Community centers, Little Tokyo and Title II repeal in 1971

Vol. 72, No. 14, April 9, 1971. 6 pages. View this issue

Community building filled the front page of this six-page issue. Little Tokyo, Venice, Diablo, West Covina and San Francisco’s Nihonmachi all had center or redevelopment news: a planned $5-million shopping area in Little Tokyo, a fund drive at $225,000 toward $250,000 in Venice, and ground broken in Concord. National JACL President Raymond Uno wrote about a visit to Los Angeles and the JARP meeting. Mike Masaoka reported on the three-year campaign to repeal Title II of the Internal Security Act, with a 27-page House committee report on the other side.

Also inside: a critique of the textbook Japanese Americans: The Untold Story, a Bill Hosokawa column on the Weddell story, Allan Beekman’s account of Iva Toguri d’Aquino and the Tokyo Rose broadcasts, and Bill Marutani’s East Wind column on the Indochina War. An Oregon creek regained its old name after a complaint from Ted T. Inouye, and Riverside’s Mayor Ben Lewis planned to show films of Sendai.

What’s in this issue

Commentary

• Right or Wrong, My JACL?, by Raymond Uno, page 1. National JACL President Raymond Uno reflects on his visit to Los Angeles, meetings with the JARP committee, and the importance of pragmatic results over style. He also publicly apologizes to the JARP committee for his blunt demands while expressing hope that UCLA commitments will be kept.
• JACL protests CBS-TV program use of ‘Jap’, by P.C. Staff, page 1. JACLer George Yoshida and the Selanoco chapter planned to file a complaint with CBS over the use of the racial slur ‘Jap’ on the program ‘All in the Family.’ The chapter objected to the epithet’s use in the broadcast.
• Nisei: Wedding of Oriental and Occidental values in the Weddell story, by Bill Hosokawa, page 3. Bill Hosokawa recounts how Chicago industrialist John Weddell and his wife Marion, after initially rejecting Japanese applicant John Kitazaki, developed a lifelong friendship with him. The story illustrates how an open heart and mind can transform relationships and foster cultural understanding.
• Untold Story critique: a harmful book, by P.C. Staff, page 4. A detailed critique argues that the textbook ‘Japanese Americans: The Untold Story’ presents a misleadingly success-centered and religiously biased picture of Japanese Americans. It also identifies factual errors, omissions about Buddhism and Shinto, and the neglect of women and social problems.
• Ye Editor’s mad: Flow chart for JACL memos, by Harry K. Honda, page 6. The editor presents a flow chart showing how JACL correspondence is routed through the National Executive Committee and its officers. He also discusses the funding of standing committees and whether they should become self-sustaining.
• Japanese visitors out of funds here inviting trouble, by Kats Kunitsugu, page 6. A Kashu Mainichi columnist describes two Japanese visitors on tourist visas who were exploited while working illegally as waitresses in a Little Tokyo restaurant. The column urges the girls to seek help from JACS Legal Aid and calls for prosecution of the employer if the account is true.
• Letters: Special need for Tahiko Laukkanen in Urbana nursing home, by Mrs. O. H. Barnes, page 6. A letter writer asks Japanese Americans to befriend Tahiko Laukkanen, a Japanese-born woman paralyzed by a tornado who lives in a nursing home in Urbana, Illinois. The writer proposes regular visits, letters, and a support fund for her.
• Thoughts on the draft, by Robert Hideo Iwanabe, page 6. A reader proposes drafting women in families with surplus daughters as a satirical solution to the draft and the war cycle. The letter mocks gender imbalance arguments in military conscription.
• Caen raises Cain, by Clifford L. Uyeda, page 6. Clifford Uyeda writes to correct a Herb Caen column that attributed a derogatory statement about Dr. Hayakawa to Dr. Kazue Togasaki. He says the statement was incorrect and that Jerry Enomoto was the principal speaker at the banquet honoring her.
• East Wind: Indochina War, by Bill Marutani, page 6. Bill Marutani argues that taxpayers who fund the military become accessories to the violence of the Indochina War. He contrasts his patriotism with his opposition to the atrocities committed in Vietnam.

Community

• San Francisco Nihonmachi push for community center, by P.C. Staff, page 1. At a March 21 town meeting, San Francisco residents unanimously endorsed plans for a Nihonmachi community center at Sutter and Buchanan, with three proposals presented. A steering committee of over 50 members will meet April 21 to advance the project.
• $5-million shopping area in Little Tokyo planned, by P.C. Staff, page 1. The Little Tokyo Development Co. has formed to pursue an estimated $5 million commercial venture within the First Action Area of the Little Tokyo Redevelopment Project. The 100,000 square foot shopping center is scheduled to begin construction in early 1972.
• East San Gabriel Valley Japanese plan $200,000 push for new community hall, by P.C. Staff, page 1. The East San Gabriel Valley Japanese Community Center in West Covina announced a $200,000 campaign to build a multi-purpose gymnasium and classroom building. The center currently serves 17 organizations from a single church building.
• Riverside JACL backs revisions to ‘Untold Story’, by P.C. Staff, page 1. The Riverside JACL chapter board endorsed a revised version of the textbook ‘Japanese Americans: The Untold Story’ submitted by the Japanese American Curriculum Project. The chapter also completed a rebuttal to the Stanford University Asian American Alliance critique.
• Venice Community Center fund drive hits $225,000, by P.C. Staff, page 1. The Venice Japanese Community Center fund drive has reached $225,000 toward its $250,000 goal for a new building on Braddock Drive. Fund co-chairmen Dr. Mitsuo Inouye and Dr. Richard Saiki said another $25,000 is needed.
• Little Tokyo Center elects Mukaeda head, by P.C. Staff, page 1. The Japanese American Cultural and Community Center board elected Katsuma Mukaeda as its first president. The center will include a 1,200-seat theater, gymnasium, and office building as part of the Little Tokyo redevelopment project.
• Ground broken for Diablo community center, by P.C. Staff, page 1. The Diablo Japanese American Community Center broke ground on a new $200,000 two-story center in Concord on March 19. The design by Harry Nakahara features a Japanese-style roof, completing a 14-year dream.
• Nancy Matsumoto reigns as Cherry Blossom queen, by P.C. Staff, page 1. Kaori Nancy Matsumoto, 19, was crowned queen of the 1971 San Francisco Cherry Blossom Festival at a Kabuki Theater pageant. Jo Anne Takeuchi of West Sacramento was named Miss Congeniality.
• Sacramento JACL presses United Crusade for aid, by P.C. Staff, page 1. The volunteer-staffed Asian Community Services requested $50,000 from the Sacramento Area United Crusade to serve elderly and recent immigrants. Sacramento JACL chapter president Frank Iwama said the Asian community has not been adequately served by existing agencies.
• Buddhist minister’s home set afire, police find two gas-filled bottles, by P.C. Staff, page 1. The home of Rev. Toru Kakimoto, minister of the San Mateo Buddhist Church, was firebombed on March 29 with gasoline bottles. Police could not determine a motive, and the fire caused only minor damage.
• Los Rios (Sac’to) college job vacancies revealed, by P.C. Staff, page 4. Following JACL efforts, the Los Rios Community College District released lists of administrative and teaching vacancies seeking Asian candidates. Interested persons were directed to the district personnel office with an application deadline noted.
• Riverside Mayor to show films on Sendai, by P.C. Staff, page 4. Riverside Mayor Ben Lewis will address the Riverside JACL general meeting on April 24 and show films and slides from his visit to sister city Sendai. The meeting will also consider ratification of a revised chapter constitution.
• Issei program in WLA features five speakers, by P.C. Staff, page 4. The West Los Angeles JACL and City Recreation and Parks Department sponsored an Issei program on April 4 with five speakers covering Social Security, housing, medical programs, and welfare. Attendees also registered for a flower viewing outing.

National

• Richmond lowers height limit for firemen, police, by P.C. Staff, page 1. The Richmond City personnel board voted 3-2 to lower the height requirement for policemen and firemen by one inch, reversing an earlier decision. Organizations including the Contra Costa JACL had pushed for the change to broaden recruitment.
• Uhlberg paper on population growth compares Nisei with blacks, Chicanos, by P.C. Staff, page 1. At a State Assembly-sponsored seminar in Davis, sociologist Peter Uhlberg presented a paper linking family structure to minority economic advancement, comparing Japanese Americans with blacks and Mexican Americans. Several participants criticized the paper for ignoring discrimination and institutional barriers.
• Title II repeal campaign steps up, by Mike Masaoka, page 2. JACL’s three-year campaign to repeal Title II of the Internal Security Act reached a new stage as the House Internal Security Committee filed its report opposing repeal. The House Judiciary Subcommittee No. 3 unanimously ordered a repeal bill reported on April 1.
• HISC issues 27-page report against repeal, by P.C. Staff, page 2. The House Internal Security Committee issued a 27-page report on March 30 accompanying HR 620, which amends rather than repeals Title II. Minority views opposing the committee’s position were written by Drinan, Fascell, and Preyer.
• Oregon creek gets its old name back, by P.C. Staff, page 2. A creek in Ochoco National Forest in Crook County, Oregon, which had been named ‘Jap Creek,’ regained its earlier name Bull Run Creek. The change followed a complaint from Ted T. Inouye, Fremont JACL president and USGS cartographer.
• PSWDC calls for rescission of Calif. orders on alien welfare, by P.C. Staff, page 2. The Pacific Southwest District Council of JACL asked California welfare authorities to rescind Manual Letter 155, which restricts welfare aid to certain aliens. The directive took effect January 1.

Military & Veterans

• Postscript on the Mutsu, by Sakura Seript, page 3. The column reflects on the Japanese battleship Mutsu, which exploded in 1943 killing most of its crew, and on the survivors and relatives who still remember the loss. It notes the wreck’s turret was preserved on display in Hiroshima Prefecture.
• Nisei aeroscientist named Convair Aerospace San Diego engineer of year, by P.C. Staff, page 3. Dr. Hideo Yoshihara, a Nisei aerodynamics researcher, received Convair Aerospace San Diego’s 1970 Engineering Achievement Award for developing new airfoil designs for transonic flight. He is now a candidate for General Dynamics’ corporate design achievement award.
• Missouri honors Nisei Air Force subcabinet man, by P.C. Staff, page 3. Dr. F. Robert Naka, deputy undersecretary of the Air Force, received a 1971 Missouri Honor Award for Distinguished Service in Engineering from the University of Missouri. Naka’s radar work at MIT contributed to the DEW line.

Obituaries

• Heaths, by P.C. Staff, page 4. The Heaths column lists brief death notices for community members including Hisajiro Inouye of San Jose and Harry Tomoro Tomio of Los Angeles. Each entry notes the person’s community contributions.

In-Depth

• Tokyo Rose was protégée of U.S. Army Captain, by Allan Beekman, page 6. The article recounts how Iva Toguri d’Aquino, a California-born Nisei trapped in Japan during the war, was recruited by a captured U.S. Army captain to broadcast propaganda as ‘Tokyo Rose.’ It details her treason trial, conviction, and the reopening of efforts to collect her fine.

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