The Manzanar Baseball Project will stage two games at the Manzanar National Historic Site.
Here's an incredible project that could use your eyes and dollars -- a unique community event that combines sports, history, memory and social justice. This spring, The Manzanar Baseball Project will stage two baseball games on a newly restored field at the Manzanar National Historic Site in the Mojave Desert.
Manzanar was the first of ten detention camps where Americans of Japanese ancestry were unjustly imprisoned by the U.S. government during World War II. Overall, it was the largest mass incarceration in American history with 120,000 people being imprisoned between 1942 and 1945.
For many incarcerated Japanese Americans during this time, resilience meant creating a sense of "home" in any way possible, including playing sports. And in the 1940s, baseball was the most popular sport in the country -- including and especially in the camps, where dozens of leagues were formed with hundreds of players.
The Ireichō is on display at the Japanese American National Museum.
Over the weekend in Los Angeles, the Japanese American National Museum invited the public to view and sign the Ireichō, a sacred book that records -- for the first time ever -- the names of over 125,000 persons of Japanese ancestry who were unjustly imprisoned in U.S. Army, Department of Justice, and War Relocation Authority camps during World War II.
Visitors were invited to view the names and use a special Japanese hanko to leave a mark for each person in the Ireichō as a way to honor those incarcerated during World War II. Community participation will "activate" it and rectify the historical record by correcting misspelled names or revealing names that may have been omitted from the record.
The Ireichō will be on display at JANM for one year. A companion virtual monument is available online.
New audio play tells the true story of the legal fight to overturn Korematsu v. United States.
L.A. Theatre Works presents For Us All, a new audio play based on the true story of a team of lawyers who used a little-known legal writ to fight and overturn the conviction of Fred Korematsu, unjustly sentenced for resisting the mass incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II.
Written by Jeanne Sakata, the cast includes Brookie Ishibashi, Derek Mio, Joy Osmanski, Josh Stamberg, Greg Watanabe and Paul Yen. It's available for purchase as an mp3 download (or CD), and includes a conversation with Sakata and four of the attorneys from the Korematsu v. United States case: Lori Bannai, Peter Irons, Dale Minami and Don Tamaki.
And Other Things to Know From Angry Asian America.
President McRobbie addresses IU’s WWII-era Japanese American student ban
This week, Indiana University formally apologized for a World War II-era policy banning admission of Japanese American students between 1942 and 1945. The official apology, issued in a letter from President Michael McRobbie, follows several years of advocacy and a petition delivered to the university in February. The statement expresses regret that the university "ailed to recognize the needs of the 12 Japanese American students who were seeking a new academic home during a time when they were unjustly excluded and removed from their home institutions, in violation of their civil rights." McRobbie also outlines several official actions the university will take to address the issue. Read the letter here.
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Suspect in 'racially motivated' attack on elderly man charged with assault
In Vancouver, a man has been charged in the racially motivated assault of an elderly Asian man. Cameras caught Jamie Allen Bezanson shoving the 92-year old victim, who suffers from severe dementia, in a convenience store on March 13. Store employees were trying to help the victim when the suspect started shouting anti-Asian remarks. The altercation continued outside, where the Bezanson shoved the victim, who fell to the ground and hit his head. Bezanson has been charged with one count of assault. I don't know, I feel like there should be another separate charge for being a Totally Despicable Racist Piece of Shit.
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Police, FBI Investigating Death of Professional Poker Player Susie Zhao
Police in Michigan have identified the woman whose badly burned body was found in a state recreation area as professional poker player The body was discovered at a parking area near the Pontiac Lake Trail the morning of July 13, according to police. Investigators say the case could be connected to Zhao's travels in the poker circuit around the country, or could be the result of meeting someone in the area when she returned recently. Anyone with information or who might have seen Zhao between July 11 and 13 is asked to contact the White Lake Township Police Department at 248-698-4400.
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Two Teens Charged in Murder of Arizona State University Professor
Two teenagers have been charged with murder in the death of an Arizona State University professor who was reported missing in March. Junseok Chae, an associate dean for research and an engineering professor, was reported missing on March 25 after he did not return home from work. The break in the case came after police in Shreveport, Louisiana, responding to a suspicious vehicle call, encountered Javian Ezell and Gabrielle Austin, both 18, and determined they were in Chae's car. Upon further investigation, deputies determined that Chae was killed at an intersection north of Phoenix, and his body was placed in a dumpster. Ezell and Austin were extradited to Arizona, where they were arrested on July 15 and charged with first-degree murder, armed robbery and theft of means of transportation.
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Promotional Image For Disney’s 'Raya and the Last Dragon' Has Debuted
Disney has released the first promotional image for the upcoming animated feature Raya and the Last Dragon, giving us our first good look at the title character. Raya and the Last Dragon will be an epic fantasy adventure with southeast Asian themes, set in a realm called Lumandra, described as "a reimagined earth inhabited by an ancient civilization." Five clans form the land of the dragon, and Raya is determined to find the last dragon. Featuring the voices of Cassie Steele and Awkwafina, the film is due out in theaters on March 12, 2021.
Kazuhisa Hashimoto, creator of the famous ‘Konami Code,’ has died
Up. Up. Down. Down. Left. Right. Left. Right. B. A. Start. It’s the most famous sequence of button pushes in video game history, and its creator, Kazuhisa Hashimoto, has died. He was reportedly 61.
Bellevue College apologizes after administrator alters mural depicting Japanese American internment
Bellevue College has apologized after one of its vice presidents altered a mural of two Japanese American children in a World War II incarceration camp by whiting out a reference to anti-Japanese agitation by local businessmen in the accompanying artist description. Created by Seattle artist Erin Shigaki, the art installation "Never Again Is Now" includes an 11-foot-tall mural of two children photographed at a California incarceration camp. Last week, professors were notified that someone had removed one sentence in a paragraph about Japanese immigrants and their connection to Bellevue.
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Olivia Liang Cast as Lead of CW's 'Kung Fu' Reboot
Olivia Liang will star as the lead in the pilot of CW's reimagining of the 1970s TV show Kung Fu. In the new series, written by Christina M. Kim, a quarter-life crisis causes a young Chinese-American woman, Nicky Chen, to drop out of college and go on a life-changing journey to an isolated monastery in China. But when she returns to find her hometown overrun with crime and corruption, she uses her martial arts skills and Shaolin values to protect her community and bring criminals to justice -- all while searching for the assassin who killed her Shaolin mentor and is now targeting her.
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I Will Make You Mine
Ahead of its world premiere next month at SXSW, here is the trailer for I Will Make You Mine, the directorial debut from our friend Lynn Chen. The film follows three characters: Rachel (Chen), who lives in luxury with her cheating husband; Professor Erika (Ayako Fujitani), who is trying her best to juggle her career and raising her daughter Sachiko (Ayami Riley Tomine); and struggling musician Yea-Ming Chen (who plays a version of herself). They all may have different lives, but they share one common bond: a flawed romantic history with singer-songwriter Goh Nakamura(who also plays a version of himself). As seen in the trailer above, when Goh comes back into their lives, the past comes back and makes things a tad bit complicated. The film will be released on May 26 from Gravitas Ventures.
Calfornia to Offically Apologize for Incarceration of Japanese Americans
Almost 80 years after President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, authorizing the incarceration of 120,000 innocent Japanese Americans during World War II, the state of California will formally apologize to Japanese Americans for its role in the internment. On Thursday, the California Assembly is expected to approve a new bill, HR-77, which officially apologizes for supporting the "unjust exclusion, removal, and incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II, and for its failure to support and defend the civil rights and civil liberties of Japanese Americans during this period."
NYC Taxis Are Avoiding Chinese Passengers Over Coronavirus Fears
In New York City, cabbies and ride-share drivers are reportedly discriminating against customers over fears of the Coronavirus, refusing Chinese passengers and avoiding driving to Chinese areas of the cities.
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Rest in Peace, Kellye Nakahara Wallett
Kellye Nakahara Wallett, a film and television actress best known for playing Lt. Nurse Kellye Yamato on 11 seasons of the classic series M-A-S-H, died Sunday after a brief battle with cancer. She was 72.
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2020 Seattle Asian American Film Festival
Heads up, Seattle cinephiles. The 2020 Seattle Asian American Film Festival is going down this week, February 20 to 23. Showcasing feature-length and short format films by and about Asian Americans across North America, SAAFF is the only film festival in Seattle to provide a space for Asian American voices, perspectives and histories by screening independent films that reflect the diversity and richness of the city’s Asian American community. For more info, go here.
Giichi Matsumura died during a fishing trip in 1945 when he got caught in a snowstorm.
A skeleton found by hikers last fall near California's second-highest peak has been identified as a Japanese American artist who had left the incarceration camp at Manzanar to paint in the mountains during the last days of World War II.
Giichi Matsumura was on a hiking trip on July 29, 1945 when he stopped to paint a watercolor, intending to catch up later with his group. He got caught in a freak summer snowstorm and died. His remains were later recovered and buried in the mountains, but the remote gravesite was lost to time.
Last October, hikers stumbled across an intact human skeleton while on their way to the top of Mount Williamson. Authorities used DNA to determine that the skeleton was indeed the remains of Matsumura.
Fort Sill has been selected "as a temporary emergency influx shelter" to detain 1,400 children.
History repeats itself. After running out of room at government shelters, the Trump Administration has opted to use an Army base in Oklahoma to hold growing numbers of immigrant children in its custody -- at the same site where innocent Japanese American citizens were detained during World War II.
Fort Sill, an 150-year-old installation once used as an incarceration camp for Japanese Americans during World War II, has been selected "as a temporary emergency influx shelter" to detain 1,400 children until they can be given to an adult relative, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
If you're in Los Angeles, you don't want to miss the world premiere of Tales of Clamor presented by the Japanese American Cultural & Community Center, in association with Nikkei Civil Rights and Redress.
Tales of Clamor by PULLproject Ensemble is a 7-person play centering around two artists debating cultural versus institutionalized silence. Utilizing ensemble storytelling, circus arts and archival footage from the 1981 Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians hearings, this piece explores what it means to show up for each other, speak out, and generate the collective clamor necessary for social change.
The show runs February 1 - March 3 at the Aratani Theatre Black Box in Little Tokyo.
Photo Credit: Densho/The Kinoshita Collection & The Rafu Shimpo
August 10th marks the 30th anniversary of the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, which granted a presidential apology and monetary reparations to living Japanese American families who had persevered through World War II incarceration for simply looking like the enemy. Over 120,000 people were removed from their homes and imprisoned in concentration camps in remote areas of the country. The majority were U.S. citizens and 1/3 were children. While no amount of money could ever undo the damage to Japanese American families and our democracy as a whole, the Act was a landmark piece of legislation, and represented decades of grassroots organizing across the country. Many Japanese Americans, young and old were inspired to join the Redress Movement by the work of Civil Rights Movement activists of the 1960s, and mobilized our communities to come together to fight for an apology and reparations. Allies in the Black and Latinx communities came to the aid of Japanese Americans, recognizing the commonalities of our struggles, and through this powerful coalition work Japanese Americans finally saw some semblance of justice for our families.
What the Redress movement achieved went beyond the Civil Liberties Act. Our community is not monolithic and there was significant debate about how to "right this wrong," including the view that demanding compensation would bring negative attention to our community. Others felt that creating a Commission to study the incarceration, including prisoner testimonies was demeaning and unnecessary. But those disagreements didn't stop us from moving forward and when it mattered most, we rallied our support around the Civil Liberties Act. Painful divides between individuals and groups who had chosen different paths during the war that had once seemed fixed in stone, now see the possibility of eroding. As part of the healing process the Redress movement started, annual Day of Remembrance programs were organized across the country giving communities an opportunity to reflect, learn, and join together in solidarity around our common history. Japanese Americans also began journeying back to camp sites on pilgrimages to reclaim the stories of their parents and grandparents and to begin piecing together what was lost. Today we look back with admiration at what we fought for and accomplished as a community.
Former incarceree uncovered instrumental evidence for the Japanese American redress movement.
Activist and researcher Aiko Herzig-Yoshinaga, best known as a hero of the Japanese American redress campaign that culminated in the passage of the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, died last week. She was 93.
The Civil Liberties Act of 1988, signed by President Ronald Reagan, granted reparations, and perhaps more importantly, an official apology to Japanese Americans who had been removed from the West Coast and incarcerated without trial by the United States government during World War II.
Herzig-Yoshinaga was a high school senior when she was incarcerated with her family at the Manzanar Relocation Center. After the war, while living in New York in the 1960s, she became involved with Asian Americans for Action, and engaged in a variety of political protests and demonstrations, including efforts to end the war in Vietnam and demonstrations against nuclear research.
After to moving to Washington DC in 1978, Herzig-Yoshinaga began looking through the information on the wartime exclusion and incarceration, which was publicly accessible in the National Archives. Over several years, she retrieved and cataloged thousands and significant documents -- including a key piece of "buried" evidence that would become instrumental in the movement for redress.
Actor, author and activist George Takei, best known for playing Sulu in Star Trek, is teaming with IDW Publishing for a new graphic memoir about his childhood in American internment camps during World War II.
They Called Us Enemy revisits Takei's haunting childhood in American concentration camps, as one of 120,000 Japanese Americans imprisoned by the U.S. government during World War II. To be released in summer 2019, the memoir will be co-written by Takei, Justin Eisinger and Steven Scott, with art from Harmony Becker.
AMC has renewed the horror drama series The Terror for a second season, with some significant changes: it's now officially an anthology series, and the next iteration will switch up its historical setting to center on the Japanese American community during World War II.
Season one of The Terror was inspired by the true story of a doomed Arctic expedition from the mid 19th century. But season two "will be set during World War II and center on an uncanny specter that menaces a Japanese-American community from its home in Southern California to the internment camps to the war in the Pacific," according to a press release from AMC.
The premise of Drunk History is fairly simple. People go on camera and narrate the story of a noteworthy historical figure or moment... while drunk. Then they present a re-enactment of this alcohol-fueled account.
On the latest episode of the hit Comedy Central series, Fresh Off The Boat star Randall Park gets liquored up and tells the story of civil rights activist Frank Emi, played here by Aaron Takahashi. Incarcerated at Heart Mountain during World War II, Emi protested against the drafting of Japanese Americans into military service.
An important part of the story of Japanese American incarceration, told under the influence, burps and all.
"Konnichiwa." Wow. So you know one fucking Japanese word. Slow clap.
It's one thing -- annoying as shit -- when some fool tries to bust one of these on you in a bar or on the street. (Asian folk, raise your hand if you've been on the receiving end of an unsolicited "konnichiwa" or a "ni hao.") It's wholly inappropriate when it happens during a hearing of the United States Congress.
But that's what happened Thursday during a hearing of the House Committee on Natural Resources. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa (D-Hawaii), who is Japanese American, was pressing Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke about re-funding a National Park Service program that offers grants towards the preservation of incarceration sites where Japanese Americans -- including Hanabusa's grandparents -- were held during World War II.
"Are you committed to continue to grant programs that are identified, I believe, as the Japanese American Confinement Sites grants program which were funded in 2017? Will we see them funded again in 2018?" Hanabusa asked.
Zinke's response: "Oh, konnichiwa."
I imagine Rep. Hanabusa had to summon every molecule of her being to suppress an eye roll.
'Order 9066' from American Public Media and the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History.
Hear the voices and stories of Japanese American Incarceration from the real people who endured it.
Order 9066 is a landmark new podcast series that chronicles the Japanese American Incarceration during World War II. Through vivid, first-person accounts from those who lived through it, the series explores how this shocking violation of American democracy came to pass, and its legacy in the present.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 just months after Japan bombed Pearl Harbor. Roughly 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry were forced from their homes and sent to one of ten "relocation centers," imprisoned behind barbed wire during the war. Two-thirds of them were American citizens.
Produced by American Public Media in collaboration with the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, the series launched on February 19 -- the anniversary of the executive order's signing.
Watch a performance from San Jose Taiko's Swingposium: Big Band Music and Dance from Camp.
What do you get when you mix taiko with big band and swing dancing? A super-fun time, as evidenced by this awesome performance from San Jose Taiko's Swingposium: Big Band Music and Dance from Camp, an immersive show performed and produced last year with Epic Immersive and Wesley Jazz Ensemble.
The piece, "Singing in the Present," is a mash-up of San Jose Taiko's signature song, "Gendai ni Ikiru (Living in the Present)" and Benny Goodman's swing classic, "Sing Sing Sing." And it looks like it was a blast.
"Contested Histories: Art and Artifacts from the Allen Hendershott Eaton Collection" goes on view.
From the Los Angeles Times: A collection of artworks and other artifacts from Japanese American internment camps made headlines in spring 2015 when protesters successfully steered these pieces of American history away from the auction block, where they could have fallen into private hands. The protesters' goal: Put the pieces on public exhibition instead.
Mission accomplished. On Sunday, every item in the collection (or digital representations of them) will go on view at the Japanese American National Museum’s Hirasaki National Resource Center in Los Angeles. Titled "Contested Histories: Art and Artifacts from the Allen Hendershott Eaton Collection," the exhibition includes more than 450 paintings, photographs, sculptures, pieces of jewelry and other objects made by hand in camps where about 120,000 people of Japanese descent were incarcerated during World War II.
Remember the lives lost and the lives forever changed.
Today, December 7, marks the 76th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Hours following the attack, the FBI began rounding up and detaining leaders in the Japanese American community from their homes without due process of law. Filmmaker Tad Nakamura's grandfather was one of those taken.
This one-minute video for the Nikkei Democracy Project, made with documentary footage from Something Strong Within (by Tad's parents, Bob Nakamura and Karen Ishizuka), is not only a reminder of lives lost in the attack, but the lives forever changed by fear and bigotry.
Proposed airport fence threatens historic site of Japanese American resistance.
The Tule Lake Segregation Center is recognized as the World War II concentration camp where thousands who protested the mass incarceration of Japanese Americans were punished for speaking out. The maximum security camp housed the largest number of detainees (housing over 18,000 prisoners at its peak), stayed opened the longest and was the place where "troublemakers" from other camps were sent.
Now considered the crucible for Japanese American resistance to incarceration during World War II, the infamous site is today preserved as a monument to one of our nation's darkest chapters. In 2006, Tule Lake was officially designated as a U.S. National Historic Landmark, the highest level of recognition for a historically significant property. In 2008, the site was dedicated as a National Monument.
But now the physical and historical integrity of Tule Lake, located in Modoc County, California, is threatened by the potential construction of a massive fence, and community members are asking for your support.
