36th Annual San Jose Day of Remembrance: Memories of Leaving San Jose

“He put his head against my father’s shoulder and cried. He said, ‘Mr. Yamaichi, my boss told me that they were going to put all of you into camps.’”

By Will KakuThe 36^th Annual San Jose Day of Remembrance will take place on February 14, 2016, at a historically significant venue, Yoshihiro Uchida Hall at San Jose State University. The hall is the same location where Japanese Americans were processed before they were forcibly sent to detention centers at the end of May, 1942. The Day of Remembrance program will start at Morris Dailey Auditorium and the program will conclude with a solemn candlelight procession to Uchida Hall. Inside the Uchida Hall, JAMsj curator, Jimi Yamaichi, will recount what happened in the hall’s gymnasium 74 years ago and the tumultuous events that surrounded the forced removal of several thousand Japanese Americans in the San Jose area.Jimi recalled, “On Sunday night (the evening of the Pearl Harbor attack), we were visited by Ted Myers who was a buyer of our farm produce and a family friend. He said that he got a call from the main office in Los Angeles telling him to go down there for an urgent meeting.”On Wednesday afternoon, Myers came back to see the Yamaichi family. “I can still remember how his face looked,” Jimi remembered. “He put his head against my father’s shoulder and cried. He said, ‘Mr. Yamaichi, my boss told me that there were going to put all of you into camps.’”Jimi trusted Myers’ information in the context of the racially-charged times. “For many years, they tried to get us out of California. You have to understand that although Japanese only made up 2% of the population, we controlled a majority of the vegetable market. The Farm Bureau, the California State Grange, the American Legion, and the Sons and Daughters of the Golden West, were among many anti-Japanese groups and they were lobbying hard to get rid of us. This was their opportunity to finally break our backs and decimate the Japanese farmer.”A few months later, signs were posted on telephone poles that specified that all people of Japanese descent would be removed from the San Jose area by 12 p.m. on Saturday, May 30, 1942. Family representatives were told to report to the men’s gymnasium at San Jose State College (now renamed Yoshihiro Uchida Hall at San Jose State University). On May 23 and May 24, the gymnasium served as a registration center that processed 2,847 people of Japanese descent before they were incarcerated. Because Jimi’s father could not read or write English, Jimi represented his family.Many decisions had to be made in a short amount of time. “We sold our cars, tractors, and other major stuff at a big discount,” Jimi remembered. “We also looked at leasing our property. Our insurance agent said, ‘I’ll take care of it. I don’t need a Power of Attorney agreement. I’ll collect the rent and put it in the bank.” Jimi’s second cousin was not so lucky. “He gave the full Power of Attorney to a friend. He had 24 acres. When he came back, his friend said, ‘it is not your property; it’s mine.’”On May 30, 1942, Jimi and his large family were driven by their insurance agent friend and a grammar school principle to the departure point near the railway station at San Pedro Street. Many of the San Jose residents were sent to the thoroughbred racetrack in Arcadia, California which was converted into the Santa Anita Assembly Center. That center filled up so they sent Jimi and his family to the detention center in Pomona, California. Jimi and his family would not return to the San Jose area until 1946.----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

36th Annual San Jose Day of RemembranceFebruary 14, 20165:30 p.m - 7:30 p.m.Morris Dailey AuditoriumSan Jose State University

The 2016 San Jose Day of Remembrance commemorates the signing of Executive Order 9066, which led to the forced incarceration of 120,000 people of Japanese descent, two-thirds of whom were American citizens.The theme of the 2016 event is "Wartime Hysteria." In the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, the U.S government acknowledged that "a great injustice was done to both citizens and permanent resident aliens of Japanese ancestry" and that the acts were "motivated largely by racial prejudice, wartime hysteria, and a failure of political leadership." The 2016 Day of Remembrance theme warns against the rise of wartime hysteria, as well as racial and religious discrimination, in today's politically volatile, emotionally-charged environment as the nation confronts the issues of war, refugees, and terrorism.A featured speaker will be Jimi Yamaichi, a prominent leader in the San Jose Japantown community, who will recount his memories of being processed at the gymnasium and forcibly uprooted from his home during those traumatic days of 1942.Other speakers include Congressman Mike Honda, who was incarcerated at the Amache internment camp,  Japanese American Museum of San Jose president and SJSU alumnus, Aggie Idemoto, poet Ann Muto, and other members from the community. The annual event will also include a performance by the internationally acclaimed, San Jose Taiko, and a special candlelight procession to Yoshihiro Uchida Hall, the same location where Japanese Americans were processed before they were forcibly removed from the San Jose area.The event will be held on February 14, 2016, from 5:30-7:30 p.m, in the Morris Dailey Auditorium. A post-event reception will take place in nearby Uchida Hall. The event is free and open to the public (campus parking garages charge a fee).For more information, email info@sjnoc.org.Website: www.sjnoc.orgMap to Morris Dailey Auditorium at San Jose State University.  

The Importance of Japanese American Traditions

By  Susan NakamuraOne of the goals of the Japanese American Museum of San Jose (JAMsj) is to preserve the unique history of our ancestors for future generations and to share their accomplishments and hardships with others. Japanese Americans can trace their roots to Japan. But their immigration to America, farming experience, and incarceration during World War II have combined to create Japanese American identity and culture.As a young girl, I recall my mother pointing out my grandfather as an example of gaman: persevering through difficult times with hard work and without complaining. Through his example I should learn these virtues. Because my grandfather was born in Oahu, Hawaii, at that time a U.S. territory, he was a dual citizen of the United States and Japan. The family came stateside in 1906, the year of the San Francisco earthquake. They were forced to move every four years because the California Alien Land Law of 1913 prohibited Japanese from owning land or possessing leases for more than three years.My grandmother was a picture bride from Kumamoto, a province on the island of Kyushu in Japan. Initially, my grandmother and her father were reluctant to have her travel to a ‘foreign’ country and unknown land. Her father later changed his mind. He told my grandmother that if she went to America and married my grandfather, they would   return to Japan in three years. As it turned out, they never returned to Japan.My Grandmother Kajiu changed her name to Yoso, because Kajiu was also the name of my grandfather’s mother. And two Kajius in America would be too confusing. She took the name Yoso, her older sister’s name, who died earlier from a brain hemorrhage after working in the rice fields.According to papers, my grandparents were married in 1919, but my grandmother did not make her journey to America until 1920. She sailed out of the port of Nagasaki on the SS Persia Maru, the last ship for picture brides from Japan.   The journey to California took 27 days, with a stop in Hawaii to let off other picture brides.Like many Japanese immigrants in Santa Clara valley, they worked as farmers. They grew strawberries and vegetables in Sunnyvale, San Jose, and Campbell while they raised their growing family. In about 1940, the family of seven children moved back to Campbell, where they lived in a tar-paper house with an outdoor furo (bath) and latrine (outhouse). The location of the property was on Union Avenue, not too far from the Pruneyard shopping center, which at that time was a prune orchard.During WWII, the family was incarcerated in the Heart Mountain Relocation Center in Wyoming. The family members traveled there by train with the blinds drawn down; they were not allowed to look out the window. Then they were transported in military trucks to the barracks. They saw their first snow ever, and to these Californians it was very cold.   Their barracks had a pot belly coal stove in the middle and army cots for beds. The mess hall, bathroom, and washroom were in another building. There were blizzards in the winter and thunderstorms in the summer.After the war ended in 1945, my grandparents’ family members returned to Campbell. They were fortunate that their landlord, Mr. Whipple, had watched their house and belongings. But they had to start from scratch to get on their feet and earn a living. They picked prunes, prunes, and more prunes, because it was a family job, one in which everyone worked together. Later they became sharecroppers, growing strawberries with other white farmers.Growing up in Santa Clara Valley, our extended family traditions included mochitsuki, obon, and hinamatsuri. It is amazing that these traditions could survive through all the hardships of life in America.At JAMsj, these traditions are being carried forward so that future generations and the community can learn about their roots or the roots of their friends. Strong personal virtues and a sense of one’s roots can help develop your own identity and define who you are. And that is why we at JAMsj feel it is important to have programs and events to celebrate, commemorate, and uphold these traditions.For more information about internment camps and to view a replica of a camp barrack, visit JAMsj at 535 North Fifth Street in San Jose. Completely run and operated by community volunteers, JAMsj is open from Thursday through Sunday, 12 noon to 4 p.m. The admission fee is $5 for adults; $3 for seniors and students; and free to members, children under 12, and active military. We would love to see you.Please join JAMsj on March 1 for our annual hinamatsuri festivities. Children and their parents will be able to create items with paper, glue, and other crafting supplies. Hinamatsuri activities are fun, social, and open to the public. Adult helpers will be on hand to supervise these fun art activities.(I credit my aunt, June Takata, who was the unofficial family historian, for the many details included here. I also picked prunes.)

35th Annual San Jose Day of Remembrance: Stories from the Past, Lessons for Today.

The 2015 San Jose Day of Remembrance that will take place on February 15, 2015, commemorates the signing of Executive Order 9066, which occurred on February 19, 1942. This executive order led to the incarceration of more than 100,000 Japanese Americans during WW II.The theme for the 35th San Jose Day of Remembrance event is “Stories from the Past,  Lessons for Today.” During the program, personal stories about  the Japanese American incarceration will be told by descendants of those whose lives were deeply affected by Executive Order 9066.  Kent Carson, a volunteer docent with the Japanese American Museum of San Jose (JAMsj), will be one of our  speakers. He will recount the story of his grandfather, Terry Terakawa, who is also an active volunteer and a former board member of JAMsj.Recently, Carson transcribed his grandfather's story about what happened to his family after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.  After the attack, prominent members of the Japanese American community were immediately rounded up without due process and taken away.   This is Terakawa’s story as told to Carson:

After Pearl Harbor, some FBI agents knocked on my door. We answered it, and they started going through our house, looking for something. They didn't tell us why they were there or what they were looking for. I asked them what they were looking for, but they just ignored me because I was just a young kid. Of course, they were probably looking for weapons or some kind of evidence that showed any kind of collaboration with the Japanese.

They asked us where Dad was. He was a very high-ranking member of the Buddhist Church in Walnut Grove, California, and Salt Lake City, Utah, and they were obviously very suspicious of him and his connections to the Japanese American community.

He was in the hospital at that time. He had some kind of illness and had to be put into a big iron lung. I found out that they went to his hospital room, opened the iron lung machine, and tried to take him outside. The hospital administrators and doctors were so angry at these agents that they called up the agents' superiors and reported what was happening. They were ordered to put Dad back into his hospital room. They said that they would wait until he was healthy enough to come back home, and then they would come see him.

Once he was out of the hospital, they came over to our house and arrested my father, and then took him away to the police station in our town, without even asking him any questions. They allowed my family to come down to see him one last time before they took him away to jail. At the station, officers walked him outside towards the transport bus. As they were walking away, my Mom handed me a picture of our family and told me to give it to my father to keep while he was in jail. I ran up to my father, but before I could give him the picture,  I remember getting hit in the head by one of the officers and falling to the ground. Sadly, I wasn't able to give him our family picture.

That was the last time I saw him for a long time, probably up to nine months or almost a year. I didn't know where they took him, and I'm not sure they even told my Mom or anyone else in my family. We were living in Salt Lake City at the time, which even then had a very strong Mormon community. Fortunately for us, we were surrounded by many supportive people within that community who reached out  and helped us. When my father was finally released and came back home to us, many people and community leaders in the area continued to support our family, especially my father. They said that if we needed anything or had any problems, they would help us out.

Carson reflected on his conversation with his grandfather. “Hearing my grandfather’s stories has helped inspire me. It’s an important part of history. It was a time when a community was torn apart. We can take lessons from that now and apply them to building and nourishing our own communities today. "The San Jose Day of Remembrance will take place on Sunday, February 15, 2015, from 5:30 p.m. -7:30 p.m., at the San Jose Buddhist Church Betsuin,  located at 640 North Fifth Street in San Jose. Each year, attendees gather to remember the great civil liberties tragedy from over seventy years ago and each one of us reflects on what that event means to us today.For more information, visit www.sjnoc.org.

A New World: The Story of Japanese Migration

By Pam Yoshida, co-owner of Nikkei TraditionsAn on-line order from Japan to Nikkei Traditions (NT) several years ago caught my attention. The customer, Shigeru Kojima, was the curator and researcher of the Japanese Overseas Migration Museum (JOMM) of Yokohama, Japan -- the largest museum in Japan devoted to overseas migration.In 2013, I visited the JOMM with an armload of programs and posters from San Jose Japantown that illustrated the activities and vitality of one of the three remaining Japantowns left in the United States. This led to Kojima-san's interest in the history of San Jose's Japantown and will result in his research visit in March 2014. A week of interviews with Japantown merchants, walking tours through Japantown, visits to areas of significance to highlight the contributions from the San Jose-Okayama sister city relationship as well as local Japanese contributions in the abalone industry in Monterey and the produce industry in Salinas are included in the visit.On March 8, 7:00 pm, Kojima-san will make a presentation at the Japanese American Museum of San Jose (JAMsj) to discuss the Japanese migration to North and South America. The question,”Where are you from?” will have a different meaning after the presentation by Kojimasan. He has devoted many years of study to this topic.For hundreds of years, Japan’s “closed door” policy led to isolation. In fact, it was not until the 1880s that Japanese were even allowed to leave. Why were Japanese from areas such as Kumamoto, Yamaguchi, Fukuoka and Hiroshima among the largest groups to leave Japan? What were the conditions in Japan at that time to make leaving to an unknown future so attractive? When they left, where did they go? How did they leave Japan? How many returned? Under what conditions did they return? How was migration to South America different than toNorth America? What is the current status of migration from Japan, and who is now returning to Japan?Appreciation of and curiosity about the Issei generation and other early pioneers will grow after learning how and why the first Japanese came to America through Kojima-san's research and exhibits at JOMM.This presentation is co-sponsored by JAMsj and Nikkei Traditions of San Jose Japantown. Nikkei Tradition's mission is to preserve and further Japanese American heritage and culture through their support of products that are created by third and fourth generation Japanese and Asian Americans.While there is no fee for this presentation, donations to JAMsj will be appreciated. RSVPrequired. Reserve your spot by contacting PublicPrograms@jamsj.org or calling (408) 294-3138.For more information, please email PublicPrograms@JAMsj.org or call the JAMsj officeat (408) 294-3138.

34th Annual San Jose Day of Remembrance: Joe Yasutake

The 2014 San Jose Day of Remembrance will be held on February 16, 2014. This year’s event features speakers: Dale Minami, the lead attorney on the legal team that overturned the conviction against Fred Korematsu, who defied the World War II Japanese American mass incarceration order which led to the controversial United States Supreme Court case, Korematsu v. United States; Congressman Mike Honda, and JAMsj former president and current board member, Joe Yasutake.34th Annual San Jose Day of Remembrance Featured Speaker: Joe YasutakeBy Will KakuJoe Yasutake has been one of the key contributors in shaping the vision of the Japanese American Museum of San Jose (JAMsj) and San Jose Japantown. Although Joe and his family were incarcerated in Japanese American internment camps during WWII, only relatively recently has Joe became involved in telling his story, as well as the stories of other Japanese Americans.“I don’t ever remember talking about the camps,” Joe recalled. “It never came up. When I left camp and returned to school, I didn’t interact with the other Japanese American students who tried to recruit me into their Nisei clubs. Now looking back on it, I think subconsciously I was in denial.”It wasn’t until Joe moved to San Jose did he revisit his past. Ken Iwagaki, a JAMsj founder, asked Joe if he could speak to a high school class about his internment experience. “I didn’t know anything about it,” Joe recalled. “I never thought about it so I had to do a quick study.  It was during that time I really got interested.”Joe has a special story to tell since his father, Jack Yasutake, was a first-generation Japanese immigrant (Issei) who served as an interpreter for the U.S. government’s immigration department at the time of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Jack was taken into custody immediately after the attack. “He must have been one of the first Issei men who were picked up,” Joe stated. “Through the Freedom of Information Act, we obtained a file that is about a foot thick. It was clear that the government had been tracking him since about 1936.” Joe was 9 years old when the FBI came to imprison his father, and he clearly remembers that day. “It was a Sunday, and we (the children) had just come back home from church while my mother had stayed back to do something. This could not have been more than a few hours after Pearl Harbor. Four large men came to our door, and we told the FBI men that my father was at a poetry reading event. Two men left to go there, and the other two searched our house. My mother then came home and was alarmed. She started to speak Japanese, and they kept yelling at her, ‘Speak English. Don’t speak Japanese!’”The visit by the FBI was a very frightening experience for young Joe. “It was very traumatic,” Joe remembered. “We used to have a great big console radio, and they took that away because it had a short-wave band on it. I remember that because all of a sudden I lost my communication with the Lone Ranger, Jack Armstrong, and all of those people.”Joe’s father was taken into custody at the poetry reading event. Ironically, he was detained in a cell in the same immigration building where he used to work. His coworkers tried to help him. “In fact, my name Joseph came from one of my dad’s colleagues. They really stuck up for him from the very beginning. They would let my mother know exactly what was going on almost on a daily basis. We saw the letters that they wrote on my father’s behalf to try to get him out.”Jack Yasutake was eventually incarcerated in various Department of Justice camps. Because of his English communication skills, he would become the spokesman for the other inmates at all of the camps. Ironically, he also wrote letters for the illiterate camp guards to their families.Joe, his mother, and his three older siblings were also incarcerated in the Puyallup Assembly Center in western Washington and in the Minidoka War Relocation Authority camp in Idaho. Since their father was imprisoned separately in higher-security camps, communication with him was difficult. Joe recalled, “We used to get letters that were about three paragraphs long, and everything was blacked out. You couldn’t see anything but the signature of the sender. There was definitely heavy censorship going on.”While Joe was in the Minidoka camp, his older siblings engaged in many serious discussions about their family’s future. Joe overheard some of their secretive discussions when they thought he was sleeping. Joe’s oldest brother and sister planned to leave the camp to attend school near Cincinnati, Ohio, while his other brother joined the famed 442nd Regimental Combat Team in Europe. Young Joe heard that his older brother decided to join the U.S. Army, thinking that his action would help gain their father’s release. “Unfortunately and fortunately, he was wounded in battle,” Joe remarked. “He was wounded a week or two before the famous ‘Lost Battalion’ battle, but he was in the hospital. His replacement and most of his unit were killed.”Joe and his mother were finally able to reunite with their father when they transferred to the Crystal City Department of Justice camp in Texas. Towards the end of the war, Joe and his parents were released. They moved to Chicago, where Jack would eventually become the executive director of the Chicago Resettlers Committee, an agency that assisted former Japanese American internees to restart their lives.Although Joe didn’t feel the need to talk about his wartime experience in earlier years, now he feels compelled to tell his story. “We really need to keep aware of this because of the state of our country,” Joe said. “There are things that are going on today that are just as relevant as seventy years ago. It is very important that people do not forget what happened.”---------------------------------------------------------------Joe Yasutake has been a past president of JAMsj and is currently serving as a board member. Previously, he held several leadership positions within San Jose Japantown, including the first president of the Japantown Community Congress (JCCsj) and chair of the Council of Ministries at Wesley United Methodist Church. Additionally, he has spearheaded the development of many historical landmarks seen throughout Japantown. In his professional life, , Joe earned a Ph.D in Industrial Psychology from Ohio State University and spent most of his professional career as a psychologist and manager for the U.S. Air Force. Joe finished up his career working on a joint Japan-U.S. research program on reducing human errors in electric and nuclear power plant operations.The San Jose Day of Remembrance event will be held on Sunday, February 16, 2014 from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the San Jose Buddhist Church Betsuin, located at 640 N. Fifth Street, San Jose, California 95112 . For more information about the San Jose Day of Remembrance, visit www.sjnoc.org

Ai-Love Japan 2014: Visiting Tohoku After the Quake

Visiting Tohoku After the Quakeby Michael SeraAfter the “Tohoku Insights 2013” event at JAMsj last year, I was inspired to visit the Tohoku area and see the aftermath first hand.  My journey was made richer because I was able to visit the region with professional photographer and journalist Darrell Miho, a, a co-founder of Ai Love Japan.  Because the mission of Ai-Love Japan is to document survivor stories and provide direct aid to the people most affected by the earthquake, Miho has visited the Tohoku area more than a dozen times since the disaster of March 2011.  We made the trip the weekend of May 24, 2013, and visited the cities of Matsushima, Nagatsura, Ishinomaki, and Minamisanriku.  During our travels, we met many locals who surprised me with their positive energy and enthusiasm.Our first stop was Matsushima, Miyagi Prefecture, one of the three most scenic spots in Japan.  The area is surrounded by hundreds of tiny islands (shima) covered in pine trees (matsu), hence the name Matsushima.  This area was protected by the many tiny islands that acted as breakers for the massive tsunami.  We had lunch at a restaurant that had been previously covered in mud; but because the entire inside had been refurbished, it was like new.  It was apparent that the number of visitors to the area was definitely at a low when we were there.Our next stop was to the north at Nagatsura, where we met Yasukichi Takeyama and Tomomi Ogawa in front of what remained of the Okawa Shogakko (elementary school).  This school and its students were overcome by the tsunami.  The teachers never thought the tsunami would reach them until it was too late.  Of the 108 students enrolled at the school, 74 students lost their lives. Caught by the tsunami, half of the students tried to escape but instead were pushed up against the mountain side.  The students who went home early that day survived, as well as  one student who didn’t listen to the teachers and climbed the mountain.  There were eleven teachers in total, but only one survived.  The principal, who was at his son’s graduation, also survived.Takeyama and Ogawa showed us around the area.  Because most of the area was overcome by sea water, all of the farming was wiped out.  Ogawa works at an oyster farm.  Her home is still standing, but because none of the utilities (electricity, water, and sewer) are functional, her home has been condemned.  In total, 418 people lost their lives, with 38 people still unaccounted for.  Both Takeyama and Ogawa go to Okawa Shogakko every day to maintain the make-shift memorial, water the plants, and explain the situation to visitors.  The locals want the school to be demolished, since the very sight of it only brings back bad memories.  Those who want to preserve it are in general from the government and not from the area.The next day we visited the city of Ishinomaki, site of  the highest number of causalities due to  the population density of that area.  This use to be a large fishing town and  is now being slowly rebuilt.  We met Takatoshi Hayashi and his wife, who own a kimono shop.  The shop was covered in mud but is now cleaned up and open for business.We then traveled to the next town of Minamisanriku.  Three quarters of the city is gone, and nobody is allowed to live in the low-lying areas in case of another tsunami.  Only shops and businesses are allowed in these areas.  We stopped for lunch at Sansa Café, where Tomotaka Uchida, the 35-year-owner, makes a spicy katsukare (pork cutlet and curry over rice).  We also met Jun Suzuki, who works at Sansa Café.  He was nice enough to take Darrell and I to a beautiful coastal area called Kamiwarizaki.  The name comes from an old story in which two towns are fighting over their borders.  Then a whale comes ashore and they both try to claim it.  Later that night, the people hear a loud explosion and in the morning the whale and rock are both split in half by the gods and so the issue was resolved.Suzuki was living with his parents in temporary government housing, but because the place was too small, he moved out and is now living in a trailer next to the café.  When we spoke to him, he indicated that the number of volunteers to the area had greatly decreased.  Suzuki now wants more visitors to come and just spend time enjoying the region, as it is important for the people of Minamisanriku to have interaction with others.We then joined a children’s play group formed by a group from Tokyo.  The members of this group meet once a month on thefourth Saturday of the month in Minamisanriku.  On this particular Saturday, we met Nishimura from Tokyo.  He is in the music distribution business and is also a pop rock vocalist.  We also met Kiyomi Suzuki, a local resident, who was supporting the community even before the tsunami.  He now spends time coordinating school visits to the area, aligning them with volunteer activities.  In a recent interview with him, he said the hardest thing is to match skills with what is currently needed.  Rather than trying to force volunteers to do laborious tasks, he just wants them to come see the area firsthand.On our last day, we visited a festival that was being held nearby.  There we met many locals, as well as many volunteers from the Tokyo area helping at the various concessions and booths.  We ran into the Yes Kobo team here and found out about the Minamisanriku mascot, octopus-kun. In Japanese, to place something is to “oku” and when you take a test you hope to “pasu” or pass.  If you string it all together, you would say “oku to pasu” or octopus, which translates “to place something to pass.”  So the octopus paperweight was created and has become the Minamisanriku mascot.  The Minamisanriku region is also famous for catching Octopus.In 1990, Chile gifted an original moai statue from Easter Island to Minamisanriku in honor of the tsunami that hit the Chilean coast after the 1960 earthquake.  Unforunately, the March 11 earthquake and  tsunami destroyed the moai statue.  But on May 25, 2013, Chile donated a new statue, made of stone, to the city.Seeing the aftermath firsthand and having a chance to meet and talk to many of the survivors was an incredible experience.  Even through the devastation, they are all very friendly and upbeat.  To me, they are an inspiration to everyone:  the ability to experience such a hardship and to bounce back is nothing short of incredible.  As I like to tell students who visit JAMsj, the Japanese are like bamboo because no matter how tough the situation, they bounce right back.JAMsj will be hosting another Tohoku event on February 22, 2014, “Ai Love Japan--Tohoku Update 2014,” to provide an update on how the people in the area are now doing.  Ai Love co-founder Miho will provide a pictorial and video update from his many visits to Tohoku.  We will then place Skype video calls to the people we met during our visit.  This will give participants a chance to interact with and hear directly from the people who were most affected.

What's new at Manzanar

Imagine visiting one of the World War II American concentration camps and actually being able to see what it looked like when Japanese Americans were incarcerated there.  Modern technology and the hard work of various organizations will soon make this possible. A good example of the former is  CyArk, a non-profit organization dedicated to the digital preservation of cultural heritage sites. CyArk’s work in digitally reconstructing the Manzanar, Topaz, and Tule Lake Wartime Relocation Authority (WRA) camps, together with the development of a “demonstration block” at Manzanar, will allow visitors to be part of both virtual and physical realities.Although some of this is still a work in progress, the Manzanar National Historic Site is already well worth a visit. In addition to the demonstration block, which today includes a mess hall and two barracks, there is a lot to see:  a very impressive interpretive center, rotating exhibits, and quality public programs.  In addition, helpful park rangers are on site. The interpretive display inside of the mess hall is already open to the public.  In addition, visitors can walk through the barracks to get a feel for things to come.

CYARK

Cyark’s work in digitally reconstructing Manzanar (circa 1944) is part of an exciting, larger project, the Japanese American Confinement Sites Grant.  Cyark is working on this project in collaboration with the National Park Service (NPS), Manzanar National Historic Site, Tule Lake Unit of the WWII Valor in the Pacific National Monument, and Topaz Museum.Elizabeth Lee, CyArk’s Director of Operations, was interviewed by Manzanar Committee blogger Gann Matsuda last year after a preview/feedback session in Los Angeles. Lee described the project as “going beyond just capturing the physical remains at the site, of which, there are very few.” She went on to say that, “Using that as a foundation, and combining that with historic resources, such as maps, photographs, and even oral histories, we can virtually reconstruct the site in 3D, and in an immersive, interactive environment.”The first step of Cyark’s work uses laser scan data that is collected at each site, GPS, and photography to accurately capture the sites and their landscape in 3D. Coupled with historic documentation such as architectural drawings, photographs, and archival research, CyArk is able to develop a virtual recreation of the site. For example, although today Merritt Park at Manzanar is arid and dusty, the virtual recreation shows the park as it was in 1944, including the waterfall that connected the two ponds and the famous wild rose bushes grafted by Kuichiro Nishi. Visitors will even be able to hear the sound of the waterfall. A video preview of the Merritt Park reconstruction can be found on CyArk’s Virtual Manzanar blog.Parks and gardens are not the only things captured in this project.  A large portion of the entire site, including the barracks (both interior and exterior), is also included.  The high-tech computer generated imagery (cgi) videos, coupled with oral histories featuring former prisoners and historic images, provide a unique opportunity to experience what life was like for the Japanese Americans who were incarcerated in these WRA camps.Not only will those interested be able to visit these camps virtually via the Internet, but also visitors will be able to experience an “augmented reality” through the use of smart phones or tablets. The vision is for visitors to be able to see not just the reality of a site in front of them today (for example, the dry and arid Merritt Park), but also see on their devices the digitally reconstructed image of what that exact same view might have looked like in 1944. When visitors move, the view on the device would move with them. Lee described this as “a window into time, looking back some sixty years.”Gann Matsuda’s full-length blog, detailing this very interesting project, "Interactive 3D Model Could Revolutionize Real and Virtual Visitor Experience For Manzanar," can be found on the Manzanar Committee’s website.For more information about our upcoming March 16 presentation by CyArk, please contact Komo at PublicPrograms@JAMsj.org. A full announcement will appear in next month’s edition of the JAMsj E-News.

DEMONSTRATION BLOCK AT MANZANAR

The Manzanar War Relocation Center confined more than 10,000 Japanese Americans in 36 blocks from 1942 to 1945. Each block included 14 barracks buildings, a mess hall, a recreation building, latrines, and laundry and ironing rooms. After the war, the buildings were sold for scrap lumber or relocated. A visit to the site will quickly show how barren it is today. Thanks to an ambitious project to develop a “demonstration block” that interprets daily life in the camp, visitors will be able to get a glimpse of life was like for Japanese Americans who were unjustly incarcerated during World War II.So far, a mess hall and two barracks have been constructed in Block 14.  In addition, the design work for four utility buildings has already been completed. Friends of Manzanar, a nonprofit partner of the NPS, continues to raise funds to support the development and interpretation of Block 14.The project was approved in 1997, after consultation with the Manzanar Advisory Commission, former internees, and historians. The first physical element of the reconstruction was the World War II-era mess hall.  In December 2002, after a period of negotiation with Inyo County, it was delivered by truck in four sections from the Bishop airport. Although this mess hall was not at Manzanar during World War II, it was constructed during the same period from essentially the same mess hall plans used at Manzanar. Eventually,  NPS received funding to restore the building to its 1942 appearance and to develop exhibits.Park staff worked with Krister Olmon, Harvest Moon Studio, and Color-Ad Exhibits and Signage to create the exhibit, with research support from Friends of Manzanar. Opened in 2011, this restoration is a wonderful exhibit, reflecting what life was like in the WRA camps and emphasizing the central importance of the mess hall. The installation includes historic photos, articles, and quotes, as well as period items chosen to reflect what might have been found in the mess hall during that time.In its January 2011 press release, NPS Superintendent Les Inafuku described his experience saying, "As I walk through the mess hall, I find myself imagining that I've walked in right at the busiest moment of a meal and that I'd better be careful not to bump into a cook or dish washer. My great thanks go out to the former internees who provided us with the fine details about meals and the mess halls, plus the countless hours that our Manzanar staff and our creative and dedicated exhibit designers and fabricators devoted to research, develop concepts of, and  produce the exhibits."Dick Mansfield, a Friends of Manzanar director and the organization’s treasurer, says there are currently two primary Block 14 projects, both still in the planning stages, under way:

• Development and installation of interpretive materials within reconstructed Barracks 1 and 8
•  Reconstruction and interpretation of the four central utility buildings--the men’s and women’s latrines, the laundry room, and the ironing room

The interpretive materials for Barracks 1 and 8 are fully funded, planning is nearly completed, and the installation is expected by late 2013 or early 2014. Detailed plans for the four central utility buildings have been drafted, but the project is still in the funding stage. Friends of Manzanar, which has undertaken to provide funding for the central utility building project, has an anticipated budget  of $1 million.In the fiscal year 2009 to 2010, Congress approved funding, proposed by California Senator Diane Feinstein, for reconstructing Barracks 1 and 8 on Block 14. The barracks have been open to visitors for more than a year and a half, although the interpretive work in the two buildings is still in progress. Barracks 1 reflects what it would have been like when Japanese Americans first arrived at Manzanar in 1942, while Barracks 8 reflects life in 1945. A visitor viewing the site today can walk through the buildings and see the difference. Barracks 1 has wooden planks, complete with gaps, and no wall covering. In Barracks 8, the planks are covered with linoleum flooring.In the January 2010 NPS press release for the groundbreaking of the barracks, Superintendent Inafuku noted, “All Americans had to adapt during World War II, including Japanese Americans confined at Manzanar. Future visitors to Block 14 can learn how Japanese Americans lived at Manzanar and improved their living situations. Our elders can still inspire us to improve our lives and help shape our great nation.”

EXCAVATION OPPORTUNITIES

The NPS has offered opportunities for the general public to help with archeological digs at Manzanar for several years. Park Ranger Kristen Luetkemeier confirmed plans to offer this program again this summer. The three digs are led by noted confinement-sites archeologist Jeff Burton (jeff_burton@nps.gov), under whose direction many of the beautiful decorative gardens developed by the confined persons of Japanese ancestry during World War II have been excavated.A description of one of the 2012 digs states:Within Block 14 of the internee housing area, volunteers will search for a lost fish pond, investigate possible basements, excavate and restore other landscaping and barracks features, and rebuild a retaining wall next to a basketball court. Uncovering and restoring these will help increase visitor understanding of the internee experience, as well as protect these important historic resources. Volunteers will be digging with shovels and small hand tools, using wheelbarrows, mixing concrete, reconstructing landscape features, and screening sediments to retrieve artifacts.Last year, the NPS was able to accommodate up to 10 volunteers (15 years old and up) per day. Although some of the work may be physically demanding, a variety of tasks is offered each day, “to suit a variety of interests and energy levels.” Tasks in the past have included digging with shovels and small hand tools, raking, operating wheelbarrows, screening sediments to retrieve artifacts, note taking, filling out forms and labels, and using a metal detector.  All NPS asks is that volunteers have an “interest in history and a willingness to get dirty.” Volunteers can work any number of days.Click here to read more about last year's digs.

SPECIAL EXHIBITS & PROGRAMS

The NPS  offers great programs and special exhibits.  One current exhibit features photos and stories from Twice Heroes: America’s Nisei Veterans of World War II and Korea by photographer/author Tom Graves.  Featured among the selected portraits are familiar faces such as the late Senator Daniel Inouye and former U.S. Secretary of Transportation, Norman Mineta, as well as less familiar heroes. Each portrait is accompanied by a short yet insightful story about that person.  This exhibit was unveiled at a special program held for Veterans’ Day and included a book talk with Graves.The five paragraphs on Inouye describe one of his many speaking engagements and ends with:Those seated near the podium could see him touch the gold star that hung on the sky blue ribbon around his neck. “As a politician, I have been honored many times,” he said. “To be honored by your brothers is the highest honor. When I wear this medal, I wear it on your behalf. There is no such thing as a one-man hero. I can think of at least a dozen men in my company who should be wearing this. The medals belong to you.”Another soldier’s story told of racism and ended with a note about how 442 soldiers received lesser medals than those of other units. The soldier felt that this was because Hawaii was not yet a state and had no congressman to push a Medal of Honor nomination. He went on to tell of how these veterans and widows were not compensated, saying that, “You cannot eat a Congressional Medal.”Twice Heroes book website

PILGRIMAGE

The annual pilgrimage to Manzanar is held every year on the last Saturday of April.  The 2012 program included a keynote speech by noted author and scholar Dr. Mitchell T. Maki, an afternoon program at the Manzanar cemetery site featuring taiko, an interfaith service, and traditional ondo dancing  In the evening, the popular Manzanar at Dusk program was held. More information on the 2013 pilgrimage will be available on the Manzanar Committee website as the date approaches.Links:http://blog.manzanarcommittee.org/2012/03/19/author-scholar-dr-mitchell-maki-to-keynote-43rd-annual-manzanar-pilgrimage-april-28-2012/http://blog.manzanarcommittee.org/2011/03/21/mako-nakagawa-to-keynote-42nd-annual-manzanar-pilgrimage/http://www.manzanarcommittee.org/The_Manzanar_Committee/Our_Pilgrimage.html

VISITING MANZANAR

In addition to the mess hall and two recently reconstructed barracks, the Manzanar’s Interpretive Center features extensive exhibits, audio-visual programs, and a bookstore. For people visiting the Manzanar National Historic Site, Dick Mansfield recommends starting at the interpretive center with the 22-minute film that shows every half hour.  Next, look through the excellent exhibits and visit Block 14, which is just a few steps from the interpretive center.  Lastly,  drive the peripheral road and imagine what this 10,000-person holding facility on the edge of the desert must have been like for people who had been forced out of their Pacific Coast homes, without any semblance of due process, in 1942.  He notes that the site will be even more meaningful to visitors as the planned development of Block 14 moves forward.Winter hours of operation are 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Manzanar is located at 5001 Hiway 395, six miles south of Independence and nine miles north of Lone Pine, California. Programs and exhibits are free and open to the public. For further information, please call (760) 878-2194 or visit the NPS website at www.nps.gov/manz.

Ai Love Japan: Ongoing Recovery and Relief Efforts in Northeastern Japan

Darrell Miho is a professional photographer and writer from Southern California. Darrell and  fellow photographer, Ken Matsui,   founded Ai Love Japan, an organization that documents survivor stories and provides direct aid to the people most affected by the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis in Japan.  He will be at JAMsj on February 3, 2013 and will talk about his organization and the current situation within the disaster zone. In this article, he recounts how he got involved in relief efforts.

By Darrell Miho

When the March 11 disasters struck Japan, I was literally on the other side of the world in Sao Paulo, Brazil. I couldn’t believe the video footage I was watching on TV. I knew this was bad and my immediate instinct was to go take pictures.

Unfortunately, I was stuck in Sao Paulo recuperating from emergency retina reattachment surgery and was unable to travel until my eye was healed. Stuck in a foreign country without many resources, I felt helpless not being able to do anything.On April 1, I was finally able to travel home to Los Angeles where I jumped on board to help some of my friends organize a benefit concert featuring Hiroshima and Quest Crew.Still feeling that I could do more, I planned a trip to Japan in May to work on a personal project documenting atomic bomb survivors. Once I was finished doing the interviews in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the plan was to head north to the Tohoku region to document the damage and see how we could help.After visiting the devastated areas and talking to the local people, it was clear that more help was needed. Clearly, this disaster was unprecedented and the government was overwhelmed and unable to meet all the needs that people had.Since the March 11 disasters, I have now been to Japan 5 times and to the Tohoku area 8 times and I can say without a doubt, there is still a lot of work that needs to be done. Optimistic projections estimate that it will take ten years to rebuild the devastated areas. I think it will take longer. The added reality is that some places may never be rebuilt.Seeing the devastated areas in person will change anyone’s preconception of the disaster. Being in the midst of all the destruction and then seeing it repeated in town after town is something that I can’t put into words. The enormity and the scale is just mind-boggling. So I want to encourage people to go visit or volunteer so they can see it first hand and contribute to the recovery.When we asked one of the survivors what she wanted, she simply said to come visit. The last thing the evacuees want is to be forgotten. So I will do everything I can to make sure that doesn’t happen.-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A native of Southern California, Darrell Miho is a professional photographer and writer specializing in people, sports, travel and special events. His work has been published in such notable publications as Sports Illustrated, Golf Digest and The New York Times. Miho extends his love for taking pictures to the community by donating his services to worthy causes. It is this inner desire to help others that motivates him to pursue personal projects that will help make this world a better place. He is currently working on two personal projects documenting atomic bomb survivor stories and earthquake and tsunami survivor stories:Project Hibakusha : Hope for Peace will create a traveling exhibit of portraits and multimedia presentations to promote world peace by educating future generations about the devastating effects that nuclear weapons have on people’s lives and to spread the hibakusha’s message – their hope for peace.  Interviews and photographs are being conducted in Japan, South Korea, Brazil, Canada and the United States.  http://projecthibakusha.blogspot.com Ai Love Japan: The earthquake and tsunami survivor stories are being used to raise more public awareness about how people were affected and what they are doing to rebuild their lives. The goal is to keep people aware of the current situation in the disaster area in hopes of encouraging more volunteers to go help and to raising more money to help the people in the hardest hit areas in the Fukushima, Iwate and Miyagi Prefectures.  http://ailovejapan.org In addition to the links above, you can see more of his photos and read more about his work by visiting the websites listed below:http://www.darrellmiho.comhttp://www.theeyescreamfactory.comhttp://darrellmiho.blogspot.com

A Remembrance of Senator Daniel Inouye

In the wake of the passing of Senator Daniel Inouye, we heard or read a groundswell of memories about his persona, as well as his many contributions to the Japanese American community and to the country. The following remembrance of Senator Inouye was written by JAMsj volunteer, Sandra Komo Gauvreau, on December 17, 2012, the day of Senator Inouye's passing. The power of role modeling is exemplified in Komo's reflections. As busy adults, we often forget how impressionable our words and actions are to those who learn from us. Thank you, Komo, for sharing this heart-felt memoir.A Remembrance of Senator Daniel InouyeBy Sandra Komo GauvreauYou probably already know this ... but I just found out that my senator (Daniel Inouye) passed away today.I'm so sad. He was a hero that most kids in Hawaii, especially JA kids, grow up respecting and admiring. Not a year of my childhood went by without at least one kid presenting a report on his life. Inouye was a senator for almost 50 years. How many politicians can say that they were able to hold the faith of their constituency for so long? I remember his campaign bumper stickers from back when I was a teenager. They just said "Dan" and everyone knew which Dan it was. It didn't matter if Akaka or any other Dan was running in that election -- we knew that "Dan" could only be Daniel Inouye.Dan Inouye was President pro tempore.  This meant that if anything happened to the president, he would have been third in the line of succession (behind the Vice President and the House speaker).  He recently commented on how things had changed since WWII. To imagine going from being thought of as an enemy alien to being constantly escorted by security agents because he was now third in line for the presidency -- he was amazed.With the recent election, I found myself thinking about and appreciating him often. We are so fortunate to have so many JA politicians who represent our people with so much integrity. I can’t help but think that our history has something to do with that. Daniel Inouye was a hero and he lived up to that throughout his long life. I never doubted any decision or action by my senator, because I knew with certainty that he was a man of integrity. He fought for and accomplished so much for us -- the people of Hawaii, the Japanese American community and, in fact, we the entire nation. Everything he did was with our best interests at heart.I'm so sad to know that he's gone. I'm a little teary eyed ... but I don't know if it's sadness or sheer appreciation. I have a lot of love for my senator. 

2013 San Jose Day of Remembrance: The Changing Face of America

By Will KakuThe 2013 San Jose Day of Remembrance commemorates the signing of Executive Order 9066, which led to the forced incarceration of 120,000 people of Japanese descent, two-thirds of whom were American citizens.  The event will also recognize the 25^th anniversary of the Civil Liberties Act of 1988. This landmark legislation stated that “a grave injustice was done to both citizens and permanent residents of Japanese ancestry by the evacuation, relocation, and internment of civilians during World War II.”To many of us in the Japanese American community, the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 demonstrated that America can be a great nation.  America can look back in painful introspection and admit our past wrongs. But because our families and our community have been the recipients of the government’s apology and redress, many of us also believe that we bear a special responsibility to uphold the lessons learned from Executive Order 9066.The Civil Liberties Act of 1988 stated that the government’s actions “were motivated largely by racial prejudice, wartime hysteria, and a failure of political leadership.” The reference to “prejudice” strikes a special chord with many Japanese Americans, leading us to believe that we must not be silent when we see our neighbors, friends, classmates, colleagues, and various communities become the targets of discrimination and violence. The 2013 San Jose Day of Remembrance program reflects this belief.The 2013 Day of Remembrance program, The Changing Face of America, acknowledges the changing composition of America. Many political observers have stated that the 2012 election results demonstrated a dramatic shift in the demographics of the country, citing the increasing influence of particular groups, such as Latinos, Asian Americans, African Americans, women, and younger Americans. The election also revealed some progressive gains in LGBT equality, the great civil rights struggle of this decade.Accompanying this dramatic demographic and attitudinal shift is an increased risk of backlash, intolerance, ignorance, xenophobia, and violence.  Some vocal segments of society have challenged or do not accept President Barack Obama's American origins and his Christian faith; the Muslim American community has been under special scrutiny since the terrorist attacks of 9/11; and some groups, like the Sikh community, have been the target of violent hate crimes.The Department of Justice has stated that it has “investigated over 800 incidents since 9/11 involving violence, threats, vandalism and arson against Arab-Americans, Muslims, Sikhs, South-Asian Americans and other individuals perceived to be of Middle Eastern origin.”1For the first time in San Jose Day of Remembrance history, a representative from the Sikh community, Simran Kaur, the advocacy director of the Sikh Coalition, will speak at the annual event.  The Sikh community has been a target of violence in the post-9/11 world, including the recent temple massacre in Oak Creek, Wisconsin; the 2011 double murder in Elk Grove, California; and the 2006 attempted murder in Santa Clara, California.2Other featured speakers will be Molly Kitajima, a Japanese Canadian who was incarcerated by the Canadian government during World War II; Congressman Mike Honda; and Sara Jaka from the South Bay Islamic Association. The program also includes a performance from internationally acclaimed  San Jose Taiko, a candle-lighting ceremony and remembrance, and the traditional candlelight procession through historic Japantown. The Japanese American Museum of San Jose will also have a special exhibit on display at the event. For more information, email info@sjnoc.org or visit www.sjnoc.org.----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The Day of Remembrance is an event that aims to bring different communities together in order to build trust, respect, and understanding among all people and to renew our pledge to fight for equality, justice, and peace. Please plan on attending to help us all remember what happened and ensure that such injustices never occur again.The Sikh Coalition was born in the aftermath of bigotry, violence and discrimination against the Sikh population following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. The Sikh Coalition is a community-based organization that works towards the realization of civil and human rights for all people. In particular, the organization works towards a world where Sikhs may freely practice and enjoy their faith while fostering strong relations with their local community wherever they may be.

Lost Words

The following year-end essay is written by Will Kaku, a JAMsj board member and an organizer for the San Jose Day of Remembrance program.By Will KakuIt has been said by many that writing letters is a lost art form. People under the age of 35 or so may have never experienced the sentimental emotions of discovering that dusty old shoebox full of beautifully crafted letters that convey love, joy, sorrow, and introspection.   The grief-stricken letter with tear-stained handwriting or the scented love letter expressing longing and passion cannot compare to a laboriously long email thread or be reduced to a 140-character tweet with an embedded emoticon.I recently had a remarkable shoebox moment when I came across several wartime letters written by my aunt, Itsuyo Kaku Hori (or “Aunt Its” as we called her) while she was incarcerated in the Santa Anita Assembly Center and the concentration camp in Heart Mountain, Wyoming .  The letters were unknown to me until UC Davis professor Cecilia Tsu visited JAMsj and, by chance, informed me that she had discovered the letters when she was performing research at the History San Jose archives.  The letters were sent to Elizabeth Wade, who was the friendly and caring landlord of the San Jose property where my aunt and her family farmed before the war.Those personal letters, as well as other wartime correspondence and documentation that I have collected,  challenge us with the concept of what it really means to be an American. The letters also dramatically reveal a tumultuous period that propelled my young aunt into an incredible emotional journey and a great personal transformation.The first letters that she wrote from Santa Anita captured my 19-year-old aunt’s youthful innocence, optimism, trust, and naiveté. She mentioned the arduous, seventeen-hour train ride from San Jose to Santa Anita, how she missed the ranch in San Jose, and the long lines of people waiting for their camp meals. But she also remarked that Santa Anita is “a nice place” and that ”the race track is beautifully built with a large grandstand.”“There are millions of people from all directions,” Aunt Its wrote. She was awestruck. “For you know that this is our first experience to see such a big place with so many people, that it will be a great, big adventure to us.  We don’t know how long the government is going to keep us here, but we are well satisfied. It’s amazing to see what the government can do for so many people at this and the other camps.”Aunt Its wrote to Elizabeth Wade every two months.  And she continued to write the “newsy” letters, as she referred to them, after the family was transferred to the Heart Mountain concentration camp. She wrote cheerfully, “This is our first experience in snow and it looks so pretty and white. The children seem to enjoy themselves by playing snow fights and making a snowman.”  Coincidentally, she mentioned that she saw “the young Mr. Sakauye every time I go to the post office.” (I wasn’t aware that she knew JAMsj founder, Eiichi Sakauye).These later letters from Heart Mountain also conveyed the first depictions of hardship. She remarked that the cold weather “affects the old folks very much, especially our Mom. She says that she feels as though her ear has been taken off.  We all wish this war would be over pretty soon, but I guess it’s for the time to decide it. Let us all wish for the best of things now.”Strangely, the continuous stream of letters comes to an abrupt halt in March 1943.  I’m not sure why, but this is the same month the family requested repatriation to Japan (the request was rescinded a few months later).  In addition, it was around the time that the highly controversial “loyalty questionnaire” was issued at Heart Mountain.My father recounted to me many years ago when he was still lucid that the camp became a highly volatile place during that period. He recalled that there were people who applied great pressure on him to take a stand one way or another on the questionnaire. He remembered that whenever he had a meal in the mess hall, there was always somebody on the other side of the table emphatically demanding that he answer the questionnaire according to their strongly held point of view.Perhaps because my Issei grandfather wanted the family to repatriate to Japan, his children who were old enough to sign the questionnaire did not answer the controversial questions #27 and #28 in the affirmative.  Although government records show that my father argued with his father because he wanted to stay in America and that he subsequently registered for Selective Service, he did not answer the questions, which was considered the same as giving a negative response.  He was thus labeled as a disloyal “No-No Boy."Most people who answered "no-no" to questions #27 and #28 were moved to the Tule Lake Segregation Center, a high security camp in California near the Oregon border. The results of the questionnaire eventually separated my aunt from the rest of her family. After getting married, my Aunt Its decided to stay in Heart Mountain while the rest of the family was sent to the Tule Lake.Transcripts of my aunt’s leave clearance hearings reveals a young woman who was undergoing a radical transformation in her thinking. Her husband failed to report to his draft induction, demanding that he would serve in the armed forces only if his rights were fully restored. My uncle is subsequently arrested and sent away to a Department of Justice camp and then later to Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary. My aunt is left alone in Heat Mountain, separated from her husband and her family. Her earlier feelings of optimism, trust, and hope are now replaced by confusion and cynicism.

Anderson (Assistant Project Director):	How has all this made you feel toward the United States?
Hori (my aunt):	Before evacuation, it was swell, it was all right, just like other people. I felt good, but since being put in camp, it is something different.
Anderson:	As far as the future is concerned, do you feel that you could live your life here and be satisfied that you are an American?
Hori:	It is hard to tell right now.
Anderson:	You may feel that as a citizen you haven’t been treated right, but there is no question about your being a citizen. You are. Do I understand that the thing that you object to, you disagree with, is the fact you have been evacuated and have been required to live in a relocation center?
Hori:	Yes. As citizens we should be treated like other Americans.
Anderson:	You still think that under these conditions, you could be a sincerely loyal American, or do you feel that would make you feel a little bitter toward this country?
Hori:	(No reply)

Assistant Project Director Anderson continued to press the argument that it is a citizen’s responsibility to report for military service even though he or she is forced into a “relocation center” and that the two issues are separate and should not be confused.

Anderson:	Why do you think that you and your husband are any different than myself in regard to such an obligation? You think that I should go, but you feel you and your husband are justified in not going (to join the army).
Hori:	They should give us some of the rights back to us, and then it is all right for us to go.
Anderson:	What rights?
Hori:	Rights of the citizen. Free to go out like other Americans before evacuation. They shouldn’t force us into relocation centers.

Several members of the Leave Clearance Review Committee debated whether my aunt was truly a loyal American. One member wrote his review with underlined annotations for emphasis, “There are no indications of disloyalty, but rather a misconception of evacuation and Selective Service which has not been cleared up. If her husband and she are willing to suffer because of what they think American rights are, both would fight if they were given an understanding of the total picture.”What they think?  When I read this handwritten notation, I am amazed that people cannot see within themselves their own misconception about what American rights are.My aunt stayed in Heart Mountain, separated from her husband and her family in Tule Lake. When she found out her father was dying, she had to obtain permission to visit him.  Aunt Its told me once about the multiday train ride from Heart Mountain to Tule Lake. “The train was full of soldiers and nobody would give me a seat. Finally, one Japanese American soldier gave me a seat.” When she arrived at Tule Lake, the camp authorities recorded her fingerprints and took several mug shots. “ We were discriminated against. We were Japs,” Aunt Its said.There was another handwritten letter from my aunt in the government’s archives that stirs sadness within me. In her letter, my aunt emotionally pleaded with a government official to let her stay at the Tule Lake camp so that she could take care of her ailing father.“When I met him, I was so shocked to see him completely changed from the time we separated last,” my aunt wrote in her letter to the project director. “That really was terrible for me to bear. I feel so sorry for my mother, watching her care for my father and children also. It makes me feel that I want to stay here forever and help, but I’m afraid that is impossible. I do not know when I will meet them (the family) again, and probably by then, he’ll pass away.”My aunt was eventually given permission to stay at Tule Lake. She took care of her father until he died several weeks after the war ended.I was lucky to interview my Aunt Its before she passed away in 2007. Her controversial stories cover a topic that has been very difficult and painful for the Japanese American community. But, the stories also strike at the heart of the definitions of American identity, loyalty, equality, and justice. They have inspired me to ensure that her story, as well as the stories from others, are kept alive at JAMsj.In my eulogy to her, I said that my aunt took me on a wonderful journey, resulting in my coming  out as a different person on the other side.  Discovering these previously unknown letters let me travel on that remarkable journey with her one more time.  I hope that one day you will also find the “lost words” of a loved one so that you can embark on a similar journey.------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Contact: will@jamsj.orgLinks:To request "WWII Japanese American Internment and Relocation Records" from the National Archives: http://www.archives.gov/research/japanese-americans/San Jose Day of Remembrance: http://www.sjnoc.org/The Day of Remembrance commemorates  the anniversary of  Executive Order 9066 which led to the forced incarceration of 120,000 people of Japanese descent, two-thirds of whom were American citizens. Each year, we gather to remember that great civil liberties tragedy from over seventy years ago and each one of us reflects on what that event means to us today.The Day of Remembrance is an event that aims to bring different communities together in order to build trust, respect and understanding among all people and to renew our pledge to fight for equality, justice and peace.Other articles by Will Kaku:The Secret of Tule LakeLiving HistoryAn American Time CapsuleThe Echoes of E.O. 9066The Emotional Journey Into Camp Days    

Winter Boutique 2012 Artist Closeup: E. Fukushima

Winter Boutique 2012

JAMsj will hold its annual Winter Boutique on November 10, 2012. We sat down with one of the participating boutique artisans, Emi Fukushima, and talked to her about her products and her background.

Emi Fukushima

Creations by Emiwww.emiscreations.com

As a bilingual instructor in precious metal clay (silver clay), polymer clay, washi paper, and other materials, Emi teaches her techniques at stores and shows in the United States and Japan.JAMsj: How long have you been designing jewelry?Emi: I've been designing and making jewelry with fabric (especially kimono and obi fabrics) for more than 20 years. I mainly focus on jewelry at this time.  When I first started, I made other arts and crafts, which is my passion.  You can check my website (www.emiscreations.com) to see exactly what I did in the past.JAMsj: Why did you want to be involved in the JAMsj Winter Boutique?Emi:I have been participating in the JAMsj Winter Boutique ever since it started more than 20 years ago. It’s a great venue for JAMsj fundraising.  I mainly sell my jewelry at fundraising events.  Additionally, I am involved in other activities such as teaching, demonstrations and television programs showcasing my work (as noted on my website).  I have also taught workshops and classes throughout the U.S., including Hawaii, and in Japan.  I also teach and do demonstrations at major trade shows.JAMsj: Were you part of the evacuation and incarceration during World War II?Emi: Yes, I was incarcerated in the Tule Lake incarceration camp during WWII.  My memories of that time are very limited since I was quite young at the time.Click here for more information about the 2012 JAMsj Winter Boutique.

Winter Boutique 2012 Artist Close up: Cynthia Sasaki

Winter Boutique 2012

JAMsj will hold its annual Winter Boutique on November 10, 2012. We sat down with one of the participating boutique artisans, Cynthia Sasaki, and talked to her about her products and background.

Cynthia Sasaki

Cynthia Sasaki Designs

www.cynthiasasakidesigns.com

JAMsj: What products will you be showcasing at the Winter Boutique?

Cynthia: I am a jewelry designer. I love beautiful jewelry and how it makes a person feel when adding the special piece to their outfit to help them feel put together and confident.

 JAMsj: Why did you decide to participate in the JAMsj Winter Boutique?

Cynthia: Participating in the JAMsj Winter Boutique is an honor and a tribute to my heritage. I enjoy knowing that a percentage of my contributions go to such a worthy organization.

 JAMsj: Were you or someone you know incarcerated during WWII?

Cynthia: Both my parents and grandparents were incarcerated at the Rohwer, Arkansas incarceration camp. My father was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal  because of his duty as an MIS soldier.

Drop by the 2012 JAMsj Winter Boutique and say hello to Cynthia Sasaki. Click here to visit the JAMsj Winter Boutique web page for more information. 

Moving Days: The Japanese American Experience in the Santa Clara Valley

The Cupertino Library, a member of the Santa Clara County Library District, the Cupertino Library Foundation (CLF), and the Cupertino Historical Society are kicking off their third Santa Clara Valley History Collaborative exhibit and program series.  The Collaborative is excited to be working with two new community partners – the Japanese American Museum of San Jose (JAMsj) and the California History Center at De Anza College (CHC) to present  Moving Days: The Japanese American Experience in the Santa Clara Valley.  The exhibit will run through December 31, 2012 at the Cupertino Library. The purpose of the joint collaboration is to enhance and promote the historical richness of the Santa Clara Valley.“We are very grateful to the Japanese American Museum of San Jose for their generosity.  They have provided the Collaborative with access to a wealth of historical photographs, artifacts and artwork that poignantly portray several aspects of the lives of Japanese Americans in the Santa Clara Valley over the last 70 years,” notes Cupertino Community Librarian, Mark Fink. “We are fortunate to have the opportunity to bring this powerful and thought provoking exhibit and series of programs to the community. The Cupertino Library Foundation continues to be a catalyst in bringing us all together to share our resources.”The kickoff event of “Moving Days” is scheduled for Sunday, September 30, 2012 from 1:30pm – 3:00pm with a public reception beginning at 12:45 in the Cupertino Community Hall located at 10350 Torre Ave. Cupertino, CA.  The public is invited to this free panel discussion entitled “Local Japanese Americans Remember Life Before and During World War II.”The moderator for this panel discussion will be Darcy Paul, a Cupertino Historical Society Board Member.  Panelists will discuss life before WWII in the Valley, life in an internment camp, life as a drafted or enlisted soldier, and how these experiences have shaped modern day lives and experiences.A second event, Civil Liberties and the Japanese American Experience is scheduled for Sunday, November 18, 2012, at Cupertino’s Community Hall from 12:45pm-3:00pm with a program and panel discussion, moderated by Tom Izu, Director of the California History Center at De Anza College. Panelists will discuss and debate the merits of the Japanese Internment experience, and the lessons learned that are applicable to modern life in America.“I am especially pleased to join forces with the Santa Clara Valley History Collaborative to present these poignant stories, and to reflect on the lessons we can learn from these experiences,” said Izu. “Collectively, we find healing in the process, and valuable lessons for our youth. I hope many families will attend.”The staff of the Cupertino Library have put together some book lists that interested patrons and program visitors can consult for more information on the theme of Moving Days: The Japanese American Experience in the Santa Clara Valley. A Cupertino Library book club discussion on Farewell to Manzanar by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston  has been selected in conjunction with the program theme, and the art display walls located in the Cupertino Library will be dedicated to displaying images related to the theme as further described  on the Cupertino Library Foundation web site.For further information go to: www.cupertinolibraryfoundation.org and visit www.jamsj.org

Q&A with Common Ground Exhibit Curators, Connie Young Yu and Leslie Masunaga

Connie Young Yu and Leslie Masunaga are JAMsj guest curators. They are currently working on the new JAMsj exhibit,  "Common Ground: Chinatown and Japantown, San Jose," which will open in September of 2012. They sat down with interviewer, Nancy Yang, to discuss their vision for the exhibit.What inspired you to create this exhibit? Was there anything in your own life experience that drove you to create the exhibit? Connie:  I grew up hearing about my parents and their oral history.  My father was born on Cleveland Avenue (in Heinlenville, which no longer exists. Heinlenville was a Chinatown that would be located within the boundaries of present day San Jose Japantown).  He was in his twenties when he left the 6^th street settlement.  My father was actually there until 1937. So his memories were very strong.He remembered Japantown and having Japanese neighbors. He saw the transformation from Chinatown to Japantown. This is what I think is really exciting. I feel that this site of Cleveland Avenue, of Sixth Street, and Jackson Street  was the birthplace of the first Asian American community in Santa Clara Valley. It was no longer just Chinatown, and no longer just Japantown. More Asians moved in including Filipinos. This was really the first multicultural place.I think that the story (about Chinatown and Japantown) is very inspiring. You want to reach people in a way that they can understand and identify with, because the story is ultimately about people, and it’s about conflict and struggle.It’s important to realize that Chinatown and Japantown existed because of immigration restrictions. In 1972, I wrote this article called “Remembering 1882.” It was about the Chinese Exclusion Act, and there was a lot of research into the anti-Asian laws. There’s a lot of history and background to this site,  which still survives as Japantown, and the roots of that were in the Anti-Asian Laws.There was a fence that was built when Chinatown was new (an eight-foot high fence that was covered with barbed wire originally surrounded Heinlenville).  The fence was locked up every night by Charlie (community leaders hired Charlie, a white security guard who patrolled the area). Gradually, there was no fear of people who could come and burn another  Chinatown down. The fence was to protect the Chinese, he said, so no one could get in, and no one could get out.Leslie:  Basically, I was into the historic preservation of buildings, because they were tearing down all of downtown San Jose. And the building I was in, they tore up under it, so I got into history and got into general local history.The community doesn’t know its history. The individual histories aren’t there, much less the history of Japantown, Northside, and other neighborhoods. While we start developing things, everything gets wiped out. And people keep saying that San Jose has no soul and I say that’s because we keep erasing things. You don’t celebrate. You don’t build on something. You just keep wiping it out, and then it begins to look like everything else.The sad thing about San Jose is that just about all of the Chinese experience has disappeared. There are a lot of Chinese in the Valley, but there’s no particular Chinese place. There’s no town. There’s not even an event center.Now that these communities like Japantown are over 100 years old, it’s important to maintain what’s there.  We want the community to prosper, but we also want to celebrate and commemorate the past and what’s there.That’s great that you have those anecdotes about the interaction between the Japanese and the Chinese communities.Connie: These were Asian American activities, but the cultures of China and Japan are so different, and a perfect example is the theater. Chinese theater  is so elaborate  and Japanese theater is  very different. The Japanese had sumo wrestling, which the Chinese did not. There is an anecdote from a woman that I interviewed. She remembered that her mother said,  “there’s a half naked man down the street!” It  was a sumo wrestler doing an exhibition. They were very shocked because the Chinese never dressed like that.Leslie: This area was the center of the shopping, and the social life, and everything else. Even though all the Asians farmed, they would come here to do the shopping, to go to church, to do things, and some of it’s really interesting is to see where that interplay is. One of the things in the exhibit is a check that my grandfather wrote, but it’s made out to the Tek Wo board. Obviously they were trading with each other and they were buying from different stores, but they were very distinct communities. The interaction  wasn’t necessarily at the personal level; it was not necessarily that people would go to the same churches, or the same social clubs, but there was this community interplay.  Dr. Ishikawa (Dr. Tokio Ishikawa formerly owned the property where JAMsj currently resides) talks about buying lottery tickets from the Chinese that were around. And Grant Elementary School (near Japantown) was a mixed school. You can see the pictures.Why do you think that there is not a greater general awareness of early Chinatowns and Japantowns and how they have contributed to the present day?Leslie: The problem with history in schools, is that they try and cram in the big picture, the mainstream idea, and it tends to be East Coast dominated.Everybody hears about Ellis Island, but nobody hears really about Angel Island. Even  teachers don’t know.  They may know that these (Asian) people came in the 1850’s and that the Chinese worked on the railroads, but that’s it.The problem is, Connie’s book really is about the only book out there that’s about Chinatown in San Jose. So you don’t get the whole picture, you get one little story and then you have to go look for it.  We just don’t have a mechanism where people are learning the history.Connie: I always go back to the Chinese Exclusion Act. When you exclude a people, there’s a disconnect. Their immigration is interrupted. And when it’s interrupted, it becomes a blank story.After the exclusion law was repealed, people had a hard time talking about the past. The exclusion law separated families and excluded Asians from American society. When you’re excluded, you don’t write about it. You have no record, you are invisible. You’re not a citizen – you’re just a non-entity.From 1882 to 1943,  laborers were excluded and their history was obliterated. Most history is written from the point of the victors – the businesses, or the leaders. The laborers are omitted.And you know what happened - that’s why all the Chinatowns faded. It was a cultural center, and it was a home base for agricultural workers. So you have Chinese workers, and then Japanese, and then after when the Japanese were excluded and persecuted, you have the Mexicans, and then the Filipinos. There are people who specialize in labor history, and there are books on labor, but who would want to write about labor, except people who really were affected by it.

Heinlenville Exhibit Opens in September 2012

By Nancy Yang

This September, guest curators Connie Young Yu and Leslie Masunaga will unveil a special exhibit, "Common Ground: Chinatown and Japantown, San Jose," at JAMsj that focuses on the story of Heinlenville, San Jose’s last Chinatown. Yu is the author of Chinatown, San Jose, USA, now in its fourth edition.  The new JAMsj exhibit will focus on the personal story behind Heinlenville’s residents and chronicle that community’s relationship to and influence on current-day Japantown.The exhibit will feature artifacts from a 2008 Sonoma State University archaeological excavation of the Heinlenville site. Included in the collection are personal mementos of the curators, including a check made out by Masunaga’s grandfather to the Tuck Wo store, and objects from Yu’s family. There will also be a video associated with the exhibit that incorporates photos and interviews.The construction of San Jose’s last Chinatown began in 1887, several months after arson destroyed the Market Street Chinatown. Heinlenville was bordered by Fifth, Seventh, Jackson, and Taylor streets.  It was established at a time of great anti-Asian sentiment, amid calls by city leaders and citizens for the complete elimination of Chinese settlements within the city’s perimeters. Heinlenville was originally surrounded by an eight-foot high fence covered with barbed wire to protect the Chinese from anti-Chinese elements.The namesake of the town is John Heinlen, a German American immigrant and businessman who defied convention in the 1880s by agreeing to lease land to the Chinese and Japanese in San Jose. His defiant actions, made during a time when strong nativist passions were also rampant, still resonate with us today.“I feel San Jose should feel very proud,” Yu said. “Having someone like John Heinlen made a huge difference. If it weren’t for him, I think that we (San Jose) would probably have a very bleak racial image. He’s the greatest example of somebody doing good for the community and rising above (the racial turmoil). I feel that if we do anything, it’s to keep the history, the memory, and the inspiration of John Heinlen alive.”A shared emphasis of their past projects was a focus on community education, through both open houses and public outreach.  Yu recalls, “For two years in a row, Leslie and I did our own exhibit. We just put up picnic tables. We had the artifacts and memorabilia, and people could come by and take a look.”“There’s something tangible, in having something to touch and see,” says Masunaga about the artifacts. “It’s something that connects to you as opposed to seeing something in a book, or on paper, or something that just becomes very academic and very cold.” Tangible items, such as boar’s teeth, marbles, and jade bracelets, in conjunction  with photographs and anecdotes, help to elucidate  the daily life of Heinlenville.  This combination also  illuminates the quiet dignity of citizens, in the face of outside hostility.This personal approach to history is echoed in the Heinlenville exhibit, as the curators’ vision is to celebrate the colorful life and history of Chinatown and its relationship to present-day Japantown. “I think this is an opportunity to say that this place existed, in terms of a physical community,” says Masunaga. “We want to really bring that aspect forward and give more depth to the community that’s here today--not just to the Japanese American community, but also to the local scene--and to understand the interplay between the communities.”Masunaga notes the significance of telling the Chinese American story. “The sad thing about San Jose is that just about all of the Chinese experience has disappeared. There are a lot of Chinese in the Valley, but there’s no particular Chinese place. There’s no town. There’s not even an event center."Yu reflects on the deeper meaning of the exhibit, “It’s really an all-American story. They’d always say, ‘that’s your history,’ or they’d call it ethnic history. But I would say no. I’m talking about American history. And when Leslie talks about local history, she’s talking about our roots. It’s not strictly Asian American history, and it is not a story about ‘you guys.’”Both curators have deep roots in the Bay Area and have worked extensively together as a team. The two first met in 1990 when Masunaga was working as an archivist at the San Jose Historical Museum, and Yu was working on the book, Chinatown, San Jose, USA.

The Story of the 120,000 Tassel Tapestry

Leila Kubesh,  the teacher who inspired her 8th grade students to create the 120,000 Tassel Tapestry, will be coming to JAMsj on June 23, 2012 to talk about her project.The Story of the 120,000 Tassel Tapestry   By Leila Kubesch and Steve FugitaThe amazing story of the 120,000 Tassel Tapestry began in Indiana, where foreign language teacher Leila Kubesch taught French, Spanish, and Japanese to 8^th graders at Sunnyside and Tecumseh Middle Schools. As part of her responsibilities, Leila directed the foreign language club. Each year this club took on special interest projects.  The project that holds a special interest to JAMsj was the creation of a grand quilt commemorating the Japanese Americans who were incarcerated in concentration camps during WWII.Initially, Leila started teaching the history of Americans of Japanese Ancestry (AJAs) to encourage students to stop mocking Asians. She began by reading books such as The Bracelet and Hero. A few students were puzzled and asked, “Is this true?”  They had never heard anything about Japanese American history before.The students decided to turn the school courtyard into a Japanese Zen garden to honor the 100^th Battalion and 442^nd Regimental Combat Team. The next year, the second class added a large pond. In 2000, when the students learned about other military units like the 1800^th, the MIS, and 522^nd, they wanted them to be included, too. Their dream culminated in the building of a traveling exhibit that could be shown across America.  The exhibit would involve the making of  a very special quilt.During the first semester of the next academic year, the tapestry was started at Tecumseh Middle School. In the beginning, the students were often told, “It cannot be done.” Leila was even turned down for a grant on the grounds that the project was too ambitious. To initiate the project, the students obtained a comprehensive list of AJA veterans from military archives. Using this list, they mailed more than 3,000 letters to the veterans. Many of the recipients wrote back and even sent their historic mementos.When Leila moved to Sunnyside Middle School for the second semester, many students followed  so that they could continue working on the project. During the summer, students from both schools worked together until it was complete. This included weekends and holidays. Often, students and teacher went home past midnight. This brought the two rival schools, one well-to-do, the other inner city, closer together. Many of the students became good friends. Ultimately, 503 students from Sunnyside and Tecumseh Middle Schools worked on the quilt. When it was finished, it was proudly hung for the first time in the school gymnasium.The students named the quilt the 120,000 Tassel Tapestry to represent all of the AJAs who endured WWII injustices. It measures 19 by 41 feet, dimensions chosen to represent 1941, the  year in which Pearl Harbor was attacked. It comes in 12 panels and looks like a Japanese shop curtain called noren. Because someone told the students that the kanji for noren is similar to the word ”goodwill,”  they insisted on using the noren style. The tapestry weighs some 350 pounds.In 2008, Leila married and moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, where she teaches English as a Second Language at Sharonville Elementary School. But her Indiana students will never forget the special projects she inspired them to take on, in particular the 120,000 Tassel Tapestry. --------------------------------------------------------------Leila will talk about the 120,000 Tassel Tapestry at 1:00 p.m on  June 23 at JAMsj. Please reserve your seat by contacting the JAMsj office (408) 294-3138 or by emailing events@jamsj.org.

Juri Kameda Conquers All Odds and Lives Life to the Fullest

On Saturday, April 14, Juri Kameda jumped out of a plane to raise awareness and money and for the ALS Therapy Development Institute. Juri is a friend of JAMsj and her beautiful jewelry is sold in the museum's store.  JAMsj President Aggie Idemoto interviewed Juri before her jump.

Juri Kameda Conquers All Odds and Lives Life to the Fullest

By Aggie Idemoto

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jzYYeOMzIs]

Japan-born Juri Kameda immigrated to the U.S. and her life has since been one of transitions. Her most recent career change as a jeweler connected her to JAMsj.

Juri attended Japanese and Catholic schools in Japan until the fifth grade, when she transitioned to an American education. This change meant a shift in educational methodology and expectations, as well as languages. Juri is fluent in Japanese, English, Spanish and has a conversational grasp of Mandarin. With her diverse language skills, she aspired to work with the United Nations, but her parents steered her toward a career in medicine or technology. “There’s no money working for a non-profit,” they cautioned.After studying at Foothill Community College and U.C. San Diego with a major in cognitive science, Juri began her career as a certified respiratory care practitioner. She then moved into the technology world as a simultaneous translator. When her 2-year-old son started violin lessons and needed larger violins as he grew up, Juri began to make his violins herself. These experiences lead to her position with the Kamimoto String Instruments shop in Japantown, making and repairing violins and cellos.In her spare time, Juri plays the flute, and for the past ten years has been an avid abalone diver. She and her husband, Ken, are world travelers, making one major trip every two years.In 2005, she experienced the biggest transition of her life when she was diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease. This neurological disease causes muscle weakness, disability, and eventually death. There is no known cure. The news struck a devastating blow, but did not crimp any plans for Juri.During a trip to Helsinki three years ago, she discovered and was enthralled by a unique form of glass jewelry, which instantly inspired her to go into the making of glass jewelry. Her disability requires the assistance of a wheel chair, respirator, and service dog, but Juri has use of three fingers in both hands and puts her creative outlet, energy, and vitality for living into each of her hand-crafted creations.A jeweler for over a year, her creations are featured in the JAMsj store. She contributes 5% of her proceeds to ALS Guardian Angels.When asked what message she wants to shout out to others, she did not hesitate with the following: “Live life like there’s no tomorrow. Live for the moment and don’t dwell on the unknown.” Juri Kameda is a truly inspiring role model for all of us.On Saturday, Juri Kameda and her friend, Gloria Hale, a San Jose resident who is also diagnosed with ALS, made the jump to raise awareness for the disease. To make a donation in support of Juri Kameda , Gloria Hale,  and the ALS Therapy Development Institute, go to  http://community.als.net/skydiveforYFALS.

Bridging Communities the Oy Way

Long-time JAMsj supporter Harvey Gotliffe organized several Gathering of Friends events that brought together former Japanese American internees and Holocaust survivors so that they could discuss their own personal stories. At the first Gathering of Friends event in 2005, a Holocaust survivor was sitting next to a former Japanese American internee, and held up a sign and said, “This is my name in Japanese.” Her new found friend held up a sign that the survivor had made, and proudly proclaimed, “This is my name in Yiddish.”While few members of the Japanese American community were able to speak Yiddish, Harvey has published a book that might help resolve that situation. The Oy Way is an entertaining book that helps readers learn thirty-six Yiddish expressions while engaging in a restorative, meditative, moving exercise experience.If you want to learn about The Oy Way, just click here to get to the author's web site, and be prepared to speak a bisl  (bit of) Yiddish by the next Gathering of Friends.

Anniversary of infamy for American freedoms

Local journalist and writer Marty Cheek  has been a friend of JAMsj for many years.  Marty wrote the following article on the 70th anniversary of Executive Order 9066. This article was originally published in the Gilroy Dispatch on February 24, 2012.By Marty CheekLast Sunday marked an anniversary of infamy for American freedom.That sunny day in the South Valley marked 70 years since President Franklin D. Roosevelt gave the U.S. military broad powers to force 120,000 American citizens to leave their homes and possessions to be relocated behind the barbed-wire fences of concentration camps in desolate locations. I consider Roosevelt's decision on Feb. 19, 1942 to sign Executive Order 9066 one of the most atrocious failings by a U.S. president in upholding America's traditions of freedom and democracy.Many argued then - as some argue now - that the president was required to place American citizens of Japanese ancestry in internment camps during World War II as a national defense measure. Roosevelt defended his decision by saying the "successful prosecution of the war requires every possible protection against espionage." Refuting that argument is the fact that there was never one proven case of a Japanese-American citizen during the war participating in an action of sabotage, espionage or otherwise assisting the enemy. Considering the evidence that has emerged in recent decades, the true reason for the "evacuation" of Japanese-American citizens was racism and a desire by some to suppress economic competition.Not long after the evacuation started, and many of these citizens, including families in the South Valley region, were rounded up and taken to assembly centers. A music teacher in California's San Joaquin Valley wrote these words as part of a three-page statement he presented to U.S. Army officers at a hearing at the Presidio military base in San Francisco:"True democracy, while recognizing the right of the majority to rule, is also unique in the position established by the fathers of this country in recognizing the rights of the minority. That is the reason why the really democratic form of government is superior to all others. Democracy recognizes the right of the individual to freedom of conscience and religious worship. That right must be carefully guarded by all Christians and believers in true democracy. The spirit of democracy in this respect must not be destroyed in times of national stress or emergency. It is far too valuable to be lost by the efforts of those who have forgotten the real value of life."I happened to come across the document containing those words while going through a box of old papers. The irony struck me that I found the testimony the day before the 70th anniversary of President Roosevelt's signing of Executive Order 9066. The document had a double impact on me because I am reading the book "The Muslim Next Door: The Qur'an, the Media, and that Veil Thing" by Sumbul Ali-Karamali. As an event for the Silicon Valley Reads program, I'll conduct a public discussion of the book at the Morgan Hill Library on March 10.Sept. 11 is my generation's Pearl Harbor. The surprise attack by terrorists 10 years ago and its aftermath has parallels with the Japanese military's strike on the U.S. Navy base in Honolulu and the hysteria that spawned injustice for Japanese Americans. As part of the aftermath of Sept. 11, our nation is dealing with religious prejudice toward Muslim Americans. This prejudice has prompted some politicians to stir up the hysteria of 9/11 and promote legally sanctioned discrimination, in the form of anti-Sharia laws, against those who follow the faith of Islam.Political representatives in more than a dozen states have worked on legislation to outlaw traditional Islamic laws in the United States. Congresswoman Michele Bachmann has advocated the suppression of Islamic religious law, stating that the intention of Muslims is to "usurp" the U.S. Constitution with Sharia. And Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich has told supporters "Sharia is a mortal threat to the survival of freedom in the United States and in the world and we know it."Let me tell you about that teacher who wrote the statement for the U.S. Army hearing. He was a proud Republican because he believed that his political party exemplified the legacy of Lincoln, a legacy of liberty. That man was my father, Raymond Cheek. By the end of 1942, my dad would go to the Tule Lake Internment Camp in a high desert valley near the California-Oregon border to teach music to young Japanese-American children behind barbed-wire fences because they were considered enemies of the United States.America is an exceptional nation. In our past, we have risen above our racial and religious bigotries. To uphold our traditions of freedom and democracy, we must remember to do so again.-------------------------------------------------------------------------------Marty Cheek is a journalist who resides in the city of Morgan Hill. His father Raymond Cheek taught music at the Tule Lake Internment Camp. He can be reached at martin.cheek@gmail.com