Vol. 111, No. 20, December 21, 1990. 104 pages. View this issue
Redress was the subject of this 104-page holiday issue, from the campaign’s origins to the testimony that built it. Bill Hosokawa tied a JACL Legacy Fund gift to the Pearl Harbor anniversary. Calvin Naito and Esther Scott’s Harvard Kennedy School case study, “Against All Odds,” traced the campaign to the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, and an editorial weighed it. Extracts of testimony before the CWRIC included James Tsujimura on shootings in the camps, Lorraine K. Bannai on the Munson Report and Executive Order 9066, and Monica Sone, Thomas Kinaga and Dr. Yoshiye Togasaki on Heart Mountain, Manzanar and Tule Lake.
Other pages covered what to do about redress denial letters, Japanese Canadian redress grants, and a short story by Naomi Kashiwabara. About 80 pages carry season’s greetings, many from JACL chapters such as San Fernando Valley, West Los Angeles, Orange County and Snake River.
What’s in this issue
Commentary
- The Pearl Harbor Connection, by Bill Hosokawa, page 3. Hosokawa reflects on the irony of mailing a JACL Legacy Fund contribution on December 7, noting the linkage between the anniversary of Pearl Harbor and JACL’s redress and Legacy Fund efforts. He quotes Cherry Kinoshita on the need for a strong financial foundation for JACL to continue its civil rights work and honor the legacy of Issei and Nisei generations.
- Against All Odds, page 3. This editorial praises the Harvard Kennedy School of Government case study on the Japanese American redress campaign, noting it provides an objective, behind-the-scenes account of the JACL-LEC strategies used to win congressional and presidential support. It credits the many players in the redress movement while noting the study’s limitations, including its omission of Senator Inouye’s later funding fight and insufficient credit to Robert Matsui.
In-Depth
- Against All Odds: The Japanese American’s Campaign for Redress, by Calvin Naito and Esther Scott, page 3. This lengthy Harvard Kennedy School of Government case study traces the decade-long JACL and LEC campaign to win passage of redress legislation for Japanese Americans interned during World War II. It details the strategic decisions, congressional maneuvering, coalition-building, and eventual signing of the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 by President Reagan.
- Man with a Triple-Header: Golden Gate Park’s Famous Japanese Gardens, Esther Takei’s Return, Guayule, by Hugh Harris Anderson, page 17. Anderson, a former administrator at Poston Relocation Center, testifies about filing a claim for the Hagiwara family’s Japanese Gardens in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, which was valued at $250,000 but received only a $20,000 government settlement after being looted during the war. He also describes his role helping bring Esther Takei back to the West Coast in 1945, an act that convinced military authorities to reopen the coast to Japanese Americans a year earlier than planned.
- Japanese Castaways Adrift for Five Months to Land in Hawaii in 1839; Record Survives, by Allan Beekman, page 37. Beekman recounts the historic 1839 rescue of Japanese castaways from the wrecked junk Choja Maru by an American whaling captain, detailing their arrival in Hawaii, their reception by missionaries including Dr. Dwight Baldwin, and the death and burial of the ship’s captain Heishiro in Honolulu. The article traces this early, little-known contact between Japanese and Americans decades before formal immigration began.
Incarceration & Redress
- Six Incidents Belie Idea ‘We Were Detained Against Our Wills’ as 8 Shot & Killed, by James Tsujimura, page 7. Tsujimura’s testimony before the CWRIC in Seattle documents six separate incidents in which eight Japanese American internees were shot and killed by armed sentries at various camps, refuting claims that internees were free to leave the camps. He details the deaths of Kanesaburo Oshima, Toshio Kobata, Hirota Isomura, James Hatsuaki Wakasa, an unnamed victim at Gila, and James Soichi Okamoto at Tule Lake, along with a translated Japanese-language newsletter account of the Kobata-Isomura shootings.
- The C.B. Munson Report: Loyalty of Japanese Americans Surveyed for FDR in October ’41; Sees ‘No Problem’, by Lorraine K. Bannai, Esq., page 13. Bannai’s testimony before the CWRIC examines the Munson Report, which found Japanese Americans on the West Coast were loyal, and questions why President Roosevelt seemingly only reviewed a summary emphasizing sabotage risks rather than the full report before issuing Executive Order 9066. The piece reprints the Carter memorandum, FDR’s note to Stimson, and the Stimson memorandum, along with lengthy excerpts of the original Munson Report.
- JACL ‘REPACAMP’ Began as Idea When He Organized Columbia Basin Plan in 1953, by Edward Masakiyo Yamamoto, page 15. Yamamoto recounts how his personal wartime experiences with discrimination led him to promote a national JACL reparations campaign beginning in the 1950s, eventually helping form the Columbia Basin Chapter and later chairing JACL’s first National Reparations Campaign Committee. He describes early internal JACL debates over guidelines for compensation and the origins of what became the redress campaign submitted to the 1976 Sacramento convention.
- In 1978, the Stunning News That JACL Would Pursue Redress ‘Breaks Her Up’, by Monica Sone, page 17. Sone, author of Nisei Daughter, describes her psychological journey from the trauma of internment through decades of repressed pain to the emotional release she felt in 1978 upon learning JACL would pursue a redress campaign. She reflects on her mixed feelings of anger, pride, and cynicism as she testifies before the CWRIC, ultimately supporting JACL’s redress goals for healing and reconciliation.
- Japanese Canadian Redress Allocations: $4,300,000 Committed to 10 Capital Projects, and to 25 Program and Activities from Redress, page 18. The Japanese Canadian Redress Foundation approved $4,300,000 in grants in 1990 for community capital projects and programs following Canada’s redress settlement, including funding for senior housing, cultural preservation, and educational initiatives. Foundation chair Dr. Henry Shimizu’s annual report reflects on balancing preservation of prewar Nikkei culture with investment in the community’s future.
- Nisei Doctor and Nurse Pioneer Medical Services at Yet-to-Be Finished Manzanar, page 27. Dr. Yoshiye Togasaki testified before the redress commission about the difficult conditions she faced setting up medical services at unfinished Manzanar in 1942, including lack of water, heat, and supplies while treating children with measles and other illnesses. She also recounts conflicts at Tule Lake with a medical director who restricted proper medical treatment, leading to community unrest.
- Six Incidents Belie Idea (Munson Report continued), page 42. This continuation of the Munson Report details Munson’s warnings about unguarded defense installations along the California coast, including Los Angeles Harbor, and his assessment that Japanese Americans were largely loyal but that sabotage risk existed due to lax security. The report concludes with Munson’s caveat that his findings could change if coastal defenses remained inadequately protected.
Military & Veterans
- Heart Mountain Internee Volunteers for 442nd RCT, ‘Believed in America,’ Yet…, by Thomas Kinaga, page 17. Kinaga testifies about the mental anguish of volunteering for the 442nd Infantry Regiment from Heart Mountain while his family remained interned, describing his anger at seeing Hawaii Nisei soldiers whose families were free. He recounts spending his last furlough locked up behind barbed wire despite wearing his Army uniform, and worrying throughout combat about his family’s fate and ability to return home.
Community
- Group Seeking Fellow Nisei Who Attended College During War, page 18. A Washington State-based group is compiling a roster of Nisei who attended college during World War II through the Student Relocation Council program, which helped roughly 4,000 Nisei leave internment for Midwestern and East Coast colleges. The group awards scholarships to Southeast Asian students today in the same spirit of helping displaced students, and is seeking names especially from the 640 Washington State participants.
National
- Sign-Language Law in Arcadia Targeted by Asian Rights Group, page 20. The Asian Pacific American Legal Center is targeting Arcadia’s business sign ordinance restricting foreign-language text, following successful efforts to change similar laws in Rosemead, Temple City, and Garden Grove after a federal judge ruled Pomona’s sign law unconstitutional. The Language Rights Project has contacted Arcadia twice without a response as of the article’s publication.
- Church Summit to Probe ‘Environmental Racism’, page 22. The United Church of Christ Commission for Racial Justice announced plans to convene the first National Minority Environmental Leadership Summit in October 1991 in Washington, D.C. to address environmental racism affecting minority communities disproportionately exposed to pollution and hazardous waste.
- Calif. DMV Cancellation of ‘Dago’/’Wop’ Plates Upheld, page 22. California administrative law judges in Sacramento, Los Angeles, and San Francisco upheld the DMV’s decision to recall 333 vanity license plates containing the ethnic slurs “dago” and “wop,” finding the terms offensive and discriminatory. The rulings affirmed that license plates are official state vehicle identifiers rather than an unlimited forum for personal expression.
JACL
- What To Do About Redress Denial Letters, page 20. The JACL and Asian Law Caucus urged individuals who received redress denial letters from the Department of Justice’s Office of Redress Administration to contact them immediately, noting an appeal must be filed within 60 days of the denial letter’s date. The organizations emphasized that a denial letter does not automatically make someone ineligible for redress.
- Rep. Matsui to Speak at Seattle JACL Inaugural, page 22. Representative Robert T. Matsui will serve as keynote speaker at the 69th annual Seattle JACL Installation Banquet on January 26 at the SeaTac Marriott Hotel. Tickets cost $30 and attendees must indicate meal preference between prime rib and Cornish game hen when reserving by December 29.
Arts & Entertainment
- The Office Princess, by Naomi Kashiwabara, page 43. In this short story, a male secretary recounts humorous and superstition-filled workplace anecdotes involving his boss Mrs. Davidson, including a dream in which a phone number turned out to belong to the county morgue. The narrator notes he does not personally believe in dreams predicting the future despite his employer’s fascination with astrology and reincarnation.
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