Hostages in Lima, JACL’s first 100 days and a new millennium

Vol. 124, No. 1, January 10, 1997. 20 pages. View this issue

The Japanese Embassy siege in Lima opened the first issue of 1997. Harry K. Honda reported on the rebels who stormed a birthday celebration for Emperor Akihito on Dec. 17, 1996, and a partial list named Peruvian Nikkei among the hostages released on Dec. 23. JACL President Helen Kawagoe and Vice President Lori Fujimoto each wrote about their first 100 days in office, while commentaries by Shigeki J. Sugiyama, Akemi Kayleng and Budd Fukei looked ahead to the 21st century.

Elsewhere, the Office of Redress Administration was searching for the last 3,100 redress claimants, and Richard Suenaga’s three-part series examined hate crimes and racism in American communities. Ellen Nakamura wrote about Seabrook Farms, and Masaji Inoshita revisited Gila River. Chapter anniversaries in Sacramento, Seattle and New York filled the middle pages.

What’s in this issue

National

• Rebels Storm Japanese Embassy in Lima, Take Hundreds Hostage, by Harry K. Honda, page 1. On Dec. 17, 1996, at least 23 Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA) rebels stormed a birthday celebration for Emperor Akihito at the Japanese Embassy in Lima, taking hundreds hostage, including ambassadors and community leaders. The siege continued into January 1997, with women, children and elderly guests released early on, and Nikkei community members recount the harrowing events including Fr. Manuel Kato’s narrow escape.

JACL

• The First 100 Days, by Helen Kawagoe, page 1. JACL President Helen Kawagoe reflects on her first 100 days in office, detailing membership drives, fundraising efforts, and personnel appointments including legal counsel changes. She highlights chapter achievements and notes President Clinton’s search for Japanese and Asian American appointees to federal positions.
• 100 Days! Where Have They Gone?, by Lori Fujimoto, page 3. National JACL Vice President Lori Fujimoto discusses her first 100 days in office, focusing on JACL’s fight against Proposition 209 and affirmative action rollbacks in California. She outlines three key priorities: shattering the glass ceiling, promoting political empowerment, and reducing hate crimes.
• New York JACL Celebrates Its ‘Belated 50th’, by Heather Harlan, page 4. The New York Chapter of JACL celebrated its 52nd anniversary with a dinner on Nov. 2, having missed its actual 50th anniversary two years earlier. Founding members and current leaders discussed the chapter’s history fighting discrimination, its redress efforts, and its future direction under keynote speaker Bob Sakaniwa.
• NCWNPDC Re-elects Governor Alan Nishi, by P.C. Staff, page 13. Alan Nishi of French Camp Chapter was re-elected governor of the Northern California Western Nevada Pacific District Council at its final quarterly meeting in Stockton. New board members were announced along with plans for a new Sacramento Leadership Conference program in April 1997.
• CCDC Schedules Leadership Workshop, by Patricia Tsai, page 13. The Central California District Council held its annual installation with a leadership workshop led by J.D. Hokoyama of LEAP, focusing on risk-taking and Asian Pacific American cultural values affecting leadership. Grace Kimoto was installed as new district governor along with her cabinet members.
• More Than 200 Apply for CLPEF Grants, by P.C. Staff, page 17. The Civil Liberties Public Education Fund received over 200 applications for funding projects educating the public about Japanese American WWII incarceration, with total requests estimated to exceed $20 million. Independent panelists will review applications anonymously before final funding decisions are made in February or March.

Incarceration & Redress

• ORA Steps Up Search for Final 3,100 Redress Claimants, by P.C. Staff, page 1. With the redress program’s sunset date approaching in August 1998, the Office of Redress Administration is working to finalize regulations and locate the remaining 3,100 unknown claimants. ORA plans to attend internment camp reunions and conferences to raise awareness and distribute informational booklets.
• ORA Update: Outreach and Legal Counsel Activities, by P.C. Staff, page 4. ORA legal counsel Tink Cooper provided an overview of redress issues at the JACL Eastern District Council meeting in New York, including new regulations and payment statistics. ORA continues outreach efforts, distributing pamphlets and materials at conferences including the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association convention in Denver.
• WWII Chicago: Quakers and JAs, by Togo Tanaka, page 9. Tanaka recounts how Quakers in Chicago provided crucial support to Japanese Americans released from internment camps during WWII, offering housing assistance and employment help. He personally worked for the American Friends Service Committee after being interned at Manzanar and a dissident camp at Death Valley.
• A Banner for the Next Millennium, by Mas Odoi, page 14. Odoi argues that the 100th/442nd/MIS Monument, rather than a guard tower, should be the symbol leading Japanese Americans into the next millennium, emphasizing military heroism over victimhood narratives. He calls for JACL chapters to support fundraising for the $2.5 million needed to complete the monument honoring WWII veterans.
• Gila River Revisited, by Masaji Inoshita, page 15. Inoshita recounts his emotional visits to the Gila River Relocation Center site decades after his internment there, describing how confronting painful memories became a form of therapy over time. He describes the 1995 Gila River reunion in Phoenix attended by over a thousand former internees and ongoing preservation efforts at the camp site.

Community

• Partial List of Peruvian Nikkei Hostages, by P.C. Staff, page 1. The Pacific Citizen received a partial list of 90 Nikkei hostages among the 225 released from the Japanese Embassy in Lima on Dec. 23, many of whom were active in PANA conventions and Peruvian Japanese community organizations. Names and affiliations of numerous community leaders, kenjinkai presidents, and professionals are listed.
• O’Malley-JACL Connection Goes Back to 1963, by Harry K. Honda, page 3. Following news of the Dodgers’ sale, Honda recalls a December 1963 Downtown L.A. JACL luncheon attended by Dodgers president Walter O’Malley and his wife, the chapter’s best-attended event of the year. The article recounts details of that historic gathering, including a raffle prize donated to the chapter treasury.
• JACCC Receives $400,000 Grant, by P.C. Staff, page 13. The Japanese American Cultural and Community Center was one of nine minority arts organizations nationwide to receive the Working Capital Fund for Minority Cultural Institutions, worth approximately $400,000 over four years. The grant will help strengthen management and diversify resources amid demographic changes.
• Washington D.C. Officers to Be Installed, by P.C. Staff, page 13. Daphne Kwok, national executive director of the Organization of Chinese Americans, will be keynote speaker at the 51st annual Washington DC JACL installation dinner on Jan. 18. The event will be held at Harvest Moon Restaurant in Falls Church, Virginia.
• Eastern District Council Meets Jan. 18, by P.C. Staff, page 13. The Eastern District Council will meet on Saturday, Jan. 18, in conjunction with the Washington D.C. chapter’s installation event, continuing a tradition of coordinated regional meetings. The meeting cycle rotates through New York, Washington D.C., Philadelphia and Seabrook chapters throughout the year.
• Sugihara to Speak at San Mateo Installation, by P.C. Staff, page 13. Hiroki Sugihara, son of Chiune Sugihara who saved thousands of Jewish lives during the Holocaust, will be keynote speaker at the San Mateo County JACL installation dinner on Jan. 18. Former Assemblywoman Jackie Speier will also be honored at the event.
• Utah Chapters Gather for Sugihara Story, by Yas Tokita, page 16. Approximately 800 people attended a ‘Visas for Life’ program at Salt Lake City’s Salt Palace Convention Center honoring Chiune Sugihara, the Japanese diplomat who saved thousands of Jewish lives during the Holocaust. The event was sponsored jointly by three Utah JACL chapters and the local Jewish community, featuring Sugihara’s son Hiroki as speaker.
• Sacramento JACL Celebrates 65th Anniversary, by P.C. Staff, page 17. Sacramento JACL celebrated its 65th anniversary with 400 attendees, honoring founding members Elizabeth Kozono Murata and Sumi Ryugo Ashizawa. Keynote speaker Rep. Robert Matsui called for greater Asian American political involvement and financial support for Asian candidates.
• At 75th, Seattle Chapter Reaches Out to the Future, by Bob Shimabukuro, page 17. Seattle Chapter JACL celebrates its Diamond Anniversary with a ‘Our Legacy, Our Future’ event honoring early chapter presidents and founders. Dale Minami, lead attorney in the coram nobis cases, will be keynote speaker with KING-5 TV anchor Lori Matsukawa as emcee.

Commentary

• A Scholarship Winner and the Millennium, by David Kawamoto, page 3. Kawamoto reflects on a JACL scholarship winner’s essay illustrating improved conditions for people of color, crediting JACL’s civil rights work. He argues JACL remains necessary given ongoing anti-Asian violence and discrimination, citing a personal example of confronting a radio station’s racist content.
• Better Americans in a Greater America, by Shigeki J. Sugiyama, page 5. Former National JACL President Sugiyama questions whether a definable ‘Japanese American interest’ still exists as the organization approaches its 70th anniversary, arguing JACL has become a vehicle for special interest agendas under the guise of civil rights. He calls for JACL to refocus on genuine civil rights work through dialogue rather than confrontational politics.
• The New Japanese of the Twenty-First Century, by Akemi Kayleng, page 5. Kayleng explores the identity crisis facing the Japanese American community as it navigates success and assimilation into mainstream America. She calls for a hybrid identity that combines traditional values with more assertive, mainstream social skills for the 21st century.
• A Prayer for the New Millennium, by Naomi Kashiwabara, page 9. Kashiwabara offers a secular prayer for the next millennium, hoping for a morally better, environmentally conscious humanity with fewer wars and greater appreciation of genius and creativity. He envisions an Eden-like earth guided by wisdom rather than conflict.
• To the 21st Century — ‘Think’, by Budd Fukei, page 10. Fukei reflects on the achievements of Japanese Americans throughout the 20th century, from the sacrifices of Issei parents to the heroic service of Nisei soldiers in WWII. He offers suggestions for preserving the legacy of Japanese American military service and continuing JACL’s mission into the next millennium.
• Genetic Bridge to the 21st Century, by Mike Hoshiko, page 10. Hoshiko traces the journey of Japanese immigrants and their descendants from strict cultural barriers to increasing assimilation and intermarriage in American society. He predicts that Japanese physical and cultural distinctiveness will continue to fade as intermarriage rates rise into the 21st century.
• A Once-in-a-Lifetime Project, by Bill Hosokawa, page 12. Hosokawa advocates for support of the National Japanese American Memorial Foundation’s monument project in Washington, D.C., sharing a story of a non-Japanese American who donated in honor of her father’s WWII service alongside Japanese American soldiers. He argues the monument is important not just to Japanese Americans but to preserving a crucial piece of American history.
• English: The Mother Tongue, by Bill Marutani, page 12. Marutani discusses common grammatical errors in legal writing, including confusion between similar-sounding words like principal/principle and affect/effect. He also corrects the common misstatement that juries determine ‘guilt or innocence’ when defendants are presumed innocent throughout trial.
• 1996: In Retrospect, by Harry K. Honda, page 12. Honda presents a retrospective collection of memorable quotes from Pacific Citizen issues throughout 1996, covering topics from JACL leadership transitions to civil rights issues and community events. The compilation offers a unique chronological perspective on the year’s significant developments in the Japanese American community.
• Leadership for the New Millennium, by Yas Tokita, page 16. Intermountain District Governor Tokita proposes a new national training program for JACL chapter presidents to address leadership recruitment challenges facing local chapters. The program would cover management, finance, and chapter-building skills, potentially costing around $30,000 to implement biennially.

In-Depth

• Civil Unrest: A Society Under Pressure, by Richard Suenaga, page 6. This analysis piece examines growing intolerance, hostility, and hate crimes in America amid economic and social change, questioning whether the country is becoming more divided. The article sets up companion stories about specific incidents of racism and hate crimes across the country.
• A Hard Time in High School, by Richard Suenaga, page 6. Anna Phelps, a 17-year-old of Laotian descent, endured years of racist taunting and harassment at Etna High School in rural Northern California, culminating in discovery of racist graffiti on her truck. She withdrew from school to complete studies at home, while school officials disputed claims that racism was widespread at the school.
• A Community Deals with a Hate Crime, by Richard Suenaga, page 7. In November 1995, Robert Page stabbed Eddy Wu, a Chinese American computer specialist, in a hate crime attack at a Novato, Calif. Lucky market, prompting community leader Dennis Sato to organize a Multicultural Oversight Committee. Despite Page’s guilty plea to attempted murder and hate crime charges, community members were outraged by his lenient 11-year sentence.
• There Is Beauty All Around, by Shake Ushio, page 9. Ushio recounts a golf outing with Japanese guests at Hobble Creek Golf Course in Utah, reflecting on considerate behavior shown by fellow golfers. He extends this to reflect on the positive relationships Nisei built with mainstream Americans through patience and exemplary conduct during difficult wartime years.
• Seabrook: A New Beginning for 2,500 Camp Internees, by Ellen Nakamura, page 11. This article details the history of Seabrook Farms, where 2,500 Japanese Americans resettled from WWII internment camps beginning in 1944, finding employment and rebuilding community life. The piece covers the founding of Seabrook JACL, naturalization ceremonies for Issei, veterans’ contributions, and the establishment of the Seabrook Education and Cultural Center museum.

Military & Veterans

• Bataan Survivor to Speak at Wisconsin JACL, by P.C. Staff, page 13. The Wisconsin JACL celebrates its 52nd inaugural banquet with keynote speaker the Rev. Ernest O. Norquist, a US Army medical corpsman who survived the Bataan Death March after being captured by Japanese forces in 1942. His book, Our Paradise: a GI’s War Diary, describes his WWII experiences as a POW.

Arts & Entertainment

• His Novel Approach, by Caroline Aoyagi, page 15. Author Stewart David Ikeda discusses his debut novel ‘What the Scarecrow Said,’ inspired by his grandfather’s story of being denied a university fellowship due to his Japanese ancestry during WWII. The novel follows a Nisei man’s journey from Little Tokyo through internment at Gila River to rebuilding his life in Massachusetts.
• ‘Whispered Silences’ Closing at Cal State, Sacramento, by P.C. Staff, page 17. The photography exhibit ‘Whispered Silences: Japanese American Detention Camps, 50 Years Later’ by Joan Myers closes at California State University, Sacramento on Jan. 24 before continuing its national tour. The exhibit features 44 contemporary images of former internment camp sites with text by historian Gary Okihiro.

Obituaries

• In Memoriam: John Y. Yoshino, Civil Rights Leader, by P.C. Staff, page 20. John Yutaka Yoshino, 86, a longtime civil rights specialist and JACL leader, died Dec. 13 in Kensington, Maryland. An MIS volunteer from Topaz internment camp, he worked for the President’s Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity and later the Federal Highway Administration, and served as Washington D.C. JACL chapter president.
• In Memoriam: Tad Masaoka, HUD Official, by P.C. Staff, page 20. Tad Tadashi Masaoka, 72, a 442nd Purple Heart veteran and longtime HUD official, died Dec. 15 in San Mateo. He worked in Washington D.C. on civil rights legislation with his brother Mike and JACL before serving as a manager in HUD’s Fair Housing division until his 1988 retirement.

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