Redress, nuclear testimony and a tribute to Shig Wakamatsu

Vol. 94, No. 13, April 2, 1982. 12 pages. View this issue

Redress ran through this 12-page issue. Robert F. Drinan, a member of the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians, wrote on the legal and moral case for reparations, and John Tateishi outlined the four elements of JACL’s redress position. The front page also carried testimony from four Hiroshima A-bomb survivors at Senate hearings on a nuclear weapons freeze, and plans for a tribute to Shig Wakamatsu, honoring 35 consecutive years of JACL leadership, at the 27th Biennial National JACL Convention in Gardena.

Elsewhere: a California committee approved a bill to pay $5,000 to state workers fired during World War II, Pacific Southwest redress workshops were announced, and an Amache memorial board elected officers. Harry Honda reported that Chinese Americans had passed Japanese Americans as the largest Asian group in the 1980 Census, and Bill Hosokawa, Bill Marutani and Sachi Seko wrote columns. Dr. Thomas Noguchi’s suspension drew coverage, and the Gila River reunion was announced.

What’s in this issue

National

• Hiroshima A-bomb Survivors Testify, Senate Urged to Limit Nuclear Arms, page 1. Four Hiroshima A-bomb survivors described the horrors of nuclear war at Senate hearings organized by Sens. Edward Kennedy and Mark Hatfield on a joint resolution for a nuclear weapons freeze. Clergy and officials followed, with Dr. Mitsuo Tomosawa giving a coherent account of the folly of preparing for nuclear war, while Asst. Defense Secretary Richard Perle reiterated administration opposition to the freeze.
• Noguchi Vows to Fight 30-day Suspension, page 1. Los Angeles County Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Thomas Noguchi was suspended without pay by the Board of Supervisors over allegations of mismanagement and unprofessional conduct, and he and his attorney Godfrey Isaac vowed to fight the suspension, calling it discriminatory and a ‘witch hunt.’ Allegations included mismanagement, excessive private consulting, and controversial remarks about the deaths of William Holden and Natalie Wood, which Noguchi defended as necessary for his job.
• Herald Poll Shows Support for Noguchi, page 1. A Los Angeles Herald Examiner informal telephone poll found 63% of nearly 7,000 callers did not think Noguchi should be fired, though the poll was not scientifically representative. Callers defended Noguchi’s service to the county while one critic called him wasteful of taxpayer money.
• Hsieh Pulls Out Bid for Congress, page 3. Tom Hsieh withdrew his bid for the 6th Congressional District seat at the urging of San Francisco Mayor Feinstein, who asked him instead to set up an advisory council on Asian appointments to city commissions. Hsieh criticized the Democratic party for not consulting the Asian Pacific Caucus when searching for candidates in a district with a 12% Asian population.
• Chinese Are Largest Asian Group in U.S., by Harry Honda, page 5. 1980 Census figures show Asian and Pacific Islander populations increased dramatically during the 1970s, with Chinese Americans surpassing Japanese Americans as the largest Asian group in the U.S. with over 800,000 compared to Japanese at 700,000. The article breaks down population figures by state and notes demographic trends suggesting Filipinos could become the largest group by the 1980s.

Community

• Preventive Detention Law Staying As Is, page 1. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to review the constitutionality of the D.C. preventive detention law, letting it stand. Court observers said this would free the Reagan administration and states to experiment with similar preventive detention proposals.
• Cherry Blossom Festival Set, page 1. San Francisco’s 15th annual Cherry Blossom Festival will be held April 16-18 and 23-25 in Japantown, featuring nine queen contestants and over 400 performers from Japan. Cyril Magnin will serve as grand marshal of the parade on April 18.
• U.S.-Japan Business News Head Plans Suit Against Kamai, page 3. The president of U.S.-Japan Business News announced plans to sue a Japanese vernacular publication editor for libel after being accused of being an INS informer regarding illegal alien raids in Little Tokyo. His attorney Frank Chuman said INS officials confirmed there was no record of him serving as an informant.
• ‘Mr. Flower Mart’ Feted in Retirement, page 3. Frank Kuwahara, longtime general manager of the Southern California Flower Growers, was honored at a retirement banquet attended by more than 400 floral industry members and community leaders at the New Otani Hotel. Mayor Tom Bradley was among those who praised Kuwahara as a leader in developing the floral industry.
• East Bay Center Plans Community Programs, page 3. The Japanese Community Center of the East Bay is seeking volunteers for upcoming programs exploring myths and realities of the Japanese American community, slated for May and June. Interested parties can contact Mike Yoshii at JCCEB for more information.
• Yori Wada Keynotes JA Demo Club Dinner, page 3. UC Regent Yori Wada will be the guest speaker at a Japanese American Democratic club dinner on April 3 at the Jack Tar Hotel in San Francisco. Wada’s involvement in local politics spans over 30 years.
• Asian Women United Plan Media Projects, page 3. Asian Women United, Inc. received a grant from the Women’s Educational Equity Act Program to produce four television programs and five booklets promoting educational and employment equity for Asian American women. The project targets Chinese, Filipino, Japanese, and Korean descent communities.
• Journalist Scholarships Offered, page 3. The Asian American Journalists Association announced its 1982 scholarship competition for high school seniors and college students pursuing journalism careers, with awards ranging from $250 to $1,000. Applications are due by May 21 and judged on academic achievement and community involvement.
• New Asian Social Agency Formed in L.A., page 3. The Family Service Agency of the Assistance League of Southern California launched a project to identify social service needs of Asian Americans in western Los Angeles County. Project director Emily Yamanaka began work last November with a two-year commitment from the Assistance League board to operate informational, social and health service programs.
• Nat’l Asian Media Group Organizing, page 3. The National Asian American Telecommunications Association launched its membership campaign in San Francisco with a reception attended by 150 media professionals. The organization grew out of a producers conference and has co-sponsored programming with National Public Radio including the documentary ‘Survivors’ about Hiroshima-Nagasaki A-bomb survivors.
• Foreign Language Programs on Public Radio Being Cutback, page 8. Public radio stations in San Francisco and Seattle are cutting foreign language programming, including a Cantonese program on KQED-FM and shows on Seattle’s KRAB-FM. Critics including Chinese for Affirmative Action’s Henry Der argued the cuts violate civil rights laws requiring equal access for non-English speaking citizens to publicly funded programs.
• Fowler Shows Documentary Film, page 8. Fowler JACL’s dinner meeting featured a documentary film on Japanese Fresno County Issei produced by the Fresno County Library. The chapter also reported on upcoming year activities including a scholarship deadline and community picnic.
• N-Y. Set for First Sakura Matsuri, page 10. New York’s first Sakura Matsuri festival will be held May 1-2 at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s esplanade of flowering cherry trees, described by George Shimamoto of the Japanese American Association of New York. The program will include a ribbon cutting, proclamation by Miss Tokyo, and exhibits of Japanese culture and martial arts.
• Lights Over Great White Way Tout More Products from Japan, page 10. Japanese companies are increasingly featured in advertising displays over Broadway’s Times Square, replacing American brands with products like Fuji Film, Toshiba, Suntory, Canon, and Panasonic. An advertising executive explained Japanese companies use these prominent signs as a ‘calling card’ approach when entering new markets.
• Wendy Yoshimura Fund Closed, $2,800 Balance Split Four Ways, page 12. Trustees of the Wendy Yoshimura Fair Trial Fund announced the closure of the fund, distributing the remaining $2,800 balance among Mr. and Mrs. Frank Yoshimura and three Japanese American redress organizations. The Fair Trial Committee had originally raised over $60,000 for Yoshimura’s defense following her 1975 arrest on weapons charges.
• Gila River Internees Plan Aug. Reunion, page 12. Central California Nikkei who were interned at Canal and Butte Camps in the Gila River Relocation Center will hold a reunion commemorating the 40th anniversary of the WWII evacuation on August 14-15 in Fresno. Over 400 participants are expected to attend the Hilton Hotel event.
• Arizona Reunion on April 23-25, page 12. A reunion of Japanese people who lived in Arizona before 1942 will be held April 23-25 at the Holiday Inn in Phoenix. About 200 people are expected to attend, organized by Tom Kadomoto.
• 82 Nisei Relays Scheduled June 6, page 12. The 1982 31st annual JACL Nisei Relays will be held at Santa Ana College on the first Sunday in June, with entry forms available and a deadline for registration. The organizing committee held its first meeting to plan the event.
• Tamura to Speak at San Diego Fete, page 12. Justice Stephen Tamura, recently retired from the state appellate court, will be the guest speaker at the 25th annual San Diego JACL scholarship awards dinner. The event celebrates student scholarship recipients.
• N.Y. to Buy Japanese Subway Cars for MTA, page 12. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority announced it will purchase 325 subway cars from a Japanese firm to replace 25-year-old cars on New York’s subway system. The new air-conditioned cars will represent a significant portion of the fleet.

Commentary

• Reparations and the Law, by Robert F. Drinan, page 2. A member of the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians examines the legal and moral rationale for providing reparations to Japanese Americans interned during WWII, citing precedents including Indian Claims Commission awards, the War Claims Act, and German reparations to Nazi victims. The author argues that although legal grounds are contested, the moral case for redress remains compelling given America’s acknowledgment of the wartime mistake.
• Three More Tries, Please, by Vernon Yoshioka, page 4. A JACL leader urges chapters to make at least three attempts to renew memberships, describing a successful San Diego chapter procedure involving newsletter contact, follow-up, and personal one-to-one outreach. He also discusses plans for an Anniversary Membership system to align renewal dates with mailing labels.
• Letterbox, by M. Yamanaka Iseke, Pete Hironaka, page 4. Letters to the editor include a reader questioning editor Harry Honda’s appearance in a syndicated comic strip and reflections on the WRA center reunions. Pete Hironaka of Dayton, Ohio congratulates Harry Honda for appearing in the comic strip.
• Colorado Perspectives on Contemporary Japan, by Bill Hosokawa, page 5. A symposium in Denver drew 250 attendees to hear speakers including Consul General Hiroshi Kitamura discuss contemporary Japan, part of ongoing efforts to improve American understanding of Japanese culture. The author praises the symposium’s success and Kitamura’s fluency and effectiveness as a cultural ambassador.
• Selecting Life’s Partner, by Bill Marutani, page 5. The columnist reflects on the Issei custom of parental involvement in selecting marriage partners for their children, where criteria like health, education, and financial standing took precedence over romance. He notes this practice was severely curtailed following the wartime disruption of Japanese American family structures.
• Returning to the ‘Year’s Flight 1945’, by Sachi Seko, page 8. The columnist reminisces about her high school yearbook from Gila River concentration camp, where she graduated in the camp’s last class of 1945. She reports on plans for a reunion of Butte High School’s Class of ’45 organized by Yo Tanaka Hiraoka.
• The Emperor and the Japanese, by Jin Konomi, page 10. The columnist recounts a postwar joke about Emperor Hirohito and General MacArthur’s nickname ‘O-heso Shogun,’ using it to explore the complex history of Emperor worship in Japan since the 1868 Meiji Restoration. He argues that many Japanese never truly believed in the Emperor’s divinity, challenging common Western assumptions about Japanese reverence for the imperial family.

JACL

• Redress Phase 4: Principle Elements, by John Tateishi, page 2. JACL’s National Redress Director outlines the four principal elements of JACL’s redress position: individual compensation, a community trust fund, reversal of Supreme Court decisions on Nisei cases, and public education. These objectives, established at the 1978 Salt Lake City Convention, will be the major legislative challenge for JACL in coming years.
• Wakamatsu Tribute Planned at National Convention, page 12. A national committee has formed to honor Shig Wakamatsu’s 35 consecutive years of JACL leadership at the 27th Biennial National JACL Convention in August, including his pivotal role in establishing the JACL-UCLA Japanese American Research Project (JARP). The project produced numerous books and scholarly works including Bill Hosokawa’s ‘Nisei: The Quiet Americans’ and preserved oral histories, documents and photographs now housed at UCLA’s Research Library.

Arts & Entertainment

• Prewar JA Photos to be Displayed at LAVC, page 3. Pre-World War II works by 22 distinguished Japanese American photographers will be displayed at the Los Angeles Valley College Art Gallery from April 26 to June 3. The exhibit will feature 60 surviving photos published internationally in the 1920s and 1930s before the photographers’ careers were interrupted by Executive Order 9066.
• ‘Quiet Thunder’ Radio Drama Completed, page 3. A full-length radio dramatization of Filipino labor leader and writer Carlos Bulosan titled ‘Quiet Thunder’ aired April 1-2 over KPFA-FM. The piece was written and directed by Norman Jayo.
• Shimoda Documentary Film in Production, page 3. John Esaki is directing a documentary film on the late Nisei actor Yuki Shimoda, discussing his distinguished career with actor Mako. The production from L.A.-based Visual Communications will include interviews with several prominent actors.
• Teenage Author Due on ‘Today Show’, page 8. Seventeen-year-old Nisei author Joyce Harada will appear on NBC-TV’s Today Show on April 14 to promote her newly published children’s book, It’s the ABC Book. The San Mateo High School senior will also appear on a Los Angeles television program.

Incarceration & Redress

• Race Bias in Ill. Hospital Charged, page 8. The JACL Midwest District Council’s legal defense fund is supporting Show-jen Horng’s affirmative action case against the University of Illinois Medical Center after she was twice passed over for promotion in favor of less qualified white candidates. Numerous Asian American and civil rights organizations have joined in supporting her case before the Illinois Human Rights Commission.
• Calif. Committee Passes Bill to Pay Fired State Nikkei Workers, page 8. A California assembly committee voted 5-0 to approve AB2710, a bill by Assemblyman Patrick Johnston to pay $5,000 to former state employees fired during WWII due to Japanese ancestry. About 340 Japanese Americans were fired, with roughly 100 survivors eligible for the proposed payment, and JACL’s Min Yasui praised Johnston’s efforts.
• PSW to Start Redress Remedy Workshops, page 8. The Pacific Southwest District Council of JACL will begin a series of Redress workshops for appropriate remedy on April 3 at Little Tokyo Towers. Input from these workshops will be submitted to the CWRIC for its forthcoming report.
• Officers Named for Amache Memorial, page 12. The Amache Memorial Project board of directors, representing eight local Nikkei groups, met in Denver to elect officers and organize committees for Memorial, Land, Historical Society/Highway marker, and Fund Raising efforts. Numerous community members were named to various subcommittees.

Military & Veterans

• Administrator’s Award for John Y. Yoshino, page 8. John Y. Yoshino, an Employment Opportunity Specialist with approximately three decades of government service, received the Federal Highway Administration’s Administrator’s Award for Superior Achievement. He was recognized for exceptional service implementing the agency’s External Summer Youth Program.

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