A Day of Remembrance special edition: testimony from the CWRIC hearings

Vol. 98, No. 6, February 17, 1984. 12 pages. View this issue

The front page of this Day of Remembrance special edition carried Judge William Marutani’s account of the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians hearings, which gathered testimony from some 750 witnesses. The testimony continued on page 4, where Issei and Nisei described FBI arrests, family separations and the effects of Executive Order 9066. Redress ran through the issue: Ron Wakabayashi asked who pays, Minoru Yasui appealed for contacts in states without a JACL chapter, and Bill Marutani wrote on whether redress money is a matter of haji, or shame. A front-page article reported on redress plans among Japanese Canadians in Winnipeg.

Other pages include a reprinted 1945 look at the slang that grew up at Tule Lake, a Min Yasui testimonial dinner in Denver with Rep. Robert Matsui as speaker, and Go For Broke, Inc.’s plan for a national fundraising campaign for 100th/442nd history. The paper also covered a PBS documentary, Harry Honda’s Little Tokyo Life series, and Sen Nishiyama’s report on novelist Toyoko Yamasaki’s talk to the Japan Chapter of JACL.

What’s in this issue

Incarceration & Redress

• ‘Gut-Wrenching’ Testimony of Twenty as Heard by the CWRIC, by William Marutani, page 1. Judge William Marutani recounts testimony delivered at the Washington D.C. JACL installation dinner about the CWRIC hearings held across the country in 1981, which gathered gut-wrenching accounts from some 750 witnesses of the WW2 incarceration. The article presents multiple firsthand testimonies from Issei and Nisei describing FBI roundups, family separations, and suffering endured during the exclusion and internment.
• Lexicon of WW2 ‘Center’ Terms, by Community Analysis Section, page 1. A reprinted 1945 Community Analysis Notes document explores the unique hybrid English-Japanese vocabulary that developed among Issei, Kibei and Nisei at the Tule Lake camp. It catalogs slang terms covering sports, food, social life, grooming, and camp administration, illustrating how a distinct ‘center language’ emerged from the internment experience.
• Japanese Canadian Redress Strategy Planned in Two Parts, page 1. Delegates to the National Association of Japanese Canadians meeting in Winnipeg agreed to seek an apology from the Canadian government immediately while deferring compensation details to community consensus. The conference also restructured its redress committee and elected Art Miki as the new NAJC president, succeeding Gordon Kadota.
• CWRIC Testimony Continued, page 4. This continuation of the front-page CWRIC testimony feature presents further harrowing firsthand accounts of FBI arrests, family separations, travel restrictions, and psychological trauma suffered during the WW2 incarceration. Witnesses include fishermen, military officers, orphaned teens, and mothers describing the devastating impact of Executive Order 9066 on their families.
• Is ‘Redress’ Money a Sort of Haji?, by P.C. Staff, page 7. The Pacific Citizen reprints a previous column to coincide with Day of Remembrance programs nationwide, emphasizing the importance of JACL’s legislative redress efforts and continued financial support. It directs readers to send contributions for JACL-Redress to support bills HR 4110 and S2116 in Congress.

National

• WCC Leader Smith Succumbs, page 2. Dr. John Coventry Smith, former head of the World Council of Churches and longtime friend of the Nikkei community, died of an apparent heart attack at age 80 in Philadelphia. During WW2 he worked for the release of Japanese American families from camps and later gave strong testimony supporting redress before the CWRIC in 1981.
• Japan Widens; Educators Frustrated, page 3. A study found Japanese high school students significantly outperform American students in mathematics, with researchers citing longer school years, national curriculum standards, and intense competition for university entrance as key factors. Education experts debate whether the U.S. should adopt national education standards to close the growing achievement gap.
• Small Dogs Enter Drug-Sniffing Corps, page 12. Terriers and cocker spaniels will become the first small dogs trained to work with customs at Narita Airport next spring to sniff out illegal drugs. Unlike larger breeds such as retrievers and German shepherds currently used, the smaller dogs can access baggage stacked on high shelves.

Community

• People in the News, page 2. A roundup of notable Japanese Americans in courts, government, health, military and sports, including retired judge Russell K. Kono’s honor in Hawaii, Arthur Morimitsu’s reappointment to Chicago’s aging council, and tennis pro Ann Kiyomura’s marriage to dentist David Hayashi. Other mentions include Dr. Michael Hosokawa’s keynote speech in Australia and new leadership at the 100th/442nd Veterans Association.
• Sansei Cadet Delegate to Pentagon Meeting, page 2. Richard T. Imon, a Cal State Fullerton AROTC cadet, was named one of 10 state delegates to attend the 1984 DOD/ROA Mid-Winter Conference and Pentagon Seminar in Washington D.C. The 19-year-old history major also authored a documentary pictorial essay on his family’s 80 years in America.
• Dry Farming, Pheasant Club Keep Yukio Isaki Family Busy, by Mitsugi M. Kasai, page 2. The Isaki family operates Gamebirds Unlimited, a pheasant club on 15,000 acres in remote Hansel Valley, Utah, raising 30,000 pheasants while dry farming without irrigation. The family lives in relative isolation as the only Japanese household in the valley, with daughter Ellen commuting 90 minutes daily to school.
• Matsui to Address Denver’s Testimonial for Min Yasui, page 3. Rep. Robert Matsui will be the principal speaker at a community testimonial dinner honoring Min Yasui on March 3 in Denver, with proceeds going to the Min Yasui Coram Nobis Fund-JACL. Yasui served as director of the Denver Commission on Community Relations since 1967 and the event draws support from numerous Nikkei and broader community organizations.
• Torii Head of Chamber of Commerce, page 3. Koshiro Torii was re-elected president of the Japanese Chamber of Commerce of Southern California, with a busy 1984 agenda including hosting Japanese Olympic delegates and the Little Tokyo centennial. Fred I. Wada was named board chair to help host Japanese Olympic athletes.
• Fashion Show — a Knockout, page 6. Marin JACL’s Holiday fashion show at Dominic’s raised over $2,000, enabling the chapter to meet its Redress pledge and other obligations. The event, emceed by KPIX’s Diane Fukami, drew over 200 attendees from the San Francisco Bay Area.
• Hospitality, Houston Style, by Ronald Shibata, page 6. Ronald Shibata recounts his visit to Houston for the Mountain Plains District Council meeting, completing his tour of every chapter in the district. He praises the Houston JACL chapter’s gracious hospitality, including a luxury hotel stay arranged by chapter president’s wife Akiko Watanabe and sightseeing excursions around Houston.

Military & Veterans

• Go For Broke, Inc., Set for National Campaign, page 3. The Nisei veterans association Go For Broke, Inc. is planning a major direct mail fundraising campaign with a goal of $200,000 to preserve and disseminate the history of the 100th/442nd and Military Intelligence Service. The group supports a traveling exhibit and is working toward a U.S. commemorative stamp honoring Nisei WW2 soldiers.

Arts & Entertainment

• ‘Invisible Citizens’ Due Feb. 26 on PBS-TV, page 3. An hour-long documentary titled ‘Invisible Citizens—Japanese Americans’ will air on PBS stations on Feb. 26, focusing on the WW2 evacuation experience through interviews with six survivors and CWRIC hearing footage. JACL chapters are encouraged to coordinate panel discussions with local PBS stations following the broadcast.
• The Nikkei of Canada, by Harry Honda, page 8. Harry Honda reviews Toyo Takata’s book ‘Nikkei Legacy’ which recounts instances of racial discrimination (‘haiseki’) experienced by Japanese Canadians before and during WW2, including personal anecdotes from the author’s youth in Esquimalt, B.C. The piece also describes a poignant reunion decades later where old wounds from discrimination were reconciled with former classmates.
• Toyoko Yamasaki Addresses JACL, by Sen Nishiyama, page 8. Japanese novelist Toyoko Yamasaki spoke to the Japan Chapter of JACL about her bestselling novel ‘Futatsu no Sokoku’ (Two Homelands), which chronicles a Kibei Nisei’s experiences through internment, military service and the Tokyo Tribunal. She described her three years of research including archival study and over 200 interviews that shaped her conviction about Nisei national identity.

In-Depth

• Little Tokyo Life (No. 5): The Heydays of the 1900s, by Harry Honda, page 3. Harry Honda continues his historical series on early Japanese immigrant farming communities in the Los Angeles area, detailing how Issei farmhands settled the Tropico-Glendale area beginning in 1898 and spread to numerous other farming communities within 20 miles of downtown L.A. The piece also explores a mysterious 1905 colony founded by a former Japanese Diet member that failed by 1908, and cites Immigration Commission data on Issei farmers’ work ethic and desire to remain in America.
• Mystery Hakujin with Joseph Heco Identified, by Mainichi Daily News, page 12. A long-unidentified bearded foreigner in a famous Meiji Era photograph alongside Hirobumi Ito and Takayoshi Kido has been identified as Dr. Alexander Vedder, director of Kobe Hospital. The identification came through research by a retired Tezukayama Gakuin Junior College professor who received a clue from the family of a doctor who had studied under Vedder.

Commentary

• Redress: Who Pays?, by Ron Wakabayashi, page 4. In his Musubi column, Ron Wakabayashi examines the daunting legislative challenge facing JACL in passing redress legislation given the Japanese American population’s concentration on the West Coast versus the national distribution of Congressional power. He argues the redress campaign ultimately belongs to all Americans, not just JACL’s 114 chapters, as a test of constitutional principles.
• Unexpected Things About Japan, by Bill Hosokawa, page 5. In his From the Frying Pan column, Bill Hosokawa shares a series of surprising statistics and survey findings about Japanese society, including self-perceived class status, pay raise trends, political party finances, marriage attitudes, leisure activities, and beer market share. He closes with a provocative statistic about the U.S.-Japan trade imbalance offered by a Matsushita executive.
• Letters to the Editor, by Spady A. Koyama, Mas Akiyama, and others, page 5. Multiple letters respond to prior PC articles: veterans add names to the Vietnam Memorial Nikkei casualty list, a Sansei reader criticizes author Toyoko Yamasaki’s portrayal of Issei and Nisei history as distorted, and William Wetherall challenges James Araki’s views on national identity and what it means to be American. The letters reflect ongoing debates over historical memory and identity within the Japanese American community.
• Help! Help! Help!, by Minoru Yasui, page 5. Minoru Yasui’s Redress Phase Five column appeals for JACL contacts in 24 states lacking JACL chapters, listing the states and urging readers to connect the organization with sympathetic individuals who could lobby Congress for redress legislation HR 4110 and S 2116. He emphasizes the importance of building support in the Deep South, New England, and Great Plains regions ahead of the 1984 elections.
• Hidden Trauma, by John Saito, page 6. In his Pacific Southwest column, John Saito reflects on a Riverside JACL installation speech by psychiatrist Dr. Ed Himeno about the psychological impact of internment on Japanese Americans and their children. Saito urges Nisei who were young during camp to examine suppressed feelings from that period, noting that unresolved trauma could surface in their children’s behavior.
• East Wind: Is Redress Money a Sort of Haji?, by Bill Marutani, page 7. Bill Marutani addresses Nikkei opposition to monetary redress rooted in cultural notions of haji (shame), arguing that in American culture a meaningful apology must be accompanied by compensation to have real meaning. He contends redress money is not about the sum itself but about giving substance to the government’s apology and restoring honor to Issei and Nisei who suffered unjust incarceration.

JACL

• Nat’l JACL Board Meeting Feb. 24-26, page 6. The National JACL board and staff will hold four sessions over the Feb. 24-26 weekend at JACL Headquarters in San Francisco, with National President Floyd Shimomura presiding. The agenda covers reports from 28 national committees, officers and staff, with most matters expedited through consent calendar action.
• JACL IDC to Meet at Jackpot Mar. 10, page 6. The Intermountain District Council will hold its spring district meeting on March 10 at the Cactus Pete Convention Center in Jackpot, Nevada, hosted by Pocatello JACL. District governor Hid Hasegawa announced the one-day session will include reports from the National Board meeting.

Obituaries

• A Tribute to Alma: 1925-1983, by Harry Mizuno, page 8. Harry Mizuno pays tribute to his late wife Alma, who died peacefully in January 1983 after a seven-year battle with cancer that included five major operations. He recalls her strength, humor, and dedication to counseling other cancer patients even while enduring her own suffering, remembering her as a ‘Super Woman’ who faced death with dignity.

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