Land law suits, evacuation claims and the 442nd clubhouse, early 1947

Vol. 23, No. 26, January 4, 1947. 8 pages. View this issue

Earl Finch, the “one-man USO” from Mississippi, returned to Hawaii to help 442nd veterans get a clubhouse in Honolulu, and that story led the front page. Beside it, the State of California filed a new escheat suit under the Alien Land law against a Fresno family. Saburo Kido wrote about remedial legislation for the 80th Congress, including an evacuation claims commission, and Mike Masaoka announced a New York meeting to form a committee for claims and naturalization rights. Bill Hosokawa and John Kitasako wrote about where Nisei stood after the war.

Other pages told of 6,678 graduates of the Military Intelligence Service Language School and of Nisei troops in occupied Japan, reported by Frederick A. Orehek. There was also news from JACL chapters in Denver, San Diego, Nampa and Cincinnati, and a letter from Dr. Kano Ikeda on Issei membership. This was an eight-page issue.

What’s in this issue

National

• Earl Finch Returns to Hawaii to Help 442nd Veterans Get New Clubhouse in Honolulu, by P.C. Staff, page 1. Earl Finch, the ‘one-man USO,’ has returned to Hawaii to help 442nd veterans secure a clubhouse in Honolulu estimated to cost up to $125,000. He described the proposed club as a national clearing house of information about the Japanese American Combat Team and said it would be open to veterans of all backgrounds.
• New Suit Filed in Fresno to Escheat Farm of California Alien Land Restrictions, by P.C. Staff, page 1. The State of California filed an escheat suit under the Alien Land law against the Yamashiro family and Shinichi Yoshikawa over 20 acres purchased in 1928. The complaint alleges the land was acquired in violation of the anti-alien statute.
• Independent Group Will Fight for Evacuation Claims Bill, by P.C. Staff, page 1. Prominent Americans will meet in New York City on January 14 to form an independent committee advocating for evacuation claims and naturalization rights for Japanese Americans. The effort was announced by Mike Masaoka of the JACL Anti-Discrimination Committee.
• Japanese American Named as Regent of U. of Hawaii, by P.C. Staff, page 1. Governor Ingram Stainback appointed Dr. Katsuyuki Izumi, a Maui physician, to the University of Hawaii board of regents to succeed E. P. Lydgate. Katsuro Miho was also named to a four-year term on the territorial fair commission.
• Renunciant Files Case to Regain California Land, by P.C. Staff, page 1. Toyotsugu Kumagai, a former Palo Alto rancher who renounced his citizenship while confined in a war relocation center, filed suit in Santa Clara County Superior Court to regain 17 acres. The case tests whether his land should escheat under the Alien Land law.
• Canada County Opposes Use of Evacuee Labor, by P.C. Staff, page 1. The Middlesex County council in London, Ontario passed a resolution protesting the proposed transfer of Japanese Canadians to farm work in the area. Opponents of the resolution called it non-Christian while supporters described the workers as undesirable.
• Proposed Legislation Will Give Recognition to Japanese Aliens Who Aided U.S. in War, by P.C. Staff, page 1. Rep. George Miller of California will sponsor legislation giving the Attorney General power to suspend deportation of aliens ineligible to citizenship who aided the war effort. The bill would affect more than 500 persons of Japanese ancestry facing deportation.
• California VFW Seeks Formation of Nisei Posts, by P.C. Staff, page 1. A Veterans of Foreign Wars official in Alameda indicated the VFW favors segregated posts for Japanese American veterans in Northern California. The statement noted a post had already been formed in Sacramento.
• Dismiss Aratani Case Testing California School Segregation, by P.C. Staff, page 1. Attorney A. L. Wirin dismissed the Takao Aratani case, which challenged California’s 1948 education code amendments permitting segregated schools, stating its immediate purpose was achieved. Attorney General Robert Kenny had already expressed the opinion that the law is unconstitutional.
• Minneapolis Unions May Refuse to Work on Restricted Housing, by P.C. Staff, page 1. AFL business agents in Minneapolis proposed that union labor refuse employment on projects in districts where racial or religious housing discrimination exists. The plan followed a case in which a Japanese American veteran was excluded from a veterans’ housing project.
• ACLU to Urge Passage of Bill to Pay Claims, by P.C. Staff, page 3. The ACLU announced its 1947 legislative program, led by a bill to indemnify West Coast evacuees for losses from wartime evacuation. Other proposals include repeal of the Oriental exclusion act and anti-lynching legislation.
• Peruvian Japanese Flown to Lima, by P.C. Staff, page 3. Thirty-one alien Japanese residents of Peru interned in the United States during the war were flown by the Immigration Service from San Antonio to Lima, Peru. The deportation was reported by the New York Times.
• Canada’s Ban Against Return of Evacuees to West Coast Will Expire With Wartime Powers, by P.C. Staff, page 3. After the Privy Council upheld Canada’s right to deport persons of Japanese ancestry, British Columbians debated what happens when the War Measures Act expires. The ban on Japanese returning to the coastal region is set to lapse with the act.
• Wirth Elected to Head Race Relations Group, by P.C. Staff, page 7. Louis Wirth, sociology professor at the University of Chicago, was elected president of the American Council on Race Relations. The council plans to strengthen research and training programs in race relations under his leadership.
• York Times Writer Notes Awakening of Nisei Political Action, by P.C. Staff, page 7. New York Times correspondent Lawrence Davies reported on Nisei political participation in defeating Proposition 15 and the JACL’s Anti-Discrimination Committee. He noted an awakening political consciousness among Japanese Americans on the West Coast.
• ACLU Group Asked to Intervene for Nisei in Japan, by P.C. Staff, page 8. The ACLU of Northern California was asked to intervene for a Nisei GI in Japan whose American-born fiancee lost her citizenship by voting in a Japanese election. The letter argues the voting was done under MacArthur’s urging and in confusion.

Community

• Farm Worker Hangs Self in Parlier, by P.C. Staff, page 1. Seizo Okawa, 71, a farm worker, took his own life at a labor camp near Parlier on Dec. 27 after being in poor health since arriving a month earlier. He had no known survivors and graveside services were held at Mendocino cemetery.
• Grocery Proprietor Wounded by Bandit, by P.C. Staff, page 1. Walter Ohmura, owner of a Chicago grocery, was seriously wounded when a bandit shot him in the back during a robbery attempt on Dec. 21. The bandit fired after being told there was no money in the store.
• Hawaii Nisei GI Announces Troth to Girl in Germany, by P.C. Staff, page 1. The engagement of Miss Inge Grunig of Mainz-Gustavsburg, Germany, to Pfc. Charles M. Taniguchi of Honolulu was announced at a party in Germany. Taniguchi is serving with the 823rd engineers special service regiment in Bretten.
• Philadelphia Nisei Council Dissolved, by P.C. Staff, page 1. The Nisei Council, once active in resettling Japanese American evacuees in the Philadelphia area, was dissolved last month. Its activities will be discontinued until Nisei feel the council is necessary or important issues require its reactivation.
• Sakurado Charged with Intent to Commit Murder, by P.C. Staff, page 3. Shigeo M. Sakurado of Blackfoot, Idaho was charged with assault with intent to commit murder after allegedly attacking Elaine Diggie Edmo with a fork in Pocatello. He was bound over to district court under a $10,000 bond.
• Kawano Reelected President of CIO Longshore Union, by P.C. Staff, page 3. Jack H. Kawano was reelected president of ILWU Local 137 in Honolulu, and three other Japanese Americans were elected to union offices. Kawano also played a role in settling a 75-day sugar strike.
• Puella Societas Visits Servicemen, by P.C. Staff, page 6. The Puella Societas of Sacramento visited Nisei war veterans at Letterman hospital in San Francisco during the holidays. The group sang Christmas carols and served Japanese food.
• Nisei Players Aid Hawaii Victory in Pineapple Bowl, by P.C. Staff, page 6. Nisei war veterans including Unkei Uchima played key roles in Hawaii’s 19-16 Pineapple Bowl victory over Utah in Honolulu on New Year’s Day. Several Nisei starters on Hawaii’s line were veterans.
• Fujii Elected President of Boise Chapter, by Mary Ban, page 6. Edson Fujii was elected president of the Snake River Valley JACL chapter in Nampa at a December meeting. Members discussed whether to dissolve the chapter’s three-district system.
• Chicago Buddhists Slate Election, by P.C. Staff, page 7. The Chicago Sangha, the young people’s group of the Chicago Buddhist church, will hold its annual officer election on January 12. The meeting follows the morning service.
• Wedding Rites, by P.C. Staff, page 7. Alice Hiroko Fujii and Tatsuo Matsuda were married in a double ring ceremony at the Denver Buddhist church on December 11. The bride’s sister attended her and the groom’s best man was Tom Kamiyama.
• Northern California Makes $4,000 Donation to ADC Coffers, by P.C. Staff, page 8. The Northern California District Council of the JACL turned over a $4,000 donation to the Anti-Discrimination Committee. The money will help set up ADC offices in the East under Mike Masaoka.

Military & Veterans

• First Nisei VFW Post Will Hold Election Meeting, by P.C. Staff, page 1. The newly organized All-Nisei Post No. 8985 of the Veterans of Foreign Wars in Sacramento will elect officers at its first 1947 meeting on Jan. 7. Installation of officers will follow later in the month.
• Disclose 6678 GIs Trained in Language School Program of Military Intelligence Service, by P.C. Staff, page 3. Lt. Col. Lachlan Sinclair revealed that 6,678 men have graduated from the MIS Language School at a cost of about $20 million. Graduates were told they will help democratize Japan during the occupation.
• Japanese Veteran of Kamikaze Corps Given Scholarship, by P.C. Staff, page 3. Robert Yukimasa Nishiyama, a 22-year-old Japan-born interpreter, was awarded a Lafayette College scholarship established by the parents of a soldier killed on Luzon. The scholarship aims to promote better relations between white and yellow races.
• Saburo Kido Awarded Medal for Work in Removing Bias Against Nisei Group in Draft, by P.C. Staff, page 3. Saburo Kido received the Selective Service medal and certificate of merit for helping remove discriminatory draft practices against Nisei registrants. He is one of few non-Selective Service persons to receive the award.
• Wounded Nisei Spends First Christmas at Home in 5 Years, by P.C. Staff, page 7. Tech. Sgt. Yoshiki Ogata of the 100th Infantry Battalion, seriously wounded in Italy and France, was flown home to Kauai for Christmas. He remains hospitalized for combat wounds and will return to Tripler hospital after the holidays.
• Anti-Bias Campaign Donations Honor Gls Who Died in Service, by P.C. Staff, page 8. The JACL Anti-Discrimination Committee received donations in memory of Akira Richard Otsubo, killed in France in 1944, and Sergeant Daniel C. Ota, killed in a plane crash near Osaka. Both donations came from their families.
• Chinese American Veterans Honor Wounded Nisei Soldier, by P.C. Staff, page 8. Members of the Chinese American American Legion Post in Los Angeles gave a washing machine to Pfc. Rokuro Moriguchi, a wounded 100th Battalion veteran recovering in Van Nuys. Moriguchi was hit by shrapnel in France in 1944.

Commentary

• Tendency Toward All-Nisei Society Indicated by Study, by John Kitasako, page 2. Bob Cullum of the Resettlement Study project concludes Nisei are retreating from integration toward all-Nisei companionship, partly due to the pressure to integrate during relocation. He believes this cultural-sociological retreat will be temporary.
• Notes for the 80th Congress: Remedial Legislation Needed to Erase Bias from Statutes, by Saburo Kido, page 2. Kido urges Congress to revise naturalization laws, establish an evacuation claims commission, and revise immigration laws to end race-based discrimination. He cites the wartime contributions of alien Japanese parents of Nisei soldiers as reasons for change.
• Language School, by P.C. Staff, page 4. The editorial praises the 155-man MISLS graduating class and notes Colonel Thorpe’s estimate that occupation of Japan must last twenty more years. It argues that Nisei soldiers’ democratizing work in Japan is vital to world peace.
• Two-Way Passage in Japan: Japanese American Troops Play Important Role in U.S. Occupation of Defeated Nation, by Frederick A. Orehek, page 4. Former Marine correspondent Frederick Orehek describes how Nisei troops served as a bridge to the Japanese population during the occupation, including in Military Government. He contrasts their conduct with Caucasian GIs and credits Nisei with aiding Japan’s rapid recovery.
• Here’s to Us—Happy New Year!, by Sue Kunitomi, page 5. Yuriko Fukuda reflects on her wartime marriage to Ricky, a Nisei soldier killed in France, while reflecting on her brother’s wounds and Tuck’s lost leg. She affirms her belief that America is worth the cost despite the sacrifices.
• Hot Sun in California, by Jobo Nakamura, page 5. A young Nisei on a Chicago bus recalls his California boyhood, school years, and family’s hardships in orchards and canneries. The sketch captures nostalgia and the loneliness of growing up Nisei.
• Saburo Kido: Remedial Legislation (Continued), by Saburo Kido, page 5. Kido argues that proposed naturalization revisions and deportation relief bills would end discrimination against Japanese aliens. He also calls for an evacuation claims commission to compensate losses from mass evacuation.
• From the Frying Pan, by Bill Hosokawa, page 6. Hosokawa observes that Nisei have passed many crossroads and are weary of commentary about their problems. He cites Tsutomu Sugioka’s view that Nisei lack courage to fight for full acceptance and that a division is emerging between ‘ins’ and ‘outs.’
• Tomorrow’s Heirs, by Sachi L. Wada, page 6. Wada reflects on the past year in Minneapolis and hopes for a peaceful future, including laughter for children and friendships across lines. The column closes with a reflection on a combined worship service at St. Mark’s Cathedral.
• Letters: Issei Members, by Kano Ikeda, M.D., page 6. Dr. Ikeda argues that the JACL should allow Issei to hold active membership because they contributed to the war effort and share the same discrimination as Nisei. He calls the exclusion divisive.

JACL

• Denver JACL Elects George Masunaga as New President, by P.C. Staff, page 3. George Masunaga was elected president of the Denver JACL for 1947, with a full slate of vice-presidents and officers. The new cabinet was sworn in at the Christmas inaugural ball.
• Kido to Leave for West Coast to Open Offices, by P.C. Staff, page 3. Saburo Kido, wartime JACL president, will return to the West Coast to resume private law practice with offices in San Francisco and Los Angeles. His wife and children will remain in Salt Lake City until next summer.
• Dr. Hara Elected to Head San Diego JACL Chapter, by P.C. Staff, page 6. Dr. George Hara was elected president of the reactivated San Diego JACL chapter, which launched a membership drive. Members had been active in the fight against Proposition 15.
• Cincinnati JACL Holds Elections, by P.C. Staff, page 6. The Cincinnati JACL elected James Hashimoto as president for the coming year at its last meeting of 1946. Two constitutional amendments were also passed.

Arts & Entertainment

• Masako Ono Makes Hometown Debut, by Molly Marshall, page 3. Fresno-born Nisei soprano Masako Ono made her hometown debut in a concert sponsored by the Central California Buddhists Association. Fresno Bee critic Molly Marshall praised her light lyric voice and musical training.
• Report Nisei Soprano Will Return to U.S., by P.C. Staff, page 8. Agnes Yoshiko Miyakawa, a Nisei soprano who has given recitals on three continents, is returning to the United States after serving with occupation forces in Japan. She made her operatic debut in Paris 15 years earlier.

Obituaries

• Overdose of Sleeping Pills Fatal to Widow of Artist, by P.C. Staff, page 8. Mrs. Yoshiko Hagiya died of an overdose of sleeping tablets one month after the death of her husband, New York artist Hisashi Hagiya. She had been despondent since his death and requested that she be cremated with one of his paintings.

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