The Rafu Shimpo

The Rafu Shimpo is the premier newspaper of the Japanese American community. Since 1903, it has provided bilingual coverage and analysis of Nikkei news in Los Angeles and beyond. Visit the Rafu Shimpo website to read articles and to explore subscription options for print and online news.

Updated September 2015

community en ja

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

Richard Michio Murakami

  • Por The Rafu Shimpo
  • 9 May 2016

Richard Murakami’s wartime experience was an odyssey that saw his family moved from one camp to another. By the end of WWII, they had lived in three concentration camps—in Tule Lake, California; Jerome, Arkansas; and Heart Mountain, Wyoming.

At the outbreak of the war, Richard was living in Lakewood, California, a community with very few Japanese Americans. He recalls that after the Pearl Harbor attack, his hakujin friends advised him not to come to school for a few days. When the Murakamis were eventually imprisoned in camp, it was a unique experience for Richard, who suddenly found himself ...

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community en

Asian American Yale Alumni Remember Nakanishi

  • Por The Rafu Shimpo
  • 2 May 2016

NEW YORK—The Association of Asian American Yale Alumni (AAAYA) issued the following statement on March 27, 2016.

* * * * *

AAAYA mourns the loss of distinguished Yale alumnus Donald T. Nakanishi SY ’71, but finds inspiration in the extraordinary life he lived.

An indefatigable and prolific scholar, his pioneering efforts and trailblazing methods established the bedrock upon which much of Asian American studies flourishes.

A determined and fierce community advocate, his expansive and insightful exploration of Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities provoked a re-examination of commonly applied, but ultimately mistaken assumptions, and provided a framework for better understanding the actual roles ...

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community en ja

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

May Fujino

  • Por The Rafu Shimpo
  • 25 Abr 2016

May Fujino (1933–2016) enjoyed her time as a volunteer at the Japanese American National Museum. There, she was able to immerse herself in history and improve her Japanese language skills. But being at JANM also reminded May of her early years and how, even during their toughest times, her family knew how to make the best of any situation.

May was born in 1933 in Salinas, California as the eldest of 12 siblings. “I was a taisho (general),” she chuckled. Both her parents had family roots in Hiroshima, but her father immigrated to the United States at ten years ...

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community en ja

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

Yasuyuki Suzuki

  • Por The Rafu Shimpo
  • 11 Abr 2016

“Working as a volunteer guide at the Japanese American National Museum is such an interesting experience. I’ve taken a class about the history of Japanese Americans, but there’s no manual for my work. So I have to study constantly,” says Yasuyuki Suzuki.

Yasuyuki is one of the volunteer guides at the Japanese American National Museum who give tours around the exhibitions in Japanese. He learned the explanations of the exhibitions by accompanying the Nisei volunteer guides who gave tours in English. For Japanese visitors, some content is difficult to understand, so he tells them historical events in Japan ...

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community en ja

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

Kenneth “Ken” Hamamura

  • Por The Rafu Shimpo
  • 28 Mar 2016

Over the years, Ken Hamamura has assumed various roles at the Japanese American National Museum. As a donor, staff member, and volunteer, he learned the importance of preserving and sharing our stories and artifacts to create a legacy for future generations.

Inspired by the Museum’s ongoing mission, Ken started to focus on his family history and hopes to build an enduring legacy for his daughter and grandsons. For some time now, the retired Sansei with Kibei parents has been researching and documenting his family’s history, delving into archived records, collecting photographs, and traveling to places that are meaningful ...

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