SAN MATEO, Calif. — Women, children, mothers, fathers, families. Some 120,000 persons of Japanese descent were trapped behind barbed wire fences for having a cultural connection to Japan during World War II. In 1970 the Japanese American Curriculum Project, renamed the Asian American Curriculum Project in 1985, began its humble endeavor to educate the public […]
Bookseller, like Japanese American community, perseveres through challenges
July 18, 2019 by Leave a Comment
RABBIT RAMBLINGS: Reminders of gross injustices
January 31, 2019 by Leave a Comment
As we approach February 19, we will again commemorate the date of the signing of the Executive Order 9066 by President Franklin Roosevelt in 1942, the official order that set into motion the incarceration of the Pacific Coast population of American Japanese for the duration of World War II. In the Bay Area, this will […]
RABBIT RAMBLINGS: ‘Support our democratic institutions or we might lose them’
January 1, 2019 by Leave a Comment
America is still an experiment. That’s the conclusion I come to after experiencing what we went through this last year. We now have a president who blithely ignores all the norms, customs, rules and traditions that have previously been associated with the institution of the presidency, and we seem to have a government run by […]
A nationwide movement for justice
November 22, 2018 by Leave a Comment
In celebration of the publication of “NCRR: The Grassroots Struggle for Japanese American Redress and Reparations,†members of Nikkei for Civil Rights and Redress, along with activists from the Redress Movement in the San Francisco Bay Area, held a series of book parties in the Bay Area Oct. 27 and Oct. 28. During the Oct. […]
Japanese Canadians reflect on hurt, redress and question of identity
October 11, 2018 by Leave a Comment
TOKYO — Thirty years after the Canadian government formally apologized over the incarceration and expulsion of citizens of Japanese ancestry following the outbreak of World War II, those affected still carry painful memories of discrimination and hardship. Over the years, many have questioned their identity and tried their best to blend in wherever they have […]
THE GREAT UNKNOWN AND THE UNKNOWN GREAT: JA ‘godmother of redress’ was an internationally esteemed community-builder
August 16, 2018 by Leave a Comment
Aiko Herzig Yoshinaga, who passed away on July 18, 2018, was not a household name, even among Japanese Americans. Yet her place in history as “godmother of Japanese American redress†seems secure. A one-woman research team, she spent years combing through the National Archives and other government document centers in search of material on the […]
RABBIT RAMBLINGS: Remembering ‘miracle worker’ Herzig Yoshinaga’s relentless hunt for truth
August 16, 2018 by Leave a Comment
I am very saddened by the death of a dear friend, Aiko Herzig Yoshinaga. Of course, it wasn’t a total surprise, since she was in her 90s and had been ill, and at that age, it could happen at anytime. But losing friends and close ones is always hard. She was a wonderful and exceptional […]
Art Shibayama, who continued fight for Japanese Latin American redress, dies
August 16, 2018 by Leave a Comment
Isamu Carlos Arturo “Art†Shibayama, who was among the 2,264 Japanese Latin Americans kidnapped during World War II by the United States government to be used in hostage exchanges with Japan, passed away July 31, 2018. He was 88. He was the oldest of eight children born to Yuzo and Tatsue Ishibashi Shibayama, both from […]
Researcher Aiko Herzig Yoshinaga, who played a critical role in JA redress, dies
August 2, 2018 by Leave a Comment
Aiko “Louise†Herzig Yoshinaga, a researcher and activist who played a pivotal role in the national Japanese American Redress Movement, passed away peacefully on July 18, 2018. She would have turned 94 on Aug. 5. Herzig Yoshinaga was born in Sacramento, Calif. but grew up in Los Angeles. She was the fifth of six children, […]
‘Tales of Clamor’ – a masterful, magical theatrical experience
Silence … sadness … strength … solace — these words rippled through my mind as I watched the preview performance of “Tales of Clamor,†the new play about the Japanese American redress/reparations movement, performed on Feb. 1 at the Aratani Theater at the Japanese American Cultural & Community Center in Los Angeles. Written by traci […]