Two years and still going!

With this issue, we have officially passed our two-year mark in publication as the first nonprofit ethnic newspaper of its kind in the country. Our first edition of the Nichi Bei Weekly, published on Sept. 17, 2009, featured the “Spirit of Japantown Festival in San Jose? just as today’s special edition does. Launching the Nichi […]

Japanese American WWII students at City College of SF sought for diploma project

The California Nisei College Diploma Project (CA Nisei Project) is seeking to locate those Japanese Americans whose studies at the City College of San Francisco (CCSF) were halted due to the signing of Executive Order 9066 during World War II. California Assembly Bill 37 (AB37) calls for honorary degrees to be presented to more than […]

UC Berkeley’s Honorary Degree Ceremony a Time to Reflect

For most of the approximately 400 students who participated in the University of California Berkeley’s Dec. 13 winter graduation ceremony, the day represented the beginning of an exciting future as college grads. However, for a select group, the day marked a bittersweet end to a painful chapter in their past. Forty-two of the approximately 500 […]

Honored: 67 Years Late, UCSF Awards Nikkei with Diplomas

On Dec. 4, Edith Oto received a degree from the School of Nursing at the University of California San Francisco. She also turned 90. The Napa native was one of the 68 former UCSF students who was granted an honorary degree almost 68 years after Executive Order 9066 derailed her education. Diplomas were handed out […]

Nisei Commencement Honors Our Parents and Grandparents, and UC

The following is an excerpt of Patrick Hayashi’s prepared remarks made Dec. 4 at the Nisei honorary degree ceremony at the Robertson Auditorium at the UC San Francisco Mission Bay campus: During our darkest days, UC stood by us. When others treated us harshly, you treated us with kindness. When others persecuted us, you protected […]