records, which is […]
David and Goliath battle over Tule Lake
January 5, 2023 by Leave a Comment
Nearly a decade has gone by in the Tule Lake Committee’s fight to stop the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) and the Tulelake community’s plan to fence off and expand the Tulelake airfield that covers two-thirds of the concentration camp’s barracks area. Tule Lake was unique as the only one of the 10 War Relocation Authority […]
Remembering Roger
December 22, 2022 by Leave a Comment
The first book I read about Japanese American history was Roger Daniels’ book, “The Politics of Prejudice.” It was 1966, and in my research as a college freshman, it was the rare book on Japanese American history, one that began Roger’s long and illustrious career as a historian documenting the story of Japanese Americans and […]
Sixth annual Nichi Bei Day of Giving fundraiser Sept. 5
September 1, 2022 by Leave a Comment
Livestream Web-a-thon to feature the best of the ‘Nichi Bei Café,’ staff and board, and more The public is invited to join in on the sixth annual Nichi Bei Day of Giving Web-a-thon on Monday, Sept. 5, from 3 to 6 p.m., to benefit the Nichi Bei Foundation and its cultural programs. The first $50,000 […]
On memorializing James Wakasa
September 1, 2022 by Leave a Comment
Mr. Wakasa was shot by a guard while walking his dog along the perimeter of the fence at the Topaz, Utah concentration camp. Other prisoners created a half-ton, five-foot high, concrete monument to honor Mr. Wakasa and commemorate his death. I assume they created the monument by making a mould in the ground and filling […]
The Wakasa Monument belongs back home in Japantown, San Francisco
September 1, 2022 by Leave a Comment
It’s not 1942 anymore; “Shikata ganai” is no longer in my vocabulary. I was four when they put me in that prison camp, Topaz. I’m 84 now. Today I shall fight the injustice/racism before me. Back then, we were apolitical, in survival mode. We were so afraid of our government. Just the labels on cushions, […]
Results of a community dialog about a Japanese American artifact
July 21, 2022 by Leave a Comment
On a scenic knoll in Gold Hill about 50 miles east of Sacramento lies the singular grave of Okei, the first Japanese woman and immigrant buried on American soil. After her untimely death in 1871, one or more of Okei’s fellow colonists procured her stately gravestone that has withstood the elements for over 120 years. […]
Wakasa Committee asks for professional excavation where monument was unearthed
May 12, 2022 by Leave a Comment
The Wakasa Memorial Committee has asked the Topaz Museum Board to carry out a professionally-led community archaeology excavation of the site where the Wakasa monument was unearthed by the museum last year using a forklift. Artifacts were left behind and the hole where the monument was dug out was covered with backfill, according to a […]
Ninth Circuit affirms dismissal of Tule Lake Committee v. FAA, et al.
Earlier this month, the Tule Lake Committee lost its appeal in Tule Lake Committee v. FAA, et al. The U.S. Ninth Circuit in San Francisco affirmed the lower court’s dismissal of the Committee’s lawsuit that sought to assert a Japanese American voice to preserve a site sacred to our community. The dismissal was a setback […]