Journal Entry #MACH 5: "My Dream Car..."

By Neal Yamamoto

A weekly visual journal/cartoon about an easily-annoyed fourth generation American of Japanese descent. This week, Neal wants to be Speed Racer.

Check back every weekend for subsequent entries...

The Nihongo Papers
Chapter 9

By Naomi Hirahara

“Where is my husband?” Sayuri Shishido repeated, pressing the broken china underneath the woman’s chin. The Asian woman actually must have been a little older than she looked, based on the lines around her neck. She was toned and sinewy, an athlete. Sayuri was more of an academic couch potato, but she had a wife’s anger on her side.

Embracing History

By Joey Furutani

Joey Furutani is featured in a public program by Discover Nikkei titled, "From One Generation to the Next—Families Intersecting with History" on May 17, 2008 at the Japanese American National Museum. This essay was originally written for an Asian American studies class answering the question, "How does your life intersect with history?" -ed.

From the day I set foot on the campus of UCLA for the first time, I have been mistaken for every ethnicity besides Japanese. As I walk up Bruinwalk on my way to class, I mistakenly get fliers for Samahang Pilipino and Southeast Asian Studies majors. A dark complexion and large eyes must be the misleading features that I possess. Having been involved in an Asian-American fraternity for the past two years, I have had numerous encounters where the mystery of my actual ethnicity is the topic of discussion. When I tell them that I am a fifth-generation Japanese-American, most people are left in disbelief.

An Issei's Six Years of Internment: His Struggle for Justice

By Nobusuke Fukuda

On July 5, 2008, Nobusuke Fukuda will be speaking on the Department of Justice internment camps at the Whose America? Who’s American? Diversity, Civil Liberties, and Social Justice Enduring Communities National Conference in Denver, CO. This article is a preview of his talk. -ed.

My father, Yoshiaki Fukuda, was a minister for the Konko religion. He was born in Nara prefecture in 1898, raised in the village of Kamikitayama, and graduated from Matsumoto College and the Imperial University in Tokyo. He attended the Konko seminary in Okayama ken and came to the United States in 1930 with his wife, Shinko, to do missionary work. He established the Konko Church of San Francisco and became responsible for the Konko Churches in America.

JAVA: Finding the Elixir of Survival

By Calvin Ninomiya

At a time when many U.S. veterans organizations have declining membership, are moribund, or have voted themselves out of existence, the Japanese American Veterans Association of Washington, DC, has shown real growth. Prior to 2005, JAVA, as the group is popularly known, had 216 members. Now, it boasts 520 members, well over 100 percent in just three years! Of these, 79 were transfers from defunct vet organizations. New membership averaged out to more than 45 each of the past three years.

Japanese (American) Can Dance!

橋本　裕美子

このごろ、月曜日が来るのが待ち遠しくてたまらない。「Dancing with the Stars」（以下ＤＷＴＳ）の放送が楽しみなのだ。「ＤＷＴＳ」は、全米５大ネットワークの一つ、ＡＢＣの人気番組。12人の芸能人（スポーツ選手含む）が、プロの社交ダンサーとペアを組み、勝ち抜き戦を行うというもの。社交ダンスなんてハイスクールのプロム以来、という芸能人たちがプロの厳しい指導の下、懸命に踊る姿が視聴者の好感を呼んでいる。

Doris Moromisato: ‘La poeta que hay en mí irá a hibernar’

Un libro enamorado y amargo a la vez. Así describe Doris Moromisato su último poemario ‘Paisaje terrestre’, con el que anuncia además, su retiro de la poesía por un largo período. ‘Ahora la narrativa se parece más a mí’, confiesa, con la irreverencia de la activista y militante que, eso sí, nunca podrá dejar de ser.

Betrayal on Trial: Japanese American "Treason" in World War II - Part 1

By Eric L. Muller

First in a four part series.

On July 4, 2008 at the Whose America? Who’s American? Diversity, Civil Liberties, and Social Justice Enduring Communities National Conference in Denver, CO, Professor Eric Muller will tell the remarkable story of the now-forgotten trial of the Shitara Sisters—three sisters accused of treason for aiding in the escape of two German POWs. -ed.

This Article tells the story of the federal treason trial of three Japanese American sisters for helping their paramours, two German soldiers, to flee from a Colorado prisoner-of-war camp in October of 1943. At the time, the story seemed to confirm the suspicion of national disloyalty that had forced the sisters and tens of thousands of other Japanese Americans from their West Coast homes in the spring of 1942. But a careful review of the record of the case reveals that the women were disloyal only to their husbands, not to their country. The government presented the jury with no evidence that the sisters intended to advance the cause of the Axis Powers or to betray the United States. The jury convicted them of conspiracy to commit treason nonetheless.

書評　－　『かむろ　復刻版』

キャロライナ・ヤマグチ

山口県の瀬戸内海に周防大島という島がある。穏やかな気候でみかんが特産品のこの島はかつて多くの移民を輩出し、島内にある「日本ハワイ移民資料館」でその歴史を辿ることができる。周防大島の近くに浮かぶ小さな島、沖家室島（おきかむろじま）からも多くの人々が地平線の向こうへと渡っていった。周囲がわずか「4里」(約16㎞)という小さな島だが、かつては瀬戸内海航路の中継地として、また漁業基地として大いに栄えた時期もあり、明治期には日本一の人口密度があったといわれる。

Journal Entry #10W40: "When It Rains, It Pours..."

By Neal Yamamoto

A weekly visual journal/cartoon about an easily-annoyed fourth generation American of Japanese descent. This week, life lessons learned the hard way.

Check back every weekend for subsequent entries...