Issei membership and the push for a JACL convention

Vol. 25, No. 7, August 23, 1947. 8 pages. View this issue

A recommendation that Issei be allowed full membership in the JACL led the front page. National staff officers made it unanimously at their Salt Lake City meeting, and it goes to the national board at the Idaho Falls convention. Mike Masaoka planned a national tour of Nisei communities through November, ending at that convention, and the Intermountain District Council discussed keeping national headquarters in Salt Lake City. An Interior Department report said public acceptance of Nisei was better than before the war.

Elsewhere, Larry Tajiri wrote on organized labor and anti-Japanese racism in California, and Barbara Finch reported on Nisei gains in Los Angeles. Toshio Mori contributed a short story, “A Day at the Zoo,” and an anonymous Nisei veteran wrote about heritage and assimilation. The eight pages also carry sports and chapter news, including an Idaho Falls V-J Day parade float.

What’s in this issue

Community

• JACL Float Features V-J Day Parade in Idaho Falls, by P.C. Staff, page 1. The Idaho Falls chapter of the JACL constructed a float designed by Fred Ochi for the V-J Day parade on Aug. 14. The float carried a dove of peace holding an olive branch, and the article lists the members who helped build it.
• Despondency Over Ill Health Cited in Lodi Suicide, by P.C. Staff, page 1. Mrs. Caro Yoshioka, 27, of Lodi died from self-inflicted knife wounds on Aug. 12, apparently despondent over ill health. She is survived by her husband Yutaka and four children, and funeral rites were held at the Buddhist church.
• Five Nisei Attend National Convention, by P.C. Staff, page 1. Five disabled veterans of Japanese ancestry from Hawaii attended the Disabled American Veterans national convention in Las Vegas. The delegates were named in the report.
• Court Grants Move to Repay Bank Accounts, by P.C. Staff, page 2. Judge Kaufman of San Francisco Superior Court granted a State Banking Department petition to pay 80 percent on dollar accounts of Japanese-ancestry depositors at the Yokohama Specie Bank. Payments will begin after a 60-day appeal period and are estimated at over $2,540,000.
• Nisei Drowns While on Fishing Trip, by P.C. Staff, page 2. Walter Masemi Mizuno, 33, formerly of Oakland, drowned on Aug. 10 after falling from a boat on Big Marine lake in Minnesota. His body was recovered the same day.
• San Jose to Open Twelve-Team Bowling League, by P.C. Staff, page 2. A new twelve-team bowling league sponsored by the San Jose JACL will begin in September. The announcement follows completion of the UCL summer league play.
• Chi Alpha Delta Group Will Revive Scholarship Plan, by P.C. Staff, page 2. The Chi Alpha Delta alumnae announced the resumption of a prewar scholarship covering tuition and books for a Nisei woman entering UCLA for the first time. Applicants should contact Miss Kay Kumai in Los Angeles.
• Nisei Places First in Auditors’ Exams, by P.C. Staff, page 2. Robert M. Horiuchi, the first Nisei certified as a senior auditor in Colorado, placed highest on the examination and was promoted to the Department of Revenue. The article also notes his background at the University of Washington and Denver University.
• Intermountain JACL Leaders Urged to Keep National Headquarters, by P.C. Staff, page 4. The Intermountain District Council met in Salt Lake City and heard reports from national officers and Mike Masaoka on ADC activities. Elmer R. Smith urged that national JACL headquarters remain in Salt Lake City after 1948, and the IDC voted to form a study committee.
• Nisei Veterans to Attend VFW National Meet, by P.C. Staff, page 8. Mike Masaoka and Mas Horiuchi were named Utah delegates to the VFW national encampment in Cleveland from Sept. 4 to 9. Both are Nisei veterans and members of the Atomic post in Salt Lake City.
• Los Angeles JACL Vanguard Published, by P.C. Staff, page 8. The Los Angeles JACL launched its monthly publication The Vanguard, an eight-page multilith newsletter. The lead editorial states the paper will remain non-partisan while supporting basic democratic rights.
• Appeal for Funds to Send Goats to People of Japan, by P.C. Staff, page 8. The interfaith Heifers for Relief committee in Pasadena appealed for donations to send goats to Japan in a relief project. The first shipment of 200 goats is planned for September.
• National JACL Officers to Attend California Meeting, by P.C. Staff, page 8. JACL President Hito Okada and ADC Director Mike Masaoka will attend a north California district council meeting in San Francisco on August 23. Masaoka will present a Washington report on ADC activities.

JACL

• JACL Staff Recommends Membership for Issei, by P.C. Staff, page 1. JACL national staff officers unanimously recommended full membership for Issei at their Salt Lake City meeting. The proposal will be forwarded to the national board for action at the Idaho Falls convention.

In-Depth

• Nisei Prepares Study Guide on Reading Skills, by P.C. Staff, page 1. Togo W. Tanaka, a former Rafu Shimpo editor, authored a study guide published by the American Technical Society to accompany a book on reading skills. Both volumes are intended for vocational and industrial arts schools.

National

• Two Nisei Land in Japan on Trade Mission, by P.C. Staff, page 1. Two Japanese Americans, Wesley K. Oyama and James Tsugio Ota, arrived in Tokyo as part of the first group of American traders permitted into Japan since the occupation. The group was housed in hotels reserved for 400 foreign business representatives.
• Government Report Declares Public Acceptance of Nisei Better Than Before War, by P.C. Staff, page 1. An Interior Department study titled People in Motion reports that 55 percent of persons of Japanese descent now live in the three West Coast states, and about 60 percent of evacuees have returned to original localities. The report says public acceptance is better than before the war, though alien land laws still severely affect evacuees.
• National Tour Set by Masaoka to Take Issues to Nisei Public, by P.C. Staff, page 1. Mike Masaoka, legislative director of the ADC, will tour the nation from August through November to discuss ADC issues with the Nisei public. His itinerary includes Toronto, Cleveland, and numerous U.S. cities before concluding in Idaho Falls for the IDC convention.
• Estimate 550 Japanese Girls Wed to GIs Before Deadline, by P.C. Staff, page 2. Consular authorities in Yokohama estimated 550 Japanese girls married American servicemen and veterans before the GI Brides act amendment expired on Aug. 21. The amendment had allowed ineligible alien wives to enter the United States despite the Japanese Exclusion Act.
• Race Relations Research, by M.O.T., page 2. The University of Chicago received $150,000 from the Carnegie Corporation and Rockefeller Foundation for a five-year race relations research program directed by Dr. Louis Wirth. The program aims to build a scientific foundation for studying racial and religious prejudice.
• ADC Office Reviews Contacts at Recent Congress Sessions, by P.C. Staff, page 8. The Washington ADC office reported it personally contacted 52 representatives and 17 senators during the first session of the 80th Congress. It also worked on legislation affecting Japanese Americans and protested provisions that could confiscate assets of Japanese nationals.

Commentary

• Newswriter Finds Nisei Have Won Full Rights as Citizens as Result of War Experiences, by Barbara Finch, page 2. Los Angeles newswriter Barbara Finch reports that Nisei have won fuller acceptance in California as a result of wartime experiences and the strengthened JACL. She describes Nisei successes in law, journalism, veterans affairs, employment, and community institutions such as Pilgrim House.
• Skinning the Cat, by P.C. Staff, page 2. Actors’ Equity adopted a clause barring its members from playing in segregated Washington theaters after August 1, 1948. The editorial also comments on a proposed anti-discrimination week by the California AVC.
• Summer Reading, by P.C. Staff, page 2. The article notes that top fiction sellers this summer are race-relations novels, including Sinclair Lewis’s Kingsblood Royal and Laura Z. Hobson’s Gentlemen’s Agreement. It praises both books as essential reading.
• Photo of Nisei Bathing Beauty Used in Chicago Argument, by P.C. Staff, page 2. The Chicago Sun published a photo of Japanese girls in bathing suits in response to a letter from a reader, prompting indignant letters. Chicago JACL noted the paper’s handling of the issue and the reaction from readers.
• Police and Minorities, by P.C. Staff, page 4. The editorial examines Joseph Lohman’s study The Police and Minority Groups, which maps Chicago’s slum conditions and their link to race tensions. It argues police training must address the causes of racial conflict in housing, employment, and social status.
• Organized Labor and Anti-Japanese Racism in California, by Larry Tajiri, page 4. Larry Tajiri traces California AFL’s role in anti-Japanese campaigns and welcomes the election of Jack Shelley as its president as a break from the old-line leadership. He highlights Shelley’s record opposing discrimination against Nisei.
• Nisei Origins May Be Humble But Ex-GI Is Not Ashamed, by A Nisei Veteran, page 5. A Nisei veteran responds to a series on integration, arguing that Nisei should not simply abandon their Japanese heritage to assimilate. He recounts his own youth, wartime experience, and later understanding of his parents’ generation.
• A Short Story: A Day at the Zoo, by Toshio Mori, page 6. A mother and her young son watch two polar bears fight to the death at the zoo, and the child’s questions prompt her to reflect on cruelty. The story ends with the mother deciding to take her son home for dinner.

Military & Veterans

• Former GIs Refuse to Accept Japan’s Ugly Girls, by P.C. Staff, page 2. Former GIs stationed in Japan wrote in to dispute the Sun’s claim that Japanese girls were unattractive. The article reports their rebuttals to the Chicago paper.

Obituaries

• Mrs. Carol Yoshioka, by P.C. Staff, page 2. Carol Yoshioka, 27, of Lodi died on Aug. 12. Her passing is recorded in the vital statistics section.

Incarceration & Redress

• Evacuee Arrest in Canada Protested, by P.C. Staff, page 3. Three evacuees at the Moose Jaw hostel in Saskatchewan were taken into custody and transferred to New Denver after the Labor Department closed the hostel’s services. Ross Thatcher, MP for Moose Jaw, protested the seizure and eviction.

Sports

• Hawaii Legion Nine Loses Despite Nisei’s Iron Man Pitching, by P.C. Staff, page 7. Don Sakai pitched both nine-inning games for the O’Dowda post of Waipahu, Oahu, in the regional American Legion junior baseball tournament at Tucson. Hawaii was eliminated by San Diego after Sakai’s relief appearance.
• Nisei Vets Win Softball Crown, by P.C. Staff, page 7. The Watsonville Nisei Vets won the second-half B division title by defeating Heights 2-1 in an extra-inning playoff. Murakami pitched well and struck out ten batters for the victors.
• Ball Tourney Scheduled by JACL Group, by P.C. Staff, page 8. The Boise Valley and Snake River JACL chapters announced a two-day baseball tournament and bazaar scheduled for Aug. 31 and Sept. 1 in Caldwell and Payette. Teams from Portland, Brigham, Snake River, and Boise Valley will compete.

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