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. […]

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 […]

One-on-one with 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 the landmark coram nobis cases, […]

Coram nobis cases 40 years on

When redress researcher Aiko Herzig Yoshinaga and legal scholar Peter Irons uncovered the veritable “smoking gun” proving the United States had lied to the Supreme Court to justify the wartime incarceration of Japanese Americans, they set off a series of landmark legal battles that eventually helped vindicate Japanese Americans and set legal precedents that continue […]

From Peru to California, a community remembers Japanese Latin American activist

On her 87th birthday, Libia Hideko Yamamoto passed away after a long bout with illness. Born Dec. 3, 1935 in Chiclayo, Peru, she was one of more than 2,264 Japanese Latin American men, women and children the United States used in prisoner exchanges with Japan during World War II. Friends and family gathered at the […]

Executive director change at Densho signals new generation of JA leadership

When Tom Ikeda got together with a small group of volunteers in 1996 to start Densho, he was considered a young upstart within the Japanese American community. Now, 26 years on, he is passing on the reigns of an organization that has become one of the most authoritative resources of Japanese American wartime history. The […]

San Jose JA political icon remembered in hometown memorial

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Stuart Mineta recounted as a child becoming frustrated with his attempt to draw a model airplane, so he asked his father to draw it for him. As he often did, Norman Mineta took the time to focus his attention on the task at hand. Family and political leaders shared memories and […]

Los Angeles Day of Remembrance stresses collective action for justice

LOS ANGELES — The annual Los Angeles Day of Remembrance, commemorating the Feb. 19, 1942 signing of Executive Order 9066 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, which authorized the forcible removal of all persons of Japanese ancestry from the West Coast into American concentration camps during World War II, was held on the Japanese American National […]