Cast in Bronze: Terminology Symposium in San Francisco, October 22, 2011

January 30, 2012 by 9 Comments

By Soji Kashiwagi

The main reason for holding a day-long symposium on terminology and the use of U.S. government euphemisms during World War II was not, according to event organizers, to take on the role of the “word police” and tell members of the Japanese American community what they should or should not say regarding what happened some 69 years ago.

In fact, Mako Nakagawa, the Seattle-based author of the Power of Words Resolution which was passed by the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) National Council in 2010, said that those who lived through the experience “…have earned the right to call it whatever they want.”

Instead, the event’s focus turned toward educating those in public institutions and museums who cast words in bronze that, as Lane Hirabayashi describes, “…are not strictly or historically accurate like ‘internment,’ or ‘relocation,’ on plaques, memorials, exhibits, and installations in Interpretive Learning Centers.” Read more of this post

Filed under News, Other Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Dancing With Grace – Gracious And Graceful

January 19, 2012 by Leave a comment

Editor’s Note: The following piece by Jenni Kuida, a tribute to former Manzanar Committee member Grace Harada, was originally published in January 2002, in the Rafu Shimpo, and on her family’s web site. She posted a link to her story on Facebook on January 18, commemorating the tenth anniversary of Harada’s passing. We thought it would be a fitting tribute to publish it here as well.

Former Manzanar Committee member Grace Harada (center), shown here with Jenni Kuida (left) and
Sue Kunitomi Embrey (right), who passed away in 2006.
Photo: Jenni Kuida

You might not have ever met Grace Harada. But if you’ve been to an Obon at Senshin Buddhist Temple or the Manzanar Pilgrimage in the last thirty years, chances are, you have surely seen her. She was the petite Nisei woman dancing Bon Odori in the inner circle, leading Sansei like me, trying to follow along in the outer circle. I would always seek her out when stumbling through the moves, because I knew that if I followed her, I’d be ok.

Sadly, she passed away on January 18 at age 76. Only one week earlier, she suffered from a massive stroke and slipped into a coma. Just like that. At the memorial service for Grace at Senshin Buddhist Temple, Reverend Mas Kodani spoke fondly of Grace, using the words “gracious” and “graceful” to describe Grace. He talked about how Grace loved to dance. She lived her life doing what she loved to do. She found true joy in dancing, and in teaching dance to others. Read more of this post

Filed under Commentary, Manzanar, Manzanar Pilgrimage, Other Tagged with , , , , , , ,

2011 Cherry Blossom Festival Scheduled For September 24-25, 2011 In Los Angeles’ Little Tokyo

September 16, 2011 by 1 Comment

The following was excerpted from a press release by the Cherry Blossom Festival SoCal.

CHERRY BLOSSOM FESTIVAL: Manzanar Committee to be honored

To download a printable flyer,
click on the image above.

LOS ANGELES — Celebrating its tenth year, the Cherry Blossom Festival SoCal will be held on September 24-25, 2011, in Los Angeles’ Little Tokyo (enter the festival at the intersection of Temple and Alameda Streets).

Produced by the grass-roots, 100 percent volunteer Cherry Blossom Festival SoCal, a fiscally sponsored project of the Pasadena Arts Council, the annual festival promotes and educates attendees about the culture of Americans of Japanese Ancestry, along with Japanese culture. This year, the festival recognizes the history of Japanese Americans during the World War II era and Japan Rebuilt/10,000 Origami Cranes. Read more of this post

Filed under Manzanar, News, Other Tagged with , , , , , , , , , ,

A No-No Boy Goes To Washington – Hiroshi Kashiwagi

June 3, 2011 by Leave a comment

Playwright Soji Kashiwagi, who is active with the Tule Lake Committee, has even more reason to be proud of father Hiroshi Kashiwagi, also a playwright and a “No-No Boy,” who was recently invited to an event at the White House, where he got a chance to meet President Obama and the First Lady. He recently wrote about his father’s experience in our nation’s capital.

Photo: Kashiwagi Family Collection

PASADENA, CA — For my father, Nisei playwright, poet and actor Hiroshi Kashiwagi, the journey up the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in the heart of Washington, D.C. was steep and arduous. Now 88 years old, he moves much slower than he used to, but he was determined to reach the top, slowly, step by step, because for my Dad, a steep climb up some steps is nothing in comparison to the long journey he has taken throughout his life to reach this moment.

From a small, country store in Loomis, California, to behind barbed wire at the Tule Lake Segregation Center during World War II, his road to Washington has not been easy. Branded and stigmatized as “disloyal” and a “troublemaker” by members of his own community for his refusal to answer two deeply flawed U.S. Government imposed “loyalty” questions, he has lived a shadowy life of a “No-No Boy,” once considered the “lowest of the low” among those Americans of Japanese ancestry who protested their unjust World War II incarceration in America’s concentration camps. Read more of this post

Filed under News, Other Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

← Older posts

Newer posts →

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 87 other followers