Dear Editor, We join with 40 other Jodo Shinshu Buddhists, the Jodo Shinshu being a school of Buddhism whose adherents in this country are largely Japanese American. Many of us were imprisoned in internment camps during World War II, most as children, in some cases without our fathers, (as is happening to some children today,) […]
Auction controversy talk among pilgrimage attendees
April 30, 2015 by 1 Comment
A recurring topic of discussion among attendees at the 46th Manzanar Pilgrimage was the recent social media campaign that halted, at least temporarily, the sale by an East Coast auction house of artwork made and photographs taken in the various War Relocation Authority camps during World War II. The Rago Arts and Auction Center had […]
Topaz class of ‘45 holds 69th reunion
August 21, 2014 by Leave a Comment
OAKLAND, Calif. — The Topaz High School class of 1945 held their 69th year reunion June 28 at the Sequoyah Country Club. The former classmates spent their entire high school years, from 1942 to 1945, imprisoned in the Topaz (Central Utah) concentration camp. Bob Utsumi of Oakland was the reunion chairman, and Daisy Uyeda Satoda of […]
Nisei revisits her wartime past through watercolors
July 24, 2014 by Leave a Comment
GASA GASA GIRL GOES TO CAMP: A Nisei Youth behind a World War II Fence By Lily Yuriko Nakai Havey (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 2014, 224 pp., $29.95, cloth, $24, eBook) Through a sophisticated blend of artwork, prose and photographic images, plus an assortment of other useful illustrative materials, Lily Yuriko Nakai […]
‘Films of Remembrance’ explores layers of WWII Nikkei experience
March 20, 2014 by 1 Comment
With a fresh call to renew dedication to civil rights through the Bay Area Day of Remembrance a day earlier, a series of films screened at the New People Cinema in San Francisco’s Japantown on Feb. 23. “Films of Remembrance,†presented by the Nichi Bei Foundation, showed six films focused on the experience of the […]
NPS to hold meetings to create plan for Tule Lake
June 27, 2013 by Leave a Comment
TULELAKE, Calif. — The National Park Service will hold public workshops to create a “national dialogue†about Tule Lake’s future. The conversations will result in a General Management Plan to identify how to protect and educate the public about the site, where thousands of persons of Japanese ancestry were incarcerated in an American concentration camp […]
Hawai‘i governor establishes ‘Civil Liberties and the Constitution Day’
June 27, 2013 by Leave a Comment
HONOLULU — Hawai‘i Gov. Neil Abercrombie signed a bill June 7 establishing Jan. 30 each year as “Civil Liberties and the Constitution Day.†While it’s not a state holiday, “the observance is intended to celebrate, honor and educate the public about these individuals’ commitment to preserving civil liberties,†a statement issued by Abercrombie’s office said. […]
25 YEARS SINCE THE CIVIL LIBERTIES ACT OF 1988: A look back at the historic Japanese American Redress Movement
February 7, 2013 by 1 Comment
This year marks the 25th anniversary of the enactment of the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, which awarded reparations and an official apology to tens of thousands of Japanese Americans who were held in American concentration camps or whose civil liberties and human rights were violated in other ways by the United States government during […]
2013 Day of Remembrance events
February 7, 2013 by Leave a Comment
SUNDAY, FEB. 10 In memory of the Nikkei who were detained in Hawai‘i during World War II, the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawai‘i will celebrate its Day of Remembrance at 1 p.m. at its Manoa Grand Ballroom, 2454 South Beretania St., Honolulu. The event will explore the lessons of the wartime incarceration of persons of […]
Reflections on Day of Remembrance: Supporting the SF ‘comfort women’ memorial & delving into our own history of sexual violence against women in times of war
Last year, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors unanimously passed a resolution to create a “comfort women†memorial. The resolution garnered broad support from both within the Japanese American community as well as veterans, women’s and labor rights groups, students, educators, and scholars. However, there was also opposition from some members of the Japanese and […]