community en

Tessaku

Lily Yuri Tsurumaki - Part 1

“One day, a classmate saw my name is Lily Oki and she was surprised she says, ‘You know I asked my mother, you disappeared you ...

migration en

Hatsumi Imagawa’s Return to America

I was surrounded by thousands of passengers; many were Japanese immigrants just like me. But amidst the hustle and bustle of all these travelers who ...

war en

Tessaku

George Shimizu - Part 2

Read part 1 How did you and your wife meet?  It’s a long story. Do you want to hear it? I do, I’m ...

war en

Tessaku

George Shimizu - Part 1

“I could hear a sailor behind me saying, ‘White flag, 2 o’clock, four hundred yards.’ Those were magic words, I’ll never forget it ...

community en ja

Voices of the Volunteers: The Building Blocks of the Japanese American National Museum

James Michiya Yoshinaga

James Yoshinaga was born in 1929 in downtown Los Angeles as the eldest son of a mother from Fukuoka and a father from Kagoshima. His ...

community en ja

Voices of the Volunteers: The Building Blocks of the Japanese American National Museum

Kihachiro Tajima

Kimio Tajima was an American-born Nisei, but he died a Japanese soldier, while at war in New Guinea. He was 28 years old. His son ...

community en

Gardena Valley Gardeners Association to Disband

The Gardena Valley Gardeners Association (GVGA), once an influential force in the South Bay, will officially disband at the end of 2015. The GVGA came ...

identity en

Nikkei Chronicles #4 — Nikkei Family: Memories, Traditions, and Values

From Okinawa to Hawaii and Back Again

I am a Hapa, Yonsei Uchinanchu (a mixed-race, 4th-generation Okinawan-American) who was born in Riverside, California, in 1973 and raised in the shadow of the ...

war en

Branded as Dishonorably Discharged: Uncovering the Story Behind the Disciplinary Barracks Boys

Most people, even avid followers of Japanese American history, might ask, “Who are the disciplinary barracks boys?” In the seventy years since the end of ...

media en

Honor and Sacrifice: Revealing Roy Matsumoto’s Story

Heroes come in all shapes and sizes. They are found in our local communities, schools, and workplaces. And sometimes their stories make it to the ...