Becoming citizens: Honolulu’s drive for Japanese aliens, 1952

Vol. 35, No. 13, September 27, 1952. 8 pages. View this issue

Citizenship for Japanese aliens was the main subject of this eight-page issue. On the front page, Lawrence Nakatsuka reported that Honolulu civic groups, with Mike Masaoka as guest speaker, agreed on a coordinated drive under the name Citizenship Association of Hawaii. Masaoka also told audiences that Issei naturalized under the Walter-McCarran Act would strengthen the electorate. Other items looked at a citizenship class in Japanese in San Francisco, how to apply for visas under the new immigration law, and Utah Issei who stood to lose special hunting and fishing privileges.

Elsewhere, Bill Hosokawa marked ten years of his column, From the Frying Pan, and Richard Akagi told a fable called Yellow Girl. Readers will also find news of Nisei soldiers in Korea, plans for a 442nd Regimental Combat Team reunion in Hawaii, soprano Tomi Kanazawa, and swimmer Ford Konno, plus chapter notices from Fowler and Portland.

What’s in this issue

Community

  • Honolulu Civic Groups Plan Coordinated Program to Assist Japanese Aliens to Become Citizens, by By LAWRENCE NAKATSUKA, page 1. Honolulu civic groups, with Mike Masaoka as guest speaker, agreed on a coordinated citizenship drive under the name Citizenship Association of Hawaii. The effort aims to prevent duplication, offer community help, and work with immigration agencies to qualify eligible aliens.
  • Fowler JACLers Set Plans for Inaugural Fete, by P.C. Staff, page 1. The Fowler JACL announced its inaugural dinner for Saturday, Nov. 8, at the Empire Room of the Hotel Californian in Fresno. Committee assignments for program, tickets, and invitations were also named.
  • Citizenship Class Planned to Aid Issei Naturalization, by P.C. Staff, page 1. A San Francisco citizenship class taught in Japanese is being arranged under the Advisory Committee for Issei Citizenship. Registration is set for October 14 and 15 at a local church, and the class is believed to be the first Americanization class in Japanese run by a public school system.
  • Portland Chapter Will Sponsor Political Meet, by P.C. Staff, page 1. The Portland JACL will host a public debate of the Republican and Democratic party platforms on Saturday, Oct. 18, at the Japanese Society Hall. Speakers include Rowland Motuen and Stan Johnson.
  • Parents Learn Son Wounded in Korea, by P.C. Staff, page 2. The parents of Pvt. Kohei M. Kawaguchi learned that their son was slightly wounded in the leg in Korea. He had entered the Army only a year earlier.
  • Nisei Stewardess Survives Typhoon, by P.C. Staff, page 3. Kiku Hori, a California-Eastern Airways stewardess, was caught on Wake Island when a typhoon struck and was evacuated to Honolulu. She was reported safe and awaiting transportation back to San Francisco.
  • Four Hawaiians Will Tour Mainland to Publicize 442nd Reunion in Hawaii Next Year, by P.C. Staff, page 3. A four-member delegation from Honolulu began a mainland tour to arrange the 10th anniversary 442nd Regimental Combat Team reunion in summer 1953. The group will meet veterans’ organizations in cities across the country.
  • Nisei Groups Boost Shonien Fund Campaign, by P.C. Staff, page 3. Several Los Angeles Nisei organizations supported the $26,000 Shonien child care center fund drive. The Fuji-Rexall window display, a teen girls club bake sale, and a donation from the Renees were among the efforts.
  • Protest Bias at Country Club, by Reader, page 4. A reader protests that a Baldwin Park Country Club pool denied entry to a Negro guest invited by a local church youth group. The writer urges management to issue a public statement to avoid a boycott by Nisei organizations.

Incarceration & Redress

  • Issei Who Become Citizens Will Be Valuable Addition to Electorate, Says Masaoka, by P.C. Staff, page 1. Mike Masaoka told Honolulu audiences that Japanese aliens naturalized under the Walter-McCarran Act will strengthen Hawaii’s electorate. He said the law removes the 1924 exclusion act and pledged JACL support for Hawaii statehood.

Military & Veterans

  • Corporal Wins Silver Star for Heroism, by P.C. Staff, page 1. Cpl. Charles A. Hamada received the Army Silver Star at Tripler Army Hospital for heroism in Korean combat. His citation describes how he alone located enemy positions and signaled his unit until he was seriously wounded.
  • Report 1,300 Nisei Soldiers Married Japanese Brides During Occupation Period, by P.C. Staff, page 2. About 1,300 Nisei GIs on occupation duty in Japan since 1945 have married Japanese nationals, according to estimates. Most have returned or plan to return to Hawaii or the mainland with their wives.

National

  • Japan Air Lines Will Pay Sum to Victim’s Family, by P.C. Staff, page 1. Japan Air Lines will pay 1,300,000 yen to the family of Toshio Yamashiro, a Honolulu hotel manager killed in a JAL crash on Mount Mihara. He had taken a one-day trip to Fukuoka as a JAL guest before the fatal flight.
  • Intermarriage Produces New Hawaiian Racial Type, But Unknown Elsewhere in World, by P.C. Staff, page 2. Hawaii intermarriage is creating a new racial group that makes existing racial classifications meaningless, according to Bureau of Health Statistics chief M. A. Taff Jr. Taff predicts the Japanese will become the largest population group and proposes a new classification system.
  • Nisei for Ike Group Formed in California, by P.C. Staff, page 3. A Nisei for Ike committee was organized in the San Francisco area under the Northern California Committee for Eisenhower and Nixon. Plans include forming Nisei committees in areas with large Japanese American voter populations.
  • Outline Procedure for Visas Under New Immigration Law, by P.C. Staff, page 3. Frank L. Auerbach of the State Department outlined the information required on immigrant visa applications under the new Immigration and Nationality Act. He advised U.S. relatives to urge Japanese applicants to file early because records take time to assemble.

Arts & Entertainment

  • Tomi Kanazawa Will Appear in TV’s First Color Opera, by P.C. Staff, page 2. Nisei soprano Tomi Kanazawa will appear in the first color televised opera on Oct. 28 and on the Kate Smith show on Oct. 9. She recently became the first singer of Japanese ancestry to sing with the Metropolitan Opera company.
  • Isamu Noguchi Designs Bridge in Hiroshima, by P.C. Staff, page 2. Japanese American sculptor Isamu Noguchi designed a bridge completed in Hiroshima, where his atom-bomb memorial has been controversial. Noguchi now lives near Tokyo with his wife, actress Yoshiko Yamaguchi.
  • Praise Evacuees for Art Work Accomplished in WRA Camp, by P.C. Staff, page 2. Allen H. Eaton, author of Beauty Behind Barbed Wire, praised evacuee artists for their creative output under confinement during his Los Angeles visit. He credited photographer Toyo Miyatake for helping obtain the camp images used in the book.
  • Hawaii Senator Sees Bright Future for Nisei Americans, by P.C. Staff, page 3. Hawaii Territorial Senate president Wilfred Tsukiyama, visiting Tokyo with a goodwill delegation, cited Nisei political achievements and praised Mike Masaoka’s work on repealing the 1924 exclusion act. He noted two Nisei hold cabinet posts under Governor Long.

Obituaries

  • Paul Takeshita, UC Graduate, Dies of Heart Attack, by P.C. Staff, page 2. Paul Kazuo Takeshita, a recent University of California history graduate, died in his sleep at his Yuba City home. He is survived by his parents and two sisters.

Sports

  • 300th Hawaiian Soldier Killed in Korean Conflict, by P.C. Staff, page 3. Pfc. Wallace K. Ishikawa of Honolulu became the 300th soldier from Hawaii listed as killed in action in Korea. He had earlier been listed as missing in action.
  • Portland Doctor Operated on Marciano, by P.C. Staff, page 6. A Portland doctor of Japanese ancestry reportedly performed an operation on Rocky Marciano’s injured knuckle that strengthened his punching hand. The story is drawn from a Saturday Evening Post article by Al Hirshberg.
  • Konno Named Hawaii’s Top Nisei Athlete, by P.C. Staff, page 7. Olympic swimming champion Ford Konno received the Hawaii Times award as the territory’s outstanding Nisei athlete. He was also named a candidate for the Sullivan Award as the nation’s top amateur athlete.
  • Nakama Sends Top Hawaiian Swimmers to Buckeye Schools, by P.C. Staff, page 7. Kiyoshi Nakama, a former Ohio State swimmer, recruited Hawaiian swimmers including Ford Konno and Yoshi Oyakawa to Ohio State, which won multiple national titles. The piece traces how the Buckeyes built their Hawaiian pipeline.
  • Tommy Umeda Loses Verdict in L.A. Bout, by P.C. Staff, page 7. Tommy Umeda lost a ten-round decision to Mexican flyweight champion Otilio Galvan at Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles. Galvan’s switch style proved difficult for Umeda to solve.

Commentary

  • Victory, by P.C. Staff, page 3. A brief note reports that Negro students in Pulaski County, Arkansas, will no longer travel long distances to high school after NAACP efforts. The item is part of a Minority Week feature.
  • Yellow Girl, by Richard Akagi, page 5. A fable recounts a Japanese American girl who longs to be white and assimilates into white society in Chicago, only to be reminded she is still seen as foreign. The moral compares her failure to a team without a good line.
  • From the Frying Pan, by Bill Hosokawa, page 5. Hosokawa reflects on ten years of his column, recalling wartime reactions and the demagogues he confronted. He muses on the aging Issei and the complex relationship between Issei and Nisei.
  • Motion Picture for the Mind: Terror in Space and Time, by Iwao Kawakami, page 5. Kawakami presents an experimental prose piece that moves through fragmented images, from a knife cutting a sandwich to Genghis Khan facing mortality. He argues that great writers are not bound to modesty or humility.
  • Utah Issei May Lose Special Status, by P.C. Staff, page 6. Issei in Utah who had special hunting and fishing privileges will lose them when the McCarran-Walter Act takes effect on Dec. 24. Aliens are barred from carrying firearms and pay higher fishing fees, though an amendment may protect those who have filed for citizenship.

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