The 1983 redress debate: Inouye, Masaoka and the VFW commander’s remarks

Vol. 97, No. 5, July 29, 1983. 12 pages. View this issue

Redress filled the front page. Sen. Daniel K. Inouye wrote to the national commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, James R. Currieo, to answer his remarks on redress, and AMVETS and the Illinois American Legion also spoke up on the Japanese American side. Rep. Jim Wright announced he would co-sponsor redress legislation with Reps. Norman Mineta and Robert Matsui. Mike Masaoka and Chester Tanaka each wrote open letters to the VFW chief, and Harry K. Yamamoto and a reprinted Houston Chronicle editorial argued against cash payments.

Inside are reports from the Pan-American Nikkei Association conference in Lima, Peru, by Harry Honda, and Stanley Shikuma and Judy Niizawa on the first JACL leadership program in Washington. The issue also carried reunion notices, including Poston II and the Gila River camp’s Canal High School, and Little Tokyo plans to remember the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings. The National JACL Board approved a $194,564 budget for the 1984 redress push.

What’s in this issue

Incarceration & Redress

• Sen. Inouye Expresses Dismay Over VFW Chief’s Redress Stand, page 1. Sen. Daniel K. Inouye wrote a letter rebuking VFW commander-in-chief James R. Currieo for his opposition to redress, calling Currieo’s views based on a misinterpretation of facts and reminiscent of wartime sentiment. Inouye noted that Hawaii’s Japanese Americans were not mass interned despite comprising 30% of the population, showing that racism and hysteria, not military necessity, drove the internment.
• AMVETS Stunned at Opposition to Japanese American Redress, page 1. AMVETS national commander Robert Martin expressed shock that patriotic groups oppose the $1.5 billion redress payment recommended by the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians for the 60,000 Japanese Americans interned during WWII. Martin called it morally preposterous to suggest Japan should be responsible for reparations, saying the U.S. itself confined its own citizens unjustly.
• House Majority Leader Jim Wright to Co-Sponsor Redress Bill, page 1. House Majority Leader Jim Wright announced he will serve as joint sponsor of redress legislation being prepared by Reps. Norman Mineta and Robert Matsui, to be introduced in September. Wright, the second-ranking Democrat in the House, called the internment a ‘grotesque aberration’ and praised the heroics of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team.
• Canadian Redress Conference Set, page 1. The Japanese Canadian National Redress Committee will hold a conference September 24 at the Toronto Prince Hotel. Coordinator Kathy Uyeyama announced the event for those seeking redress in Canada.
• Poston II Reunion Scheduled, page 3. A reunion for former Poston II internees is scheduled for August 19-21 at the Sacramento Inn, with a full program including a mixer dance, picnic, banquet, and breakfast. Registration is $65 and includes a souvenir booklet; the host committee is led by Tsugio Yamamoto and Joan Kitamura Oki.
• A-Bomb Holocausts Being Remembered for 38th Year, page 3. The 38th anniversary of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings will be observed in Little Tokyo on August 6, featuring Christian and Buddhist services, speakers, and a candlelight procession sponsored by Asian Americans for Nuclear Disarmament and CABS. Miki Himeno, national JACL vice president, discussed volunteer work with a visiting Japanese medical team treating hibakusha survivors still suffering effects of radiation exposure.
• Tsurutas Continue to Assist Redress Drive, page 7. Ed and Jerrie Tsuruta of Atlas Farms raised an additional $305 for the National JACL Redress fund, bringing their total contribution to $1,405. Redress chairman Min Yasui and director John Tateishi expressed appreciation and noted the urgency of passing redress legislation before the 1984 presidential campaign begins.
• Portland Gathering Many Pro-Redress Resolutions, page 8. Portland JACL’s Redress Representative Walter Sakai secured numerous resolutions supporting redress from the Democratic Party of Oregon, Portland City Council, Multnomah County, Urban League, and several churches and labor organizations. Redress chairman Min Yasui and director John Tateishi praised Sakai’s self-initiated efforts as a monumental personal achievement.

Military & Veterans

• Illinois American Legion Backs Nisei Cause for Redress, page 1. Chicago Nisei Post 118 delegates to the Illinois American Legion convention received assurances from high-ranking Legion officers that the Nisei cause for redress would be supported at the national convention in Seattle. Officers expressed surprise at VFW commander Currieo’s anti-redress statement and pledged to support Japanese Americans if any anti-Nikkei resolution arose.
• VFW Letter Continued: Masaoka Details VFW’s Anti-Japanese History, by Mike Masaoka, page 9. This continuation of Masaoka’s letter details the VFW’s historic role in anti-Japanese immigration exclusion and discriminatory laws, while also crediting VFW members who later supported corrective postwar legislation. Masaoka criticizes Currieo’s ‘ill-timed, ill-advised’ statement for reviving old fears and hates against Japanese Americans.

Community

• Sao Paulo Asked to Host 3rd PANA Confab in ’85, by Harry Honda, page 1. At the second biennial Pan-American Nikkei Association conference in Lima, Peru, Brazil’s delegate Julio Kato pledged to host the III PANA conference in Sao Paulo in 1985. The gathering included a moment of prayer for a Canadian Issei delegate who suffered a heart attack, and commentary from directors representing Argentina, Bolivia and other nations.
• President Meets 2 PANA Delegates, page 1. Mitsu Sonoda and Veronica Ohara of West Los Angeles JACL met Peruvian President Bellaunde Terry at the Presidential Palace, presenting greetings on behalf of Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley. The meeting was arranged through a Lima contact and included discussion of the mayor’s wife’s charitable work for homeless children.
• Sac’to Legal Service to Observe 10th Anniversary, page 2. Asian Legal Services Outreach (ALSO) will celebrate its 10th anniversary serving the Sacramento Asian/Pacific community with an event featuring dancing, speakers, and cocktails on July 30. A reunion dinner precedes the celebration at Wong’s Islander Restaurant.
• PNW Nikkei Radio, page 2. A two-hour Japanese radio show was inaugurated July 10 over KKFX-AM in Seattle, breaking a 12-year silence for the area’s estimated 25,000 Japanese-speaking residents. The show airs from 7 to 9 a.m.
• Over 1,500 Register for Mt. Hermon, page 2. The annual Mt. Hermon Conference sponsored by the Japanese Evangelical Missionary Society drew over 1,550 registrants in Santa Cruz from June 19-25, with attendees from several states and Japan. Mrs. Marian Masada led a special camp for developmentally disabled youth for the ninth year, while Rev. Kazuhiko Amano and Rev. Harold Aihara led the Nichigo Conference.
• Cal First Net Income for ’83 Still Up, page 2. California First Bank reported second quarter net income of $4.8 million, up 12 percent from the prior year, with first-half 1983 earnings of $9.2 million. President Yasushi Sumiya attributed the improved earnings to increased net interest income and expense control.
• Lawyers Referral Plan Fund-Raising Dance, page 2. The Japanese American Bar Association Lawyer Referral Service will sponsor a fund-raiser dance featuring the band ‘The Riff Raffs’ on July 30 at the Elks Club. Donations will support the referral service organization which provides consultations and pro bono representation with Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles.
• Monterey ALS ’48 Grads Reunion Set, page 3. Graduates of the Monterey Army Language School’s 1948 Japanese language classes will hold their 35th year reunion August 6-7 at the Presidio. Pioneer MIS instructor Akira Oshida, nearing 42 years of continuous service, will be the guest speaker.
• Alameda Reunion in 1984 Being Planned, page 3. A Japanese American committee in Alameda has decided to host a reunion for the July 22, 1984 weekend for former residents, church members, JACL members, and sports club participants. Interested parties are asked to contact organizer Yas Yamashita for details.
• Gila Camp School Grads Plan Reunion, page 3. Graduates of Canal High School, which was situated in the Gila River WRA detention camp, will hold ‘Reunion-1983’ over the October 21-23 weekend at the South Coast Plaza Hotel. Annabelle S. Ishii is coordinating attendance.
• Bakersfield Reunion, page 3. Former and current Bakersfield residents will hold a reunion on an unspecified date at the New Otani Hotel, with information available through several listed contacts in Los Angeles, Bakersfield, and San Francisco.
• ‘Seabrook Associates’ Organized, page 3. ‘Seabrook Associates’ was established at a recent Los Angeles reunion to enroll former Seabrook (N.J.) Farm residents and their descendants now living on the West Coast. The first West Coast reunion in March drew over 300 attendees and was organized by Fuju Sasaki and Dick Kunishima.
• Atom Bomb Rally Slated Aug. 5, page 3. A Hiroshima/Nagasaki Eve Commemoration will be held August 5 at the Maryknoll Church auditorium in Little Tokyo, featuring survivors and anti-nuclear physicist Michio Kaku. The program memorializes the 200,000 deaths from the 1945 atomic blasts.
• L.A. County Cites Hibakusha Days, page 3. Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors chairman Michael D. Antonovich won unanimous approval for a motion establishing August 6 and 9 as days of remembrance for atomic bomb victims of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
• S.J. Community Groups Support CWRIC Findings, page 6. Five Asian American organizations in San Jose held a joint press conference supporting the CWRIC recommendations while noting shortcomings, including the exclusion of heirs of deceased evacuees. Representatives argued for a $25,000 minimum payment rather than the $20,000 recommended, calling it more symbolically meaningful compensation.
• Philadelphia JACL Home Picnic Slated, page 8. Local JACL members will picnic at the home of Tak and Yuri Moriuchi on July 30 from 2-7 p.m. Sim Endo is asking for donations to defray costs.
• Carson to Honor Scholars at Picnic, page 8. The Carson chapter will hold a picnic September 11 at Dolphin Park to honor scholarship recipients Annette Salinas, James Ma, and Mitzi Ann Mori, who received chapter scholarships.
• PANA Convention Opens in Lima, by Harry Honda, page 10. The 2nd Pan American Nikkei Association conference opened in Lima’s Civic Center Amphitheater with Carlos Kasuga welcoming roughly 600 delegates from ten nations. Carlos Kasuga was re-elected PANA president, and the board passed resolutions supporting JACL’s redress campaign and Canadian Nikkei redress efforts, while Brazil hoped to host the 1985 PANA-3 conference in Sao Paulo.
• Matsunaga Message to PANA Read, page 10. Sen. Spark Matsunaga’s message to the PANA convention, the only greeting from a U.S. government official, was read by staff assistant Esther Lee. Matsunaga expressed optimism that conference participants could demonstrate shared understanding across political and national differences.
• Canadian Issei Delegate Succumbs in Lima, page 10. Mr. Kawashiri, the Canadian Issei delegate to the PANA Convention from Toronto, died July 18 following a heart attack suffered during the Lima conference. His daughter and PANA director George Imai accompanied his body home to Canada.
• PANA Continued: Conference Cameos and Clatter, by Harry Honda, page 12. This continuation details personal anecdotes from the PANA conference, including a reunion of Peruvian Nisei schoolmates after 40 years and a visit to the Amano Museum showcasing pre-Inca textiles collected by the late Yoshitaro Amano. The piece also recounts tributes to the late Peruvian attorney Victor Tateishi and closes with the conference singing ‘Hotaru no Hikari’ in unity.

National

• Japan May Raise Vietnamese Refugee Quota, page 1. Japan may increase its permanent settlement quota for Indochinese refugees from 3,000 to 5,000 per year, according to the Mainichi Daily News. The move comes amid mounting complaints from ASEAN nations about Japan’s current limited acceptance of boat people.
• 35 Co-Sponsor Lowry Bill, Senate Slates July 27 Hearing, page 2. Rep. Mike Lowry’s redress bill HR3387, conforming to CWRIC recommendations, has gained 35 co-sponsors in the House, while the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee scheduled its first hearing on CWRIC recommendations for July 27. Witnesses included CWRIC chair Joan Bernstein, Sen. Alan Cranston, Lillian Baker, and JACL redress director John Tateishi.
• Wright Continued: Majority Leader Recalls Internment-Era Objections, page 5. This continuation details Jim Wright’s history of objecting to Japanese American internment since 1944, including his memories of the 442nd rescuing the trapped 36th Division in Italy. Wright, representing Texas’s 12th District since 1954, will be joined by Senators Inouye and Matsunaga introducing similar legislation in the Senate.

Commentary

• JACL Leadership Development: A Tremendous Learning Experience, by Stanley Shikuma, page 4. Stanley Shikuma reflects on JACL’s first Washington, D.C. Leadership Program, describing meetings with congressmen, lobbyists, and government officials that illuminated how power politics operates on a personal level in Washington. He raises concerns about the diminished role of justice considerations in political dealmaking and calls for more discussion of long-term strategies and grassroots support.
• East Wind: The Morning After, by Bill Marutani, page 4. Bill Marutani recounts his unsuccessful campaign for a seat on the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, describing the dedicated efforts of his Nikkei-supported campaign committee despite losing to the party-endorsed candidate. He reflects on the positive aspects of the experience, including increased political visibility for Nikkei and encouragement for other minorities to pursue political office.
• Against the Money, by Harry K. Yamamoto, page 4. Former Santa Ana councilman Harry K. Yamamoto argues it is unrealistic to expect Congress to approve cash reparations for Japanese American redress given the national debt and political pressures. He suggests only those who lost property or businesses due to evacuation should receive monetary compensation.
• Sushi in America, by Bill Hosokawa, page 5. Bill Hosokawa traces the surprising postwar popularity of nigiri-sushi in America, noting it was largely unknown to prewar Japanese American communities since most immigrants came from areas favoring nori-maki instead. He discusses a new instructional booklet on making sushi and the booming sushi restaurant trend among Americans.
• VFW Commander’s Stance Ires Nikkei GI, by Mike Masaoka, page 5. Mike Masaoka’s open letter protests VFW commander James Currieo’s statement opposing redress and apology for Japanese American internment, calling it insulting, slanderous, and reminiscent of racist wartime thinking. Masaoka, a 442nd volunteer, details the Commission’s bipartisan, credentialed composition and the historical anti-Japanese positions the VFW has held.
• Open Letter to VFW Chief, by Chester Tanaka, page 5. Chester Tanaka, author of ‘Go For Broke’, writes to VFW commander Currieo protesting the VFW’s declaration against reparations and apology, noting that no case of espionage or sabotage by Japanese Americans was ever proven. He cites Chief Justice Earl Warren’s admission that internment was his greatest career regret and calls for VFW retraction.
• Inouye Continued: Internment Based on Race, Not Security, by Daniel K. Inouye, page 5. This continuation of Inouye’s letter stresses that racism and wartime hysteria, not legitimate security concerns, drove the internment of Japanese Americans while German and Italian Americans faced no similar mass exclusion. Inouye states that as a citizen and veteran he deeply regrets that his government violated the civil rights of thousands of its own citizens.
• No to ‘Conscience Money’, by Houston Chronicle (reprinted), page 7. A reprinted Houston Chronicle editorial argues that while the CWRIC’s conclusion of injustice is valid, the proposed $20,000 payments amount to unquantifiable ‘conscience money’ that should not be approved by Congress. The piece contends internment hardship, while real, cannot be properly rectified through monetary payment.
• Nisei in Japan: U.S.-Japan Trade Relations, by Barry Saiki, page 12. Barry Saiki examines the concept of ‘free trade’ as interpreted differently by economists, politicians, and media, noting how vested interests in both the U.S. and Japan distort trade negotiations. He argues that U.S.-Japan trade issues require equitable, government-to-government agreements rather than emotional, media-driven hysteria.

JACL

• First Edition Impressive, by Judy Niizawa, page 4. Judy Niizawa describes the National JACL’s inaugural Washington D.C. leadership development workshop, which included meetings with Sen. Dan Inouye, Reps. Matsui and Mineta, and a VIP tour of the White House West Wing. She praises the program’s organizers and speakers for providing valuable insights into achieving influence in Washington.
• By the Board: A Peripheral View, by Miki Himeno, page 6. Miki Himeno reports on National JACL Board meetings including the Redress Committee’s difficult deliberations on amounts and heirs, a successful Ways & Means session launching the Mike Masaoka Fellowship fundraiser, and glowing reports from Washington Leadership Program participants. She also notes Frank Nishio’s proposal to change the organization’s name terminology.
• Youth Menu Set for EDC-MDC Confab, page 6. The EDC-MDC JACL Convention in New York August 11-14 will feature youth-oriented activities including workshops on internment history, barefooting in Central Park, and budget lodging at a Buddhist Church. Deputy Mayor Carol Bellamy will serve as dinner speaker.
• Denver’s Scholarship Winners, page 7. What began as a single Mile-Hi JACL scholarship in 1956 has expanded into a community-wide program sponsored by 24 organizations, awarding 35 scholarships ranging from $100 to $1,000 to deserving high school graduates. The photo shows the numerous winners from various Denver-area high schools.
• JACL Redress Group Sets Aug. 5 Meeting, page 7. Harry Kajihara, Pacific Southwest district chair for JACL Redress, will give an update on monetary payment proposals on August 5 at the Japanese American Cultural and Community Center. Mental health resource people will also discuss psychological impacts suffered by wartime victims.
• JACL Board OK’s Budget for ’84 Redress Push, page 7. The National JACL Board approved a $194,564 budget for the redress committee to unify Nikkei community support and campaign before the 1984 convention in Hawaii. The budget covers personnel, operations, rent, program materials, meetings, and convention-related expenses across national and Washington D.C. offices.
• National JACL Officer Resigns Post, page 8. Vernon T. Yoshioka resigned as national JACL vice president for membership to run for San Diego Community College board of trustees. If elected, Yoshioka would be the first Nikkei and only Asian American ever elected in San Diego.
• Over 100 JACLers Attend PANA Conference, page 10. A contingent of 116 JACLers, relatives and friends led by National JACL President Floyd Shimomura attended the 2nd PANA convention in Lima, Peru from July 14-17. The article lists the extensive passenger roster of attendees from various JACL chapters.

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