Claims, citizenship and a Nisei Week queen contest in 1953

Vol. 37, No. 6, August 7, 1953. 8 pages. View this issue

Congress and the JACL Washington Office were busy on the front page. Mike Masaoka reported on funds for evacuation claims awards, the Senate’s extension of the filing deadline for vested property, and a refugee measure that covered repatriated Japanese. Another story told how Senators Magnuson and Morse objected to a bill that would have voided yen debt claims. Lawrence Nakatsuka wrote about Seattle’s welcome for the Governors’ Conference, and Henry Mori covered the five finalists in the Nisei Week queen contest.

Elsewhere in these eight pages are reports on flood damage in Japan and Canadian Japanese aid for its victims, Masaoka’s columns on the deaths of Sens. Taft and Tobey, and Larry Tajiri’s thoughts on Nisei writers Roku Sugahara and Carl Kondo. A Distinguished Service Cross for M/Sgt. Edward M. Ishibashi, a swim meet in Japan with Ford Konno and Yoshi Oyakawa, and a Madame Butterfly review fill the inside pages.

What’s in this issue

National

• Queen Finalists Chosen; Public Now Selects Nisei Week Queen, by By HENRY MORI, page 1. Five finalists were selected for the Nisei Week queen contest after a panel of Hollywood judges interviewed ten candidates in Pasadena. The coronation takes place August 16 at the Hollywood Palladium, with the winner determined by popular vote through August 15.
• Senate Approves Bill Extending Deadline for Filing Claims Against Vested Property, by P.C. Staff, page 1. The Senate passed legislation extending by one year the deadline for filing claims for return of property vested by the Alien Property Custodian, a measure JACL endorsed. JACL argued that many persons of Japanese ancestry were unaware of the filing deadline and should not lose their property for that reason.
• White House Gets Bill Providing Evacuation Claims Awards Payment, by P.C. Staff, page 1. Congress sent to the White House a supplemental appropriations bill with over $8 million for evacuation claims awards and compromised settlements. The JACL Washington Office reported the awards, which were largely pre-adjudicated and would otherwise have waited until next year.
• Dismissal of Yen Claims Bill Fails to Pass, by P.C. Staff, page 1. At JACL request, Senators Magnuson and Morse objected to Senate passage of a bill sponsored by Sen. Dirksen that would have voided all yen debt claims against the Office of Alien Property. JACL argued the measure would have deprived roughly 20,000 Issei and Nisei of having their claims adjudicated on their merits.
• Congress Approves 1954 Funds for Claims, Immigration, Alien Property, by P.C. Staff, page 1. Congress approved fiscal 1954 administrative appropriations for evacuation claims, the Immigration and Naturalization Service, and the Office of Alien Property. The JACL said the funding should speed naturalization of Issei and expedite immigration under the McCarran-Walter Act.
• Flood Waters Ravage Japan, by P.C. Staff, page 2. Continuous rain and flooding in July devastated Japan, particularly Kyushu, and the disaster extended to Nara, Gifu, Nagano, Shizuoka, Tokyo and Hokkaido. Damage was estimated at 150 billion yen, and the calamity raised prices and deepened food shortages.
• Control of Senate, by MIKE MASAOKA, page 2. Masaoka analyzes how the deaths of Senators Tobey and Taft affect Senate control, noting Sen. Morse’s pledge to vote with the GOP would produce a tie broken by Vice-President Nixon. He also discusses Sen. Knowland’s bid to succeed Taft as Majority Leader.
• Congressional Adjournment, by MIKE MASAOKA, page 2. Masaoka reports that the death of Sen. Taft and the President’s debt limit demand delayed congressional adjournment. He assesses JACL’s legislative successes this session as more impressive than anticipated.
• Bills Introduced to Rewrite McCarran-Walter Immigration Act, by P.C. Staff, page 2. Congressional opponents introduced bills to rewrite the 1952 McCarran-Walter Act, which JACL had supported as the best obtainable and which first gave Issei naturalization rights and Japan immigration quotas. The proposed bills would eliminate the National Origins Quota System in favor of a unified quota of 251,000 persons annually.
• Japanese Included as Refugees in Measure OK’d by Congress, by P.C. Staff, page 3. The Refugee Relief Act passed by Congress includes provisions allowing up to 3,000 non-quota visas for Asian refugees, including repatriated Japanese. Mike Masaoka says the language covers Japanese even though they are not named, marking recognition of the JACL principle that Asians should be included in immigration law.
• L.A. Mirror Still Asks for Statehood, by P.C. Staff, page 5. The Los Angeles Mirror editorialized that separation from the mainland is not a valid argument against Hawaiian statehood. It urged statehood in the next session of Congress and rejected racial background as a barrier to American democratic ideals.

Community

• Seattle’s Brand of Hospitality Elates Honolulan, by By LAWRENCE NAKATSUKA, page 1. Lawrence Nakatsuka, press secretary to Hawaii Gov. Samuel Wilder King, praises Seattle’s hosting of the 45th Governors’ Conference. He reflects on the lavish welcome and wonders whether Hawaii’s hospitality might suffer by comparison.
• 141 San Jose Issei File for Citizenship, by P.C. Staff, page 1. Petitions of 141 Issei seeking American citizenship were filed in San Jose after a two-day preliminary hearing at San Jose High School. Attorney Wayne Kanemoto of the San Jose JACL citizenship committee assisted with the district court hearing.
• Purged Japanese Diplomat Granted U.S. Quota Immigrant Status, by By TAMOTSU MURAYAMA, page 1. Former Japanese consul and charge d’affaires Tatsuo Yonegaki was granted a quota-immigrant visa to join his daughter and American-born wife in the United States. He had been imprisoned in China and Sugamo Prison after the war and is known as a friend of Nisei on the West Coast.
• Fire Damages Koda Rice Mills, by P.C. Staff, page 2. Fire destroyed the Koda Farms rice mill and an adjoining warehouse in South Dos Palos on July 30. Losses were estimated near $250,000, and the blaze started on the ground floor of the mill being readied for harvest.
• New Fresno Nisei VFW Post Formed, by P.C. Staff, page 2. The Sierra Nisei Post 8499 was established in Fresno with Gary Kadani as first commander. The post will be formally instituted in October with officers listed and installation by Nisei Liberty Post 5869 of Hanford.
• Seattle’s Brand of Hospitality Continued, by By LAWRENCE NAKATSUKA, page 3. Nakatsuka describes the Governors’ Conference program, including the presence of President Eisenhower, business sessions, and Seafair festivities. He reports Hawaii’s governor found the territory’s new state constitution advanced compared with other states.
• Nisei Cameraman Home from World Tour, by P.C. Staff, page 4. Toge Fujihara, photographer for Allen Shilin Productions, returned to New York after a ten-month, roughly 40,000-mile world tour that produced 100,000 feet of color film. He describes extreme heat in Pakistan, the caste system in India, and visits to Japan, Turkey, Greece and Rome.
• Canadian Japanese Aid Japan Flood Victims, by P.C. Staff, page 5. Toronto Japanese Canadians raised over $2,000 for Japanese flood victims and forwarded $1,000 to the Japanese Embassy in Ottawa. The funds were converted to U.S. dollars and transferred to the Japanese Red Cross.

Commentary

• Sen. Robert A. Taft, by MIKE MASAOKA, page 2. Washington JACL representative Mike Masaoka remembers Sen. Robert A. Taft, who consistently supported remedial legislation benefiting persons of Japanese ancestry. Masaoka notes Taft was one of the few lawmakers in 1942 who questioned the validity of the wartime evacuation.
• Flood Waters and Relief, by P.C. Staff, page 2. The writer describes the devastating floods in Japan and blames the Yoshida cabinet for failing to fund flood control projects. The article calls for relief aid from Japanese Americans to be sent through the Japan Red Cross.
• Sports Notes and Capsules, by P.C. Staff, page 6. Brief sports and community notes cover a Nisei baseball club in San Mateo, a Japanese pro baseball debut, and Chicago women’s baseball. Also noted are golf results and other local sporting events.
• Editorials: Impossible Pn Tees, by P.C. Staff, page 8. The editorial argues that Japanese Americans should press for fair treatment, citing the successful inclusion of Japanese in the Refugee Relief Act despite prior skepticism. It also urges the JACL to continue advocating for Nisei strandees who lost citizenship through postwar Japanese elections.
• Very Truly Yours, by Harry K. Honda, page 8. The column examines Japan’s National Safety Force, a 110,000-man force trained by American officers with military equipment despite the constitution’s ban on war. It notes public confusion over whether the force is in fact an army.
• Speedup Desirable, by P.C. Staff, page 8. The editorial praises the San Francisco naturalization office’s group examinations for Issei applicants and urges faster processing for aging Issei. It asks that naturalization offices give special consideration to elderly applicants.
• From the Frying Pan, by Larry Tajiri, page 8. Larry Tajiri writes about enjoying the first local sweet corn of the season in Denver and compares it with Iowa corn. He also reflects on family food preferences, including Chinese cuisine and steak dinners.
• Vagaries, by Larry Tajiri, page 8. Tajiri proposes a memorial volume honoring Nisei writers Roku Sugahara and Carl Kondo, whose columns chronicled the Nisei experience. He notes the importance of the Nisei press during and before the war.

Incarceration & Redress

• Congress Approves Claims Payment Funds, by Mike Masaoka, page 2. Masaoka explains that Congress preserved funds for the Japanese claims section and the twelve larger-than-$2,500 awards were considered due to a Presidential request. He also urges Nisei to contribute to the JACL National Endowment Fund from their evacuation claims payments.

Military & Veterans

• DSC Posthumously Given to Nisei, by P.C. Staff, page 3. Mrs. Elizabeth Soma accepted the Distinguished Service Cross for her son M/Sgt. Edward M. Ishibashi, killed leading an attack on Heartbreak Ridge in Korea. Five other Nisei servicemen also received awards for gallantry in Korea at the ceremony at Fort Shafter.

Sports

• Oyakawa Double Winner in Japan Swim Meet; Konno Wins 400, by P.C. Staff, page 6. Japanese swimmer Katsuji Yamashita defeated Olympic champion Ford Konno in the 1,500 meters at the Japan National Championships. Konno won the 400-meter freestyle, while Yoshi Oyakawa won both backstroke events and Gerald Harrison won the diving.
• Harbor Skippers Win 7-3 Over Lodi A.C., by P.C. Staff, page 6. Tee Okura pitched six scattered hits and seven strikeouts to lead the Harbor Skippers to a 7-3 victory over Lodi A.C. at Skipper Field. A three-run third inning and three more in the fourth decided the game.

Arts & Entertainment

• Unique but More Genuine Staging of Mme. Butterfly Delights First-Nighters, by P.C. Staff, page 7. The Fujiwara Opera Company’s performance of Madame Butterfly in Japanese at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles was praised for its authentic staging and cast. Michiko Sunahara’s lead performance and the performers’ natural presence drew strong audience response.

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