Redress funding stalls in the House; a Shuri Castle bell heads home

Vol. 108, No. 17, May 5, 1989. 8 pages. View this issue

The front page carried two stories: a Buddhist bell taken from Shuri Castle in Okinawa during World War II, now being returned after a 15-year effort by retired Col. William F. Lee, his wife Esther Keiko Aoki Lee, and Sen. Spark Matsunaga, and a $4.7 billion emergency spending bill with $250 million for redress payments that was sent back to committee. Rep. Robert Matsui stayed optimistic the funds would return intact. JACL-LEC Chair Jerry Enomoto wrote that the fight was not over, and the paper also reported on JoAnne Kagiwada’s appointment as the JACL Legislative Education Committee’s executive director.

Inside are reports from the Tri-District Conference in Reno by George Johnston and Harry K. Honda, and Bill Yoshino’s column on the JACL Program for Action. Little Tokyo news includes a new city library at Centenary United Methodist Church and a JACCC tribute to two tea ceremony teachers. Readers will also find Topaz and Poston reunion notices and columns by Bill Hosokawa, Bill Marutani and Naomi Kashiwabara, who recalled Santa Anita in 1942.

What’s in this issue

Incarceration & Redress

• Buddhist Bell Being Returned to Okinawa, a Shuri Castle Relic, page 1. A Buddhist bell taken from Shuri Castle in Okinawa during WWII by American GIs is being returned to Japan after a 15-year effort led by retired Col. William F. Lee, his wife Esther Keiko Aoki Lee, and Sen. Spark Matsunaga. The bell, cast in 1457, was verified through historical research and will be presented in a ceremony in Okinawa on May 20.</br>

National

• House Stalls Emergency Appropriation Bill With $250 Million Redress Payment, page 1. A $4.7 billion emergency spending bill containing $250 million for redress payments was sent back to committee after a failed amendment vote in the House. Rep. Robert Matsui remained optimistic the bill would return with redress funds intact, while JACL-LEC officials countered critics who opposed the funding.
• Ryukyu Limestone to Be Placed Inside Washington Monument, page 1. A piece of Ryukyu limestone will finally be placed inside the Washington Monument this summer, fulfilling a 135-year-old pledge after Commodore Perry’s original stone was lost. The Ryukyu America Society organized the substitute stone effort to inform young Okinawans of the historic friendship between Okinawa and the U.S.
• Japan to Host World Symposium on Black Bias, page 2. A world symposium of Black activists fighting racial discrimination will be held in Tokyo in June, expected to be attended by Rev. Jesse Jackson and Louis Farrakhan. The symposium is a prelude to a 1990 world rally for Black Activists for World Peace and Human Dignity in Tokyo.

Community

• New City Library Opens in Little Tokyo Church, page 1. Los Angeles opened its 63rd and smallest branch library at the newly constructed Centenary United Methodist Church in Little Tokyo. About 25% of the library’s 6,500 books are in Japanese, and the effort followed a 1977 push by Friends of Little Tokyo Public Library Services.
• Roasting Ron, page 1. Ron Wakabayashi, former national director of the JACL, was roasted and toasted by friends at a dinner in his honor held at the Hyatt on Union Square in San Francisco. About 250 friends attended, including Louise Renne, Henry Der, Frank Iwama, Ernie Weiner, Georgette Imura and Dale Minami.
• New California Sushi Served with ‘Spam’, page 2. Spam Musubi, a dish layering Spam with rice and seaweed, is selling well at San Jose Japantown’s Bento Xpress. Manager Don Sakai said a friend from Hawaii introduced him to the popular item.
• Topaz Reunion Albums, Programs Available, page 2. The Topaz WRA Camp Reunion committee has a limited number of Photo Memory Albums and Program Booklets available for order, featuring portraits and stories from the three-day reunion held last September. Videotapes of the reunion events produced by George Nomura are also available for purchase.
• Over 400 Japanese Firms in Business in Chicago, page 2. Tsugio Kisajima, chief executive of JETRO Chicago, spoke to the Northern Illinois Industrial Association about doing business with Japanese companies, noting more than 400 Japanese firms operate in the greater Chicago area. JETRO promotes mutually beneficial trade relationships between Japan and other nations.
• Testimony Before CWRIC Hearings to Be Published, page 2. The Japanese American Library announced that testimony from nearly 675 individuals who addressed the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians in 1981 will finally be published. The project, lacking official CWRIC funding, is being started by library director Karl Matsushita and Rep. Norman Mineta relying on contributions.
• Visa Bucks, page 2. Stan Takemoto of Sumitomo Bank presented JACL National President Cressey Nakagawa a $4,000 check at the Reno Tri-District Convention. The check resulted from the Sumitomo/JACL Affinity Visa Card program.
• Poston High’s Class of ’44 Reunion Set, page 2. Members of Poston High School’s 1944 graduating class, the second group to ever matriculate from the school, will gather for a reunion at the New Otani Hotel in Little Tokyo. Class president Yasuo Yoshida announced special tributes would be paid to former teachers and school administrators.
• Nisei Week T-Shirt Contest Offers 2 Prizes, page 2. Two cash awards will be given to winners of the Nisei Week T-shirt contest, with designs required to include the Nisei Week ‘Matsuri’ logo. Entries are due May 27 at Firefly Designs in Los Angeles.
• Annual Fowler JACL Dinner Close to Home, by Thomas Toyama, page 3. Fifty members and guests of Fowler JACL attended the annual dinner meeting at Fowler Buddhist Church youth building, with guest speaker Dwayne Kaitfors discussing Medicare and supplementary insurance. This marked the second year the dinner was held locally instead of at an outside restaurant.
• San Fernando Valley JACL to Honor Matsui, page 3. San Fernando Valley JACL will host an evening honoring Rep. Bob Matsui on June 3 at the SFV Japanese American Community Center, thanking him for his role in passing the redress bill. The event will also serve as a fundraiser and mini-reunion for Nikkei who spent the war years in the Midwest and East.
• PSWDC Workshop on Aging/Retirement Set, page 3. A workshop addressing aging, retirement, and investment questions will be held May 20 at the Centenary United Methodist Church in Los Angeles. The first 200 JACL members attend free, with a special pre-retirement session geared toward Sansei and Yonsei.
• JACCC to Honor Two Tea Ceremony Teachers, page 6. Two longtime teachers of Japanese tea ceremony in Little Tokyo, Mme. Sohwa Hitomi and Mme. Sosei Matsumoto, will be honored by the JACCC at its ninth anniversary dinner. Both will receive the President’s Award for advancing appreciation of Japanese cultural arts in the United States.
• Kusunoki Named Radio Fellowship Winner, page 6. Stanley Kusunoki, a producer at KLSE-FM in Rochester, Minnesota, will serve as associate producer for West Virginia Public Radio’s Mountain Stage as one of five fellowship winners from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. There were 75 candidates who applied for the production fellowships.
• The Newsmakers, page 6. This roundup covers notable Japanese American achievements including Dr. W.M. Iritani’s retirement recognition at Washington State University, Edward K. Kawahara’s appointment as director of California’s Small Business Development Center program, and Dr. Stephanie Nishimura Baba’s election as president of the Alameda-Contra Costa Counties Optometric Society. Also noted are honors for Chicagoans Arthur Morimitsu and Ron Yoshino at a Lunar Festival dinner, and Yuka K. Mullen’s Freshman Leaders Award from Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance.

Arts & Entertainment

• East West Players Seek New Director, page 2. East West Players is accepting resumes until May 22 for the position of artistic director to foster an Asian-Pacific American aesthetic in theater. The director will maintain artistic integrity, select plays, and supervise production staff and budgets.

JACL

• ‘Contemporary JACL Issues’ the Topic of Tri-District Workshop, by George Johnston, page 3. A workshop at the Tri-District Conference in Reno discussed increasing JACL membership and improving the organization’s image, noting the membership is aging and roughly 75% Nisei. Participants debated ideas like a public relations position and an age ceiling for leadership, but reactions were mixed.
• Planning Workshop Sizes Up JACL Strengths & Weaknesses, by Harry K. Honda, page 3. Henry Tanaka of Cleveland led long-range planning workshops at the Tri-District Conference in Reno, gathering grassroots input on JACL’s strengths, weaknesses, and trends for the 1990s. Attendees reviewed the JACL mission statement and worked through exercises to prioritize goals and objectives for the organization’s future.

Commentary

• Carrying on the Tradition, page 4. This editorial honors JoAnne Kagiwada, daughter of longtime JACL leader Fred Hirasuna, who was named executive director of JACL’s Legislative Education Committee. Her top priority will be persuading Congress to carry out the Redress Law expeditiously, continuing her family’s legacy of JACL service.
• Letters to the Editor, by Various, page 4. Readers wrote in on topics including senior citizen subscription rates, a correction to a prior column on the JACL ‘Mega-Fund,’ redress tax break proposals, scholarship award sizes, Japanese surname linguistics, and questioning John J. McCloy’s responsibility for the 442nd Regimental Combat Team. Additional letters addressed sensitivity around offensive terminology and defended JACL’s position on the Evacuation issue.
• JACL’s Program for Action, by Bill Yoshino, page 4. JACL National Director Bill Yoshino describes the structured process developed since the Seattle convention for implementing the Program for Action’s goals, including pursuing redress to its conclusion. The National Board and staff identified objectives and activities for each council goal, with redress remaining the organizational priority until the 1990 San Diego Convention.
• Sounds Familiar, by George Johnston, page 4. This Iroiro column critiques the movie True Believer, based on the Chol Soo Lee case, for focusing on the White attorney character rather than the Asian American community organizing that freed Lee. The author argues Hollywood consistently centers White perspectives in stories about non-White experiences, citing other films and Alan Parker’s upcoming Come See the Paradise about Japanese American internment.
• Seeing the $250 Million in Supplemental Funds for Redress, by Jerry Enomoto, page 5. JACL-LEC Chair Jerry Enomoto writes that while redress funding has progressed, the fight is not over and fundraising and lobbying must continue. He credits the collective community effort behind redress, honoring the memory of pioneers like Edison Uno, Ed Yamamoto, and Min Yasui who did not live to see this success.
• ‘I Remember You’ At Santa Anita, by Naomi Kashiwabara, page 5. The author recalls his five months living in a stable at the Santa Anita Assembly Center in 1942 after visiting Santa Anita Park again in 1989 for a senior citizens’ outing. He fondly remembers fellow internees including teachers, entertainers, boxers, and messhall workers from that wartime experience.
• Issei Admonitions, by Bill Marutani, page 5. In this East Wind column, Marutani reflects on Issei phrases like ‘somatsu-na mono desu ga’ and ‘mottai-nai’ used when presenting food to guests, exploring their layered and sometimes contradictory meanings. He recounts childhood memories of these rituals and his effort to clarify their definitions through dictionaries.
• Mellowing, by Bill Hosokawa, page 5. From the Frying Pan columnist Bill Hosokawa describes a dinner with Nisei men in Tokyo who took different paths during WWII—some serving in the U.S. Occupation, others stranded in Japan—but now share camaraderie despite their divergent wartime experiences. He contrasts this reconciliation with ongoing bitter disputes among some Nisei factions in the U.S.

Military & Veterans

• U.S. District Judge Tashima Holds Activist in Contempt, page 6. U.S. District Judge A. Wallace Tashima ruled civil liberties activist Frank Wilkinson and his attorneys, including the ACLU, in contempt of court for releasing a protected FBI memorandum. Tashima expressed reluctance but said it was a clear case and hoped the ruling would be appealed.

Obituaries

• Donald Ikeda, 64, page 6. Donald Ikeda, a recent Diablo Valley JACL president, died of a lung ailment at UC San Francisco Medical Center. Born in Havre, Montana, he grew up in Pasadena, was interned at Manzanar, and worked for Liquid Air Corp. before being transferred to the Bay Area in 1981.
• Konosuke Matsushita, 94, page 6. Konosuke Matsushita, founder of Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., died of pneumonia in an Osaka hospital. The billionaire industrialist rose from humble origins to build the world’s largest consumer electronics firm and later established the PHP Institute to promote his philosophy of peace and prosperity.

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