The families and legal teams of Fred Korematsu and Gordon Hirabayashi, two civil rights icons, reacted to the news that the U.S. Department of Justice has finally admitted its mistakes in the cases challenging the government’s World War II incarceration of Japanese Americans. The “confession of error,†posted by then-acting Solicitor General Neal Katyal on […]
Korematsu and Hirabayashi families, legal teams react to ‘confession of error’
June 16, 2011 by Leave a Comment
Peruvian president apologizes for wartime persecution of Japanese
June 16, 2011 by Leave a Comment
LIMA, Peru (Kyodo) — Peruvian President Alan Garcia apologized June 14 for his government’s persecution and forced emigration of Japanese and Japanese Peruvians to the United States during World War II, marking the first such gesture by the Andean country, according a diplomatic source. The apology came during his speech delivered at a Japanese Peruvian […]
IMPORTING AMERICA’S PASTIME: The 75th anniversary of U.S. ball players in Japan
June 10, 2011 by 1 Comment
Japan’s love affair with baseball began in the early 1880s and this shared passion created an enduring bond with the United States, surviving even through war. In fact, in Nicholas Dawidoff’s book “The Catcher Was a Spy,†the author notes that after the 1941 bombing of Pearl Harbor, Major League ballplayer Moe Berg pleaded with […]
Agreement signed for MIS Learning Center at Building 640
June 9, 2011 by Leave a Comment
Memorial Day could have been a solemn occasion for Military Intelligence Service (MIS) veteran Marvin Uratsu, as his brother Gene — one of the Japanese language instructors of the first class secretly trained in the Presidio of San Francisco’s Building 640 — passed away in March. But the surviving brother found the recent signing of […]
Etsu Mineta Masaoka dies
June 9, 2011 by 1 Comment
Etsu Mineta Masaoka, a longtime member of the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) and widow of one of the organization’s leading icons, passed away in Maryland. Born May 14, 1916, she was 95. Mineta attended most of the National JACL Conventions during the past 60 years. She was the sister of Norman Mineta, whose political […]
THE GREAT UNKNOWN AND THE UNKNOWN GREAT: Multiracial pacifist and activist, Yone Stafford
June 9, 2011 by Leave a Comment
One of the more pleasant aspects of doing “The Great Unknown†is the responses that I get to my columns from readers, including friends and family members of the people whom I write about. They not only offer praise but provide additional information and inspire further work. Not long ago I did a column about […]
A HIDDEN ACHIEVEMENT: Margaret Masuoka’s education interrupted
June 3, 2011 by Leave a Comment
Margaret Masuoka was meant to graduate with a degree in botany from Santa Ana College in 1942. Masuoka, 89, studied the subject until she was ordered to the Poston, Ariz. concentration camp. The Nikkei was set to graduate that June. Masuoka received a letter from her favorite professor, J. Russell Bruff, telling her to meet […]
Intricate bonds behind Taiwan’s donations to Japan
May 26, 2011 by Leave a Comment
TAIPEI — Taiwan, a country of 23 million people, has to date pledged approximately NT$5.9 billion (about $205 million) in relief funds following the devastating earthquake and tsunami that struck northeastern Japan on March 11. By comparison, South Korea’s 49 million people have raised 55 billion won (about $50 million), while the United States, a […]
Fundraising campaign to host celebration for honorees of Congressional Gold Medal
May 19, 2011 by Leave a Comment
The National Veterans Network (NVN) has begun a fundraising campaign to support a two-day celebration event in Washington, D.C. in late fall to commemorate the awarding of the Congressional Gold Medal to the 100th Infantry Battalion, 442nd Regimental Combat Team, and Military Intelligence Service members from World War II (WWII) — three groups composed entirely […]
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A student’s perspective on her first pilgrimage to Manzanar
When I heard about the Manzanar Pilgrimage, I immediately perked up from my seat in Professor Wayne Maeda’s “Intro to Ethnics†class. I knew that I had to go on this trip as soon as possible because my grandparents were incarcerated in such concentration camps during World War II. I was nervous when I arrived […]