Vol. 125, No. 11, December 1997. 137 pages. View this issue
Japanese American history in the 1940s ran through much of the 137-page holiday issue of December 1997. Harry K. Honda wrote about the formation of the 100th Infantry Battalion and the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, and continued his Millennium series with the wartime experiences of Japanese Canadians, Peruvians and Mexicans. Yuji Ichioka investigated the December 1941 death of Dr. Rikita Honda. Matthew Emery described the Densho Project’s visual histories and a pilgrimage to Tule Lake, and Dale Minami reflected on distributing $50 million in grants through the Civil Liberties Public Education Fund.
Family and identity were the other thread. Mika Tanner wrote about her mother’s journey from Japan to America, and Rika Houston about raising multiracial Asian children. Commentary included C. Nozomi Ikuta on solidarity among people of color, Rose Matsui Ochi on Asian Pacific American politics, and Minami on the President’s Initiative on Race. About 74 of the issue’s pages carry holiday greetings.
What’s in this issue
Community
- About This Holiday Issue, by Harry K. Honda, page 4. Editor emeritus Harry Honda describes the process of assembling the 1997 Holiday Issue, noting its focus on WWII Nisei veterans, the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, and MIS linguists, as well as continuation of the Millennium history series. He also notes the issue’s record 136 pages and discusses the ongoing search for a new Executive Editor for the Pacific Citizen.
Incarceration & Redress
- To Preserve Our Legacy: The Densho Project, by Matthew Emery, page 8. Matthew Emery, videographer for the Densho Project, describes his work documenting visual histories of Japanese Americans who experienced World War II internment, including a moving pilgrimage to Tule Lake with Densho’s first narrators, Edith and Harvey Watanabe. He reflects on the importance of preserving these stories for future generations and encourages readers to explore their own family histories this holiday season.
- Millennium: Japanese American History, 1939-1947 (Canada, Latin America, and Beyond), by Harry K. Honda, page 18. This continuation of the Millennium history series details the wartime experiences of Japanese Canadians, including their exclusion from military service, forced removal from British Columbia, internment, and post-war deportation controversy, as well as the internment of Japanese Peruvians and Mexicans who were shipped to U.S. detention camps. The piece also covers the December 7, 1941 Pearl Harbor attack hour-by-hour and the establishment of the Military Intelligence Service Language School.
- The Death of Dr. Honda: A Tragic Wartime Story, by Yuji Ichioka, page 22. Ichioka investigates the December 1941 death of Dr. Rikita Honda, a prominent Los Angeles Issei physician arrested as a dangerous enemy alien, examining conflicting wartime Japanese propaganda claims that he was tortured to death versus official U.S. records indicating suicide. Based on newly discovered notes from Dr. Honda’s FBI case file, Ichioka concludes that Honda likely took his own life out of a sense of shame at being captured, consistent with the Japanese military code of conduct, rather than being killed by his interrogators.
In-Depth
- Immigrant: A Daughter’s Reflection on Her Mother’s Journey from Japan to America, by Mika Tanner, page 11. Tanner explores her Japanese immigrant mother’s life after moving to America to marry her American father, describing the cultural adjustments, culinary compromises, and eventual sense of belonging her mother built over decades. The piece traces the evolving relationship between mother and daughter, from childhood dependence to adolescent friction to adult appreciation of her mother’s quiet, culturally rooted expressions of love.
- Celebrating Identities: A Tool for Parenting Multiracial Asian Children in the New Millennium, by Rika Houston, page 15. Houston, a multiracial woman of Japanese, African American, and Native American descent, discusses raising her own multiracial children with her Chinese American husband, emphasizing the importance of celebration rather than mere survival in navigating multiracial identity. She argues that as multiracial Asian children become more common, parents must actively cultivate pride and joy in their children’s complex heritage rather than just teaching them to endure discrimination.
- An Institution Named ‘Heishikan’, by Kay Tateishi, page 34. Tateishi, a former Heishikan student, recounts the history of this obscure Japanese Foreign Ministry-funded school established in 1939 to educate Nisei students from Hawaii, Canada, and the U.S., which unexpectedly became a haven for Nisei stranded in Japan after Pearl Harbor. He profiles numerous classmates and their varied wartime and postwar careers, dispelling rumors that the school was a spy-training program.
- The State of Asian Pacific American Politics, by Rose Matsui Ochi, page 38. Ochi, director of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Community Relations Service, examines the 1996 campaign fundraising scandal’s disproportionate targeting of Asian Pacific Americans and the resulting rise in anti-Asian sentiment and racial stereotyping. She calls on the APA community to actively participate in politics, build multiethnic coalitions, and demand representation rather than remaining passive in the face of discrimination.
- The Origin of the Japanese Imperial Family, by Clifford Uyeda, page 69. Uyeda examines historical and archaeological evidence suggesting Japan’s Imperial line may have originated from Korean Paekche royalty who invaded Japan in the late fourth century, challenging traditional Japanese mythology found in the Kojiki and Nihon-shoki. He argues that Japanese court historians may have fabricated a native Japanese ancestry and divine origin for the imperial clan to legitimize their rule.
Commentary
- Solidarity Amongst People of Color, by C. Nozomi Ikuta, page 32. Ikuta reflects on being mistaken for simply ‘Japanese’ by a child, prompting reflection on the racial privilege of white Americans versus the lesser but still real privilege Japanese Americans hold relative to other people of color. She argues that Japanese Americans must recognize this relative privilege and build deeper solidarity with other communities of color to fight systemic racism rooted in centuries of conquest and oppression.
- A Visionary Task in Examining Race in America: The President’s Initiative on Race, by Dale Minami, page 44. Minami, one of seven advisors appointed by President Clinton to his Initiative on Race, describes the goals and structure of the year-long effort to study and address racial issues in America through education, economic opportunity, health, housing, and criminal justice. He expresses hope that the Initiative can help move the nation toward genuine racial reconciliation despite skepticism and cynicism surrounding the effort.
- A Reflection on the CLPEF: Giving and Receiving, by Dale Minami, page 64. Minami, chair of the Civil Liberties Public Education Fund board, describes the challenges and achievements of distributing $50 million in educational grants related to the Japanese American incarceration within a compressed timeline. He details the board’s mission to fund diverse projects on curriculum, research, and community development, while acknowledging some criticism of the grant process as the CLPEF prepares to sunset in 1998.
- Do You Hear What I Hear?, by Mitchell T. Maki, page 87. Reflecting on a historic conference of Japanese American Redress Movement leaders in Los Angeles, Maki identifies key themes including community-based organizing, access to legislators, tenacity, and the critical importance of Japanese American presence in Congress. He argues that the movement’s legacy remains unfulfilled given the declining number of Japanese Americans in elected office and calls for greater political engagement to protect civil liberties gains.
Military & Veterans
- 1942-46: 100th/442nd RCT Goes Into Action, by Harry K. Honda, page 73. This piece chronicles the formation of the all-Nisei 100th Infantry Battalion and 442nd Regimental Combat Team, detailing how Hawaii’s Nisei National Guard soldiers were secretly transferred to the mainland and eventually became the celebrated fighting units of World War II. It also addresses the reinstatement of the draft for Japanese Americans following President Roosevelt’s 1943 declaration on Americanism.
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