Fish Ponds Reappear at Manzanar

By Ted White
7 Oct 2010

Summer 2010 Archeological Dig at Manzanar National Historic Site

MANZANAR NATIONAL HISTORIC SITE, NEAR INDEPENDENCE, CA — Since Congress established Manzanar National Historic Site in 1992, National Park Service (NPS) staff and volunteers have contributed much sweat and many hot summer hours to revealing Manzanar’s unique buried gardens, amazingly well-preserved beneath feet of Owens Valley silt. This year’s quest: Block 15.


The newly-excavated “Lantern Garden” at the Manzanar National Historic Site. Photo: Ted White/National Park Service

Japanese Americans arriving at the “Owens Valley Reception Center,” in the spring of 1942, were confronted with daily dust storms that coated belongings and occupants, obscured visibility, and plagued respiratory systems. Some people donned World War I surplus goggles to protect their eyes when venturing outside their barracks.

Recognizing the seriousness of the situation, with regard to public health and morale, Japanese Americans and War Relocation Authority (WRA) staff promoted the planting of lawns and gardens. An August 12, 1942 Manzanar Free Press (MFP) headline read, “LAWNS…vs. dust,” stating, “So that Manzanar’s dust troubles may become a thing of the past, Manzanites are industriously planting lawns between barracks.”

Under a subheading, “FISH PONDS APPEAR,” the article identifies one specific garden: “One of the most beautiful fish ponds in the center is found at Block 15 recreation hall. The pond is kidney shaped with a miniature bridge at the narrowest points. Roy Sugiwara, former gardener, and Keichiro Muto, former flower grower, designed and constructed the pond.”

What started as a dust mitigation project produced surprising and long-lasting results. Ornamental gardens sprung up all over camp, including a large community park, half a dozen mess hall gardens, and dozens of individual gardens. In October, 1942, the MFP described the camp as follows: “Six months ago Manzanar was a barren, uninhabited desert. Today, beautiful green lawns, picturesque gardens with miniature mountains, stone lanterns, bridges over ponds where carp play, and other original, decorative ideas attest to the Japanese people’s traditional love of nature, and ingenuity in reproducing the beauty of nature in miniature.”

Today, remnants of those gardens survive as inspiring reminders of human courage and creativity in the face of demoralizing humiliation and loss of freedom.

A photograph on display at the Eastern California Museum in Independence shows one such “defiant garden,” small and kidney-shaped, with a small bridge and, most intriguing, two small stone lanterns. Perhaps the work of Muto and Sugiwara? A second photograph, oddly, of a funeral, provides confirmation; barely visible behind the crowd of mourners is the “Lantern Garden.” The caption reads, “Christian funeral service for Chiyo Toyama (28-11-3), November 13, 1942.” The church was in Block 15. A November, 1942 MFP story announcing winners of a “best garden contest,” intensified NPS interest in Block 15. First and Second Prizes went to mess hall gardens in Block 34 and 22, and Third Prize to a “private garden at 15-2-2.”

NPS archeologist Jeff Burton and his team of Yogores (“dirty ones”) excavated the first two prize-winning gardens in the 1990s. However, as of June, 2010, Block 15 was unexcavated, with no visible trace of either the “Third Place Garden” or “Lantern Garden.” Did they still exist? Did the lanterns survive? What did Third Place look like? Those questions helped determine the site for this summer’s dig.

After careful documentation of pre-dig conditions, excavation commenced on June 14, 2010. Twenty-five volunteers, four Youth Conservation Corps workers, and six NPS staff participated. Volunteer Hank Umemoto of Gardena, California recalled, “Enjoying the ten days in the desert sun and witnessing Manzanar’s ‘Buried Treasures of Yesteryear’ slowly come back to life, was a profoundly exciting and rewarding event as well as a nostalgic experience, reverting 68 years to my youthful days at the Camp.”

A layer at a time, Umemoto and others screened and removed over one hundred wheelbarrow loads of dust and sand. Unearthed artifacts told stories of the abandonment of Owens Valley’s largest wartime community: rusty nails, bits of rusty bedstead, marbles and broken bottles, along with charred scraps of tar paper and wood. Excitement grew as round granite stones, rows of stones, and outlines of ponds appeared in succession.

“Third Place Garden” proved to be one of the most unique in Manzanar. The pond has scalloped edges and a large island, an unusual design worthy of its recognition. Even more startling, in the garden west of Building 7, was the realization that Sugiwara and Muto’s lanterns, feared lost, had only been toppled into the pond. Dusted off and stood in their original positions, they once more appeared exactly as in the 1942 photographs! Umemoto offered his tribute, “Although the Issei engineers of magnificent gardens have long passed on, they have left us a legacy, a legacy that peace and tranquility can exist amid the doom and gloom of war and turmoil.”


Third Place Garden was recently uncovered during an archeological dig at the Manzanar National Historic Site. Photo: Ted White/National Park Service

The NPS is truly grateful for the hard work and dedication of its volunteers. Park Ranger and Volunteer Coordinator Carrie Andresen explained, “They are the primary reason that our visitors can observe the historic rock and pond gardens, left by internees at Manzanar. Their commitment initiates a deeper understanding into the lives of those who spent time here.”

The work this summer answered questions about the Block 15 gardens, and added two “new” attractive gardens that will, hopefully, lure visitors away from their cars and into the heart of the camp, to discover what Manzanar means to them.

* The views expressed in this story are those of the author and are not necessarily those of the Manzanar Committee or the National Park Service.

*This was originally published on the Official Blog of the Manzanar Committee on September 15, 2010.

© 2010 Ted White

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* california
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Ted White

Ted White is from New York, but lived in Tokyo for ten years. He started working for the National Park Service in 2005, and has been at the Manzanar National Historic Site since 2009.

Updated September 2010

An Awe-Inspiring Chapter of America's History

An Awe-Inspiring Chapter of America's History
Posted by Jesse Lee on October 05, 2010 at 03:26 PM EDT




President Barack Obama and his guests applaud after signing S.1055, a bill to grant the Congressional Gold Medal, collectively, to the 100th Infantry Battalion and the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, in recognition of their dedicated service during World War II, in the Oval Office, October 5, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)


This afternoon the President signed legislation to grant the Congressional Gold Medal, collectively, to the 100th Infantry Battalion and 442nd Regimental Combat Team in recognition of their dedicated service during World War II.

The 100th Infantry Battalion, which was later incorporated into the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, was made up of predominantly Nisei (second generation Americans of Japanese ancestry) members of the Hawaii Provisional Infantry Battalion. The 442nd became the most decorated unit in United States military history for its size and length of service. Combined, the 100th Battalion and the 442nd Regimental Combat Team received 7 Presidential Unit Citations, 21 Medals of Honor, 29 Distinguished Service Crosses, 560 Silver Stars, 4,000 Bronze Stars, 22 Legion of Merit Medals, 15 Soldier’s Medal, and over 4,000 Purple Hearts. From the government, the President was joined by Secretary Eric Shinseki of the Department of Veterans Affairs, Senator Daniel Inouye -- himself a member of the 442nd -- and several other Members of Congress.


President Barack Obama talks with his guests before signing S.1055, a bill to grant the Congressional Gold Medal, collectively, to the 100th Infantry Battalion and the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, in recognition of their dedicated service during World War II, in the Oval Office, October 5, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
.The stories of the other veterans who attended the signing give a glimpse into this awe-inspiring chapter of America's history:

Osamu “Sam” Fujikawa

Mr. Fujikawa was born in Alameda, California on August 23, 1925. On May 10, 1942, a few months after Pearl Harbor was bombed, Executive Order 9066 was enacted and Fujikawa and his family, along with 25,000 more Japanese Americans who lived on the US West Coast, were transported to one of the 10 internment camps scattered across the country. First, Fujikawa and his family were housed in a stable at Tanforan Race Track in San Bruno, CA and then relocated to Topaz, Utah where they were held behind barbed wire. Fujikawa was drafted into the Army from Topaz and trained at Camp Shelby, MS. Sent overseas with the 171st Infantry Battalion, Fujikawa was one of the replacements for the original 100th Infantry Battalion. When the war ended, he was among the returning Nisei or second-generation Japanese American soldiers of the 100th Infantry Battalion and 442nd Regimental Combat Team to parade down Constitution Avenue in Washington, D.C. for President Harry S. Truman's historic homecoming welcome. Fujikawa went to work for Hughes Aircraft and in 1952, moved back to California. He was with Hughes 37 years. Fujikawa remains an active member of the 100th/442nd Veterans Association and the Go For Broke National Education Center. He lives in Los Angeles, CA.

Grant Ichikawa

Mr. Ichikawa was born and raised in Suisun Valley, California. He graduated from the University of California in Berkeley in May 1941. Following Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, Grant and his family were incarcerated in a concentration camp. In November 1942 he volunteered from the Camp to enroll in the 6-month US Army Military Intelligence Service (MIS) Language School. Following graduation, he was sent to Brisbane, Australia and assigned to the Allied Translations and Interpretation Service (ATIS). He participated in the Philippine liberation. Immediately following Emperor Hirohito's announcement of Japan's surrender, Lt. Ichikawa talked 250 armed Japanese soldiers to surrender their weapons. There were 3,000 Japanese Americans who served in the Asia Pacific War in every combat unit as front line interrogators/translators, in the rear echelon as translators, as communications interceptors and in the Special Forces to operate behind enemy lines. Subsequent to his honorable discharge and return to civilian life, he was recalled to active duty during the Korean War to serve in the MIS. Following his discharge for the second time, he was assigned to the US Consulate General in Surabaya and the US Embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia. In April 1975 he served in Saigon and was among the last to leave aboard a helicopter from the Embassy rooftop.

Jimmie Kanaya, Veteran

Mr. Kanaya was born and raised in Clackamas, Oregon. He volunteered for the Army in April 1941. He volunteered to form the 442nd Regimental Combat Team as a cadre First Sergeant of the Medical Detachment and received a battlefield commission in Italy, September 1944 from General Mark Clark. Kanaya was captured in France while assisting the 100th Battalion evacuating casualties in the Voges mountains and taken to a German Prisoner of War Camp, Olfag 64 in Shubin, Poland. He hiked 400 miles from Poland to Hammelberg, Germany in the winter of 1945 to escape. In July of 1946 Kanaya received a regular Army commission. Mr. Kanaya also served in Japan and Korea in the Military Intelligence Service, the occupational forces in Japan and Germany and served as a military adviser in Vietnam. He retired from military after over 33 years of service. Mr. Kanaya currently lives in Gig Harbor, Washington.

Yeiichi “Kelly” Kuwayama

Mr. Kuwayama was a member of the 442nd Regimented Combat Team in the Army Medical Unit. He is credited with saving the life of Daniel Inouye, also a member of the 442nd Combat Regiment. Mr. Kuwayama retired from the US Army as a public affairs specialist.

S. Floyd Mori

Mr. Mori was born in Murray, Utah, just south of Salt Lake City. His parents were immigrants to the United States from Kagoshima, Japan. After graduation from Jordan High School, he joined the U.S. Army Reserves and spent six months on active duty at Fort Ord, California. He served several years in the Reserves before being discharged. Mori attended the University of Southern California and Santa Monica City College. He attended Brigham Young University where he received a Bachelor’s degree and a Masters degree majoring in Economics, Asian Studies, and Political Science. Mori was elected to the California State Assembly in March 1975 and served for six years in that capacity as one of the first two Japanese Americans to serve in the Assembly. Mori is currently the National Executive Director of the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL.) He is on the Executive Council of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (LCCR) and was chair of the National Coalition of Asian Pacific Americans (NCAPA) for two years.

Terry Shima

Mr. Shima was born in Hawaii. He was drafted into the US Army on October 12, 1944 and trained at Camp Blanding, Florida, as a replacement for the 442nd RCT. He arrived in Italy on VE Day, 1945, and joined the 442nd at the Garda Airport in northern Italy and was assigned to its Public Relations Office. When the 442nd returned as a unit to the USA in June 1946, Shima returned with the unit to handle public relations in New York City, Washington, DC, and Honolulu. New York City gave the 442nd RCT an unprecedented huge welcome, the 442nd marched down Constitution Avenue and was reviewed by President Harry Truman at the Ellipse, and they received another huge welcome in Honolulu for the deactivation of colors. Shima attended Georgetown University School of Foreign Service and Graduate School and served in the US Foreign Service. He is Executive Director of the Japanese American Veterans Association (JAVA).

Christine Sato-Yamazaki

Ms. Yamazaki was born in San Leandro, California, and is the granddaughter of 442nd RCT veteran, Dave Kawagoye. She is the Chairperson for the National Veterans Network, which is a coalition of 22 Japanese American veteran and civic organizations nationwide established to serve the interests of Japanese American WWII and subsequent war veterans. She worked to support the passage of S.1055 to award the Congressional Gold Medal to the 100th Battalion, 442 and Military Intelligence Service. Moving forward, she and the National Veterans Network will work with U.S. Congress and U.S. Mint to plan the gold medal award presentation and celebratory events. Prior to this role, she served as the President and CEO of the Go For Broke National Education since 1997. Through her leadership, she introduced innovative education programs used in classrooms throughout California, Hawaii, as well as schools in Maryland and Virginia. She also founded the Hanashi Oral History Program which holds the nation’s largest collection of visual Japanese American World War II veteran oral histories. Approximately 700 of these oral histories are available in a digital library located on the organization’s website, many are used in the organization’s teacher-training program and all of the nearly 1,100 that have now been captured serve as valuable resources in countless other ways. Christine earned her bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of California at Riverside and currently resides in Torrance, CA.

review of ramen places in honolulu

http://www.nonstophonolulu.com/eating/my-favorite-ramen/
That said, here is my list of my favorite places to get a great bowl of ramen.

No. 8 — Gomaichi Ramen: Pork and chicken-based broth that's light, but loaded with flavor.

No. 7 — Ramen-Ya: Thick, chewy noodles and free happy-hour gyoza with your order between 2–5 p.m.

No. 6 — Rai Rai Ramen: Not only the best of the rest, but my pick for the best Japanese char siu in town.

No. 5 — Kiwami Ramen: Delicious fatty broth with lean pieces of char siu, but the high fat content could be overwhelming for some.

No. 4 — Goma-Tei: Popular ramen place known for its thick tan tan broth. My pick for the second-best, Japanese-style char siu in Honolulu.

No. 3 — Ramen Nakamura: My choice for the best noodles. Love the toasted almonds, but watch out for the scorched ones.

No. 2 — Yotekko-Ya: One of the few places that ask how you like your noodles cooked. Char siu is on the sweet side and has an excellent caramelized crust.

No. 1 — Menchanko-Tei: Superb broth that could easily pass as French consommé, and hands down my pick for the best ramen in town!

a comedy series... about the internment?

8.20.2010 follow the link to angryasianmman.com for original blog
a comedy series... about the internment?

A comedy series... about the Japanese American internment? Doesn't sound like material that's particularly ripe for comedy. But the upcoming web comedy Hogoz is daring to go there. Seriously, an online comedy series about the Japanese American experience during World War II. Take a look at the preview:



It's being described as "South Park meets Manzanar." Set in a World War II-era concentration camp, the series follows the ups and downs of Japanese American teenagers behind barbed wire. Here's an excerpt from the press release I received from the creators of Hogoz:

Hogoz (pronounced "hoe-goes") is South Park meets Manzanar. While the subject of the forced removal and unjust imprisonment of U.S. citizens during World War II has been treated dramatically, this is the first time it is expressed with satiric humor.

Another unique feature is that the series plays like a live-action comic strip -- that is, the live actors perform in front of hand-drawn backgrounds. A preview is currently available for viewing at the site.

This series takes place in a war-time concentration camp for Japanese American kids and others who have been labeled as troublemakers. Formerly a ramshackle boarding school on Navajo land, Hogoz embraces the ups and downs of teenagers behind barbed wire.

Aiko Herzig-Yoshinaga, a historian who played a pivotal role in the Redress movement through her research at the National Archives, has said of the series, "Hogoz has captured the many different classes of Nikkei [Japanese Americans] -- the confused, the resigned, the superpatriot, the supine/docile, the angry, those who felt betrayed by their own government."

Each Monday through Friday, a new scene -- less than one minute in length -- will appear online. An entire week's scenes will be archived on the Episodes page at the site.

To be honest, I'm not particularly impressed by what I've seen here. But just based on the premise, I am kind of intrigued. I haven't seen anyone try something like this before -- it's not like "internment comedy" has been a particularly hot genre. But it has the opportunity to be really smart... or really awful. I'm willing to give it a try.

Hogoz is scheduled to debut online on September 20. For more information about the series, including the story and cast of characters, go to the Hogoz website here.

'442' tells of Japanese American WWII soldiers

G. Allen Johnson, Chronicle Staff Writer

Friday, August 13, 2010

Lawson Sakai has been an American since his birth in the United States 86 years ago. His parents immigrated from Japan, but he never learned to speak Japanese fluently and he has never met his relatives in Japan.

And yet, after Japan's bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941 hastened the United States' entry into World War II, Sakai was effectively no longer a U.S. citizen.

"In 1941, I was 18 years old," said Sakai, who lives in Morgan Hill. "I was American. I wanted to join the military. I was told I could not because they had reclassified my draft status from 1A to 4C - which meant I became an enemy alien overnight.

"They took away all my civil liberties, I could not join any branch of the military until February of 1943 when they formed the 442nd, and the only military unit we could join was the 442nd."

That thousands of Japanese Americans, many of whom were imprisoned along with their families in internment camps, voluntarily joined the U.S. Army and fought for the Allies in World War II is astounding to many. And fight they did. The 442nd Infantry Regiment - along with an offshoot, the 100th Infantry Battalion - holds the distinction of being the most decorated unit of its size and service in U.S. military history. The 442nd and 100th were known as the "Go For Broke" regiments.

Opening today
It puzzles Japanese people as well, and that's why a Japanese director, Junichi Suzuki, has made a documentary, "442 - Live With Honor, Die With Dignity." The film opens in San Francisco today as part of a slate of films and events that commemorates the end of World War II 65 years ago this month.

Suzuki's movie prominently features Sakai, who fought in France and Italy, several other 442 veterans, including Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, and others knowledgeable about Japanese American issues, such as actor George Takei. In the film, Suzuki's crew joins a group led by Sakai in a visit to the French town of Bruyères, which the 442nd liberated. The town holds remembrances each year and erected a statue of a Japanese American soldier.

Suzuki also uses combat and newsreel footage, old photographs, and interviews with survivors and their families in attempting to put the legacy of the 442nd into a modern context.

"In Japan, we don't know about the Japanese immigrant history during World War II," said Suzuki, 58, during a recent screening with Sakai in Japantown.

Sakai said he is pleased with the film, and said it could be illuminating for its Japanese audiences.

"Many of the people in Japan don't understand what the Nisei (the second generation of Japanese immigrants) did," said Sakai, who serves as president of the Friends and Family of Nisei Veterans. "Since the Nisei were very obedient to the Issei parents, who immigrated from Japan, we carried over many of the traditions and very personal feelings.

"You might say we were very 'Japanese-y,' but we were very American. So there was no question that the Nisei would fight for the United States, and I think it's very difficult for the Japanese to understand why the same group of people could be so different."

Difficult for Americans, too. Despite the Van Johnson film "Go For Broke!" in 1951, which starred many of the 442 veterans, the Japanese American contributions to the war effort went largely unnoticed. It took until Aug. 2 of this year for the U.S. Senate to approve a bill to award a Congressional Gold Medal to Japanese American soldiers. It is expected to pass in the House in September.

After the war
The postwar years were difficult for Sakai, as they were was for many Japanese Americans - heck, many Americans in general - as decommissioned troops began to reintegrate into the workforce.

Sakai met his wife, Mineko, in 1946. He worked with farming organizations, mainly at a strawberry processing plant in California, quit and started a travel agency in San Jose and has been retired since 1990. Along the way, he and Mineko, who was also at the screening, raised four children and have seven grandchildren.

"For about four or five years, the press was anti-Japanese, radio - everything you read or heard," Sakai said. "It was like, 'You got rid of 'em, don't let 'em come back.' When we started to filter back in 1945, there was a lot of opposition. One of my platoon sergeants, his home in Auburn (Placer County) was burned down while he was still overseas. Things like that happened. It was tough to get over that. It was really tough, the prejudice."

'442 - Live With Honor, Die With Dignity':
A documentary by Junichi Suzuki about the 442nd Infantry Regiment, a company of Japanese American soldiers who fought for the United States in Europe during World War II. Included among the subjects interviewed is 442 veteran Lawson Sakai of Morgan Hill.

Today through Thursday at Viz Cinema, 1746 Post St., S.F. (415) 525-8600. www.vizcinema.com. Also playing is "Toyo's Camera," Suzuki's 2007 documentary about World War II internment camp photographer Toyo Miyatake.

E-mail G. Allen Johnson at ajohnson@sfchronicle.com.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/08/13/DD2C1ERGJC.DTL

This article appeared on page F - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle

from angry asian man blog

another good piece on racist casting of the last airbender

I saw The Last Airbender last night. I'm still collecting my thoughts, and will post something resembling a review later in the day, but I just wanted to share this article that Roger Ebert posted on his Twitter, calling it "the best writing I've seen on the racist casting of The Last Airbender: FacePainting.

Indian-American director M. Night Shyamalan has consistently defended the movie as "diverse" much in the same vein of Paramount's assertions, citing that the production team took careful means to create a film rich in Asian culture and aesthetics – and like the studio, not once has he addressed the bigger issue at hand, that White actors have been favored over Asian actors to play Asian characters.

He completely misses the point about ethnic and racial diversity: dress it up all you want, but at the end of the day it's Yellowface all over again. It's an insult to assume that Asians and Asian Americans will be ok with White actors once again taking on the starring roles that are Asian archetypes, and worse that Shyamalan seems peachy keen on the whole premise.

Shyamalan has even stated that he desired to work with Nicola Peltz, the Caucasian actress slated to play the water bender Katara. This statement highlights my other postulate the Shyamalan is not a dumbfounded, overridden director force fed to direct a Yellowface film – that instead he obviously had a say in who he wanted casted, that he fully endorse White actors over Asian actors to play the main parts.

Was he bought? Is he oblivious to the institutionalized racism he's endorsing? Or is it a bit of both? Whatever the reason, it's clear Shyamalan is in love with his cinematic vision despite the social implications at hand, and for that I've lost all respect for him, especially considering that he himself is a minority director and would presumably empathize with minority actors barred from acting roles due to Hollywood's underlying racial assumptions. As of now, this director is unredeemable – in screenwriting, in career, and in a self-indulgent streak that ignores world issues for his own self-fulfillment. This is simply shameless.

I have to agree with this assessment -- it doesn't seem like Shyamalan has "sold out." Rather, he's completely oblivious to the larger issues at hand with this movie. Anyway, it's a well-written, thoughtful piece that you should forward to anyone who has a hard time grasping what the fuss over this movie is all about. Read the full post by Q. Le here.

UPDATE: I have to add Roger Ebert's scathing review of The Last Airbender, which has no love for the movie. Here's the opening paragraph:

The Last Airbender" is an agonizing experience in every category I can think of and others still waiting to be invented. The laws of chance suggest that something should have gone right. Not here. It puts a nail in the coffin of low-rent 3D, but it will need a lot more coffins than that.

He gives it half a star. It's a highly enjoyable read from beginning to end: THE LAST AIRBENDER.

the art of gaman: arts and crafts from the japanese internment camps, 1942-1946

http://americanart.si.edu/exhibitions/archive/2010/gaman/

This is a really interesting NPR story on The Art of Gaman, a showcase of arts and crafts made by Japanese Americans in U.S. internment camps during World War II, now on display at Smithsonian's Renwick Gallery in Washington D.C.: The Creative Art Of Coping In Japanese Internment.

The exhibit is curated by Delphine Hirasuna, a third-generation Japanese American who was inspired when she stumbled upon her family's old internment-era camp-made trinkets:
Delphine Hirasuna, a third-generation Japanese-American, was organizing family belongings after her mother's death and found a bird pin that belonged to her mother, stashed away in an old wooden box in the garage. Lacquered, with shades of brown and yellow - it was this pin that inspired the exhibit at the Renwick.

Hirasuna found many other trinkets from her family's time in internment, and began asking around for other camp-made objects. She began going house to house in California farm country.

"When I asked them if they had anything, they would go into their sheds ... and they would haul out this dusty box," Hirasuna says. "And the items in the box would still be wrapped in newspaper from 1945. So it was pretty obvious to me that they never looked at it when they brought it back from camp."
The exhibit ranges from paintings, to photographs, to carvings and furntiure -- all items fashioned behind barb wire, during one of America's darkest moments. For more information about the exhibit, which runs through January 30, visit the Smithsonian Art Museum website here.
The Art of Gaman showcases arts and crafts made by Japanese Americans in U.S. internment camps during World War II. Soon after the bombing of Pearl Harbor in December 1941, all ethnic Japanese on the West Coast—more than two-thirds of whom were American citizens by birth—were ordered to leave their homes and move to ten inland internment camps for the duration of the war. While in these bleak camps, the internees used scraps and found materials to make furniture and other objects to beautify their surroundings. Arts and crafts became essential for simple creature comforts and emotional survival. These objects—tools, teapots, furniture, toys and games, musical instruments, pendants and pins, purses and ornamental displays—are physical manifestations of the art of gaman, a Japanese word that means to bear the seemingly unbearable with dignity and patience.

The exhibition features more than 120 objects, most of which are on loan from former internees or their families. The display at the Renwick Gallery includes several objects that have not been seen publicly, including works by Ruth Asawa, Jimmy Tsutomu Mirikitani, Isamu Noguchi, Henry Sugimoto, and master woodworkers Gentaro and Shinzaburo Nishiura. It presents historical context through archival photographs, artifacts, and documentary films. The exhibition is organized by San Francisco-based author and guest curator Delphine Hirasuna, and is based on her 2005 book The Art of Gaman, published by Ten Speed Press.

The exhibition is presented under the honorary patronage of The Honorable Norman Y. Mineta. Mr. Mineta, a former Congressman, Secretary of Transportation, and Regent of the Smithsonian, was interned as a child at Heart Mountain in Wyoming.



Free Public Programs
Friday, March 5, at noon, lecture by Delphine Hirasuna
Wednesday, March 10, at noon, gallery talk with Kennedy
Wednesday, March 31, at noon, lecture by Karen Matsuoka
Sunday, April 11, at 2 p.m., artist talk with Mira Nakashima and Wendy Maruyama
Saturday, May 1, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Family Day



Read recent posts on the Museum’s blog Eye Level
February 19, 2010, Gaman: FDR and the Japanese American Internment Camps
March 5, 2010, Gaman and the Story of the Bird Pins
May 7, 2010, Gaman and the Story of the Vest with a Thousand Knots



Recent news about the exhibition
National Public Radio, Morning Edition, May 12, 2010, “The Creative Art Of Coping In Japanese Internment” by Susan Stamberg
BBC, The Strand, April 7, 2010, features “The Art of Gaman”with Delphine Hirasuna
WAMU 88.5 FM, April 4, 2010 “Renwick Gallery Displays Crafts Made By Japanese In Internment Camps” by Asma Khalid
The Washington Post, March 28, 2010, “'The Art of Gaman': Life behind walls we were too scared to live without” by Philip Kennicott
Smithsonian magazine, March 12, 2010, Around the Mall, "Gaman at the Renwick: The Art and Craft of Dignity"




Credit
The Art of Gaman: Arts and Crafts from the Japanese American Internment Camps, 1942-1946 is presented at the Renwick Gallery, with the cooperation of the Japanese American Citizens League, San Francisco Chapter. The James Renwick Alliance, Japan Foundation Center for Global Partnership, Nion McEvoy, and Cary Frieze provided support for the exhibition.

minidoka swing band pays tribute to internment tunes

from angry asian man blog
3.30.2010

This is an awesome Wall Street Journal story out of Portland on the Minidoka Swing Band, a tribute band commemorating internment camps and the Japanese American teenagers who enjoyed swing music behind barbed wire during World War II: A Tribute Band Like No Other Swings to Remember Life Behind Barbed Wire.

The band started three years ago at a Japanese youth center. The 25 or so members of the Minidoka band range from age from 14 to 83, and include several former internees: vocalists Henry Sakamoto and Nola Sugai-Bogle were at Minidoka. Bandleader Larry Nobori spent time as a small child in the camp at Jerome, Ark. Three band members are children of internees.

During World War II, swing dancing at the internment camps gave Nisei youth a way to assert their American-ness. A number of Japanese swing bands from the big cities of the West Coast reassembled in the internment camps, and some new ones formed there. I remember learning about the most famous band, the Jive Bombers, when I visited Manzanar. Minidoka, however, never had a swing band:

No swing band ever played at the Minidoka camp. Seattle's Mikados of Swing had just completed a West Coast tour before its members were sent to Minidoka.

They decided their name was too Japanese, changed their name to the Harmonaires, and began practicing. They actually played outside the camp, under guard, at a high school prom held for Anglo teens in nearby Twin Falls.

But, thanks to a wartime labor shortage, band members got a chance to leave Minidoka during harvests. The result: The Harmonaires disbanded before playing for their peers. So the internees got their swing music from records.

"It's nice to see a band called Minidoka because we never had one in the internment camp," says Frances White, 82, a fan of the current band. Ms. White was Chiyoko "Chickie" Ishihara, her maiden name, when she sang with the Mikados of Swing in 1939, before they got to Minidoka.

The internment of Japanese Americans during World War II was one of the darkest moments in United States' history. Yet it always astounds me when I read and hear about the thousands of unjustly incarcerated Japanese Americans who somehow made life work and created some sense of normalcy in what were essentially prisons in the middle of the freaking desert. This is a great tribute.

Chevron Allows Supervisor to Harass Employee with ‘Stupid Jap’ Slur

http://foundasian.org/2010/02/chevron-allows-supervisor-to-harass-employee-with-stupid-jap-slur/

February 21, 2010 | In: community, law, people

The text of this post is from a press release issued by attorney John Ota and forwarded to me by Richard Wada. I reprint it here in full with only minor style changes. – Keith

Chevron Corporation’s multi-million dollar “Human Energy” advertising campaign touts how much Chevron values people. Chevron’s website promotes the “Chevron Way” – the company’s commitment to complying with the law and placing “the highest priority on the health and safety of our workforce.”

The reality for John Suzuki, who worked at Chevron for over 35 years, was much different. An award-winning patent liaison in Chevron’s Law Department in Richmond, Calif., Suzuki was forced to take early retirement this month rather than risk his health by returning to work under a supervisor who harassed and threatened him, and called him a “stupid Jap.”

Suzuki wanted to continue working at Chevron, but the company refused his doctors’ directives that he must be moved to a different department or else he would be at high risk of having a heart attack.

“Stupid Jap” Slur

The doctors had diagnosed Suzuki as being at high risk of another heart attack after he had at least two episodes of severe chest pains following incidents in which his supervisor, Alan Klaassen harassed him by yelling at him, making false accusations and threatening him.

After one such incident in January 2008, Suzuki went to his doctor, who told him that he had to reduce his workload or else he might have a heart attack. When Suzuki told Klaassen and a manager, Frank Turner, what his doctor said, Klaassen and Turner laughed at Suzuki.

Things came to a head in August 2009 when Klaassen again yelled at Suzuki, waved his fist in his face, threatened him and falsely blamed him for problems in the work. Klaassen also called Suzuki a “stupid Jap.”

Use of racial slurs by supervisors on the job violates federal and state anti-discrimination laws and laws prohibiting hostile and abusive work environments. As one federal appeals court noted in 1993, “Perhaps no single act can more quickly ‘alter the conditions of employment and create an abusive working environment’ . . . than the use of an [unambiguous] racial epithet . . . by a supervisor….”

Following the August 2009 incident, Suzuki again suffered severe chest pains. His doctors put him on medical leave and have been treating him since then. They told Chevron that he could return to work only when he was taken out of his hostile work environment and moved to a different department.

Chevron categorically refused to consider moving Suzuki to a different department. If Suzuki did not return to his department and his supervisor Klaassen, he faced termination, Chevron told him.

Suzuki got an attorney, John Ota of Alameda, Calif., who pointed out to Chevron that under California law, the company must separate Suzuki from Klaassen, at the very least until Chevron did a fair and thorough investigation of Suzuki’s charges that Klaassen had insulted him with a racial epithet and otherwise created a hostile work environment.

Investigation or Cover-up?

Demanding that Suzuki return to work under Klaassen before Chevron had even investigated the matter assumed that Klaassen would be cleared, Ota noted, an indication that Chevron had no intention of conducting a fair and objective investigation as required by law.

Chevron refused to budge. Faced with termination and the possible resulting loss of his retirement benefits, Suzuki reluctantly chose early retirement on February 1.

Meanwhile, Japanese American and Asian American organizations, disturbed about Suzuki’s situation, began contacting Chevron to express their concerns.

Richard Konda, Executive Director of Asian Law Alliance in San Jose wrote Chevron on January 12, stating that it was “highly inappropriate and insensitive” for Chevron to demand that Suzuki return to work under Klaassen before completing its investigation.

Patty Wada, Regional Director of the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) Northern California-Western Nevada-Pacific District, said in a January 22 letter that she was appalled to hear that Suzuki had been subjected to racial slurs by his supervisor.

Under pressure, Chevron hired an outside Japanese American attorney, Susan Kumagai, to investigate Suzuki’s charges. On her website, Kumagai describes herself as a specialist in “representing management” against discrimination charges.

Suzuki asked Kumagai and Chevron how many such investigations Kumagai had done in the past and in how many of those investigations, if any, she had concluded that a hostile work environment existed. Neither Kumagai nor Chevron responded to these questions.

Not surprisingly, Kumagai conducted a quick investigation and concluded that none of Suzuki’s charges could be substantiated. Chevron informed Suzuki of these results on February 16, but refused to provide him with a copy of Kumagai’s report.

In her hasty effort, Kumagai failed to even talk to some witnesses Suzuki said could confirm that he told them about Klaassen’s racial slur soon after it happened. Because in this, as in many other harassment cases, there were no witnesses to the actual harassment, such corroborating witnesses are often crucial to verifying the victim’s account of what happened.

The failure to interview corroborating witnesses, hiring as the investigator an attorney who defends management for a living, and Chevron’s refusal to provide Suzuki with a copy of the investigation report – these are all “signs pointing to a cover-up,” not a fair and objective investigation, says Ota.

Letter Writing Efforts

Suzuki is continuing to ask organizations to write Chevron on his behalf. What is important to him, he says, is “the principle of the matter – racial remarks like this cannot be tolerated.”

The points he wants organizations to make in their letters to Chevron are first, that Chevron conduct a fair and thorough investigation of his charges, an investigation by someone who has a history of doing evenhanded investigations, not by a management defense attorney.

Second, Suzuki wants Chevron to provide him with Kumagai’s investigation report, and also to provide the report when a fair and thorough investigation is completed.

Last, Suzuki asks that Chevron fire Klaassen if it finds that Klaassen did call Suzuki a “stupid Jap” and that Suzuki be allowed to return to work at Chevron in a different department.

Leaders of Nikkei for Civil Rights and Redress (NCRR) in Los Angeles wrote to Chevron on February 10. Paul Osaki, Executive Director of the Japanese Community and Cultural Center of Northern California sent Chevron a letter on February 19.

Other organizations in Los Angeles, San Jose and San Francisco have also agreed to write to Chevron.

Those interested in contacting Chevron should write to: John S. Watson, Chief Executive Officer, Chevron Corp., 6001 Bollinger Canyon Road, San Ramon, CA 94583.

" Hello, I'm-Japanese."

" Hello, I'm-Japanese."

Scott Fujita is helping to bring the Saints back to life. And
that's the least surprising thing about him
by David Fleming


It's odd at first.


When you push open the massive mahogany door of Scott Fujita's
warehouse-style loft in New Orleans, there's a Mardi Gras-style
balcony up front and an exposed wall of burned-black bricks
near the back. Yet despite how much Fujita says his Japanese
heritage means to him, there's no Asian-influenced decor
anywhere to be seen. Then he leads you around a corner to his
den. And there, sitting on a white metal computer desk (next to
Barack Obama's new book) is a stunning blue ceramic recreation
of The Great Wave Off Kanagawa.


Admiring the piece as he moves, Fujita seems too tall and fluid
to be a linebacker. Then he sits down, and his desk—now in the
visual frame with his massive shoulders, back and
forearms—suddenly looks like a TV tray. Fujita begins opening
files on his computer, and with each click he reveals the most
cherished artifacts of his remarkable journey, from adopted
child to college walk-on to discarded draft pick to centerpiece
of the resurgent Saints defense.


He opens a picture of his parents, reaches out to touch their
faces on the screen. Given up by his birth mother when he was 6
weeks old, Scott was adopted by Helen and Rod Fujita and raised
in Camarillo, Calif. Helen, a retired secretary, is white. Rod,
a retired high school teacher and coach, is a third generation
Japanese-American. He was born inside an Arizona internment
camp during World War II.


Fujita opens more photos. There's one of him holding hands with
his wife and college sweetheart, Jaclyn, on Senior Day at Cal;
this was a few months before the Chiefs took him in the fifth
round of the 2002 draft. There's another one of him playing Pee
Wee football, the chubby-cheeked, blond-haired, green-eyed kid
with the Japanese name on his jersey. There's another of his
paternal grandmother, Lillie, who once overheard him
introducing himself like this: "Hi! I'm Scott. I'm 4. And I'm
Japanese."


"I swear I'm not delusional," Fujita says, chuckling at the
memory. "I know I don't have a drop of Japanese blood in me.
But what is race? It's just a label. The way you're raised,
your family, the people you love—that means more than
everything else."


Many adopted kids grapple to come to terms with who they are
and where they came from, especially those raised by parents
who don't look like them. But Fujita says he doesn't struggle
with his identity, never has. First as a child and now as a
football player, his path to success has always been about the
same thing: defining for himself who he is. "That's the
connection point for Scott," Lillie says. "You choose to be
what you are. It's not your location, your obstacles or your
skin. You. You choose. He learned that from his family."


Not that he wasn't tested. When his parents took him and older
brother, Jason, who was also adopted, to stores, they got the
occasional odd looks. Sometimes Scott had to show his ID to
substitute teachers who didn't believe that his last name
belonged to him. And he ate so much rice with chopsticks that
he was 8 before he knew what to do with a baked potato. But he
shrugged off most of it, confident in thinking of himself as
half Japanese at heart. To his dad, it was even simpler:
"American, Japanese. To me he's always just been my son."


Every Jan. 1, the Fujitas celebrated Shogatsu, Japanese New
Year's. Every May 5, Rod would raise a koi flag on a bamboo
pole in the backyard in honor of the Japanese national holiday
of Kodomo-no-hi (Children's Day). But because Rod had become,
as he says, "Americanized," most of Scott's knowledge of
Japanese culture came from Lillie and Nagao, Scott's
grandfather.


The two were extremely strict with Rod when he was a kid, but
they spoiled their grandchildren. Nagao often showed up
unannounced at school to take Scott and Jason out for ice cream
and to go toy shopping. During these field trips, Scott would
sit in the backseat of Nagao's car, gazing at the California
coast while listening to tales of great samurai warriors,
Japanese art and history, and majestic places like Mount Fuji.
"When you've never met a single blood relative in your life,"
Scott says, "the idea of ethnicity and blood relations takes on
a different meaning. I found a very beautiful and interesting
culture filled with dignity, respect and honor, and it became
mine."


He also connected to his ancestors through his anger about, and
empathy for, Japanese-American residents who were interned
during World War II. His grandparents had a wrenching story to
tell. In 1941, Lillie and Nagao were students at Cal, planning
to get married. A few days after the Japanese attack on Pearl
Harbor, Lillie was crossing the street in Berkeley when another
female student ran up to her, screaming in her face, "You
little Jap, why don't you go back home!?" Lillie is a tiny,
demure woman. At his wedding reception, Scott got down on his
knees to dance with his grandma, only to discover he was still
too tall. But that day in 1941, she roared back: "I'm an
American too. And a better one than you are!"


Two months later, Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order
9066: the forcible evacuation of 120,000 American residents of
Japanese descent to 10 internment camps. To avoid being
separated, Nagao and Lillie married before the order was
carried out. Shortly after, they were forced, along with their
families, to relocate to an Army barracks in Gila River, Ariz.
Unable to pay their mortgage, Nagao's parents lost their
farmland in Ventura County.


The government did allow Nagao to leave camp and return to
college, but only at a school it approved: BYU. Lillie had to
stay behind. Amazingly, after Nagao graduated, he enlisted to
fight for the very country that was imprisoning his family.
Deployed to Italy, he fought with the all-Japanese 442nd
Regimental Combat Team, one of the most decorated battalions of
the war. While Nagao was overseas in 1943, Lillie gave birth to
Rod at the camp.


On Jan. 2, 1945, FDR revoked his executive order; the last camp
closed in early 1946. Nagao attended law school at Cal on the
GI Bill, then moved with Lillie and Rod back to Oxnard, where
he became one of the first bilingual attorneys in Southern
California. He died in 1988. A year later, Lillie received a
reparations check for $20,000 and a written apology from
then-president George Bush. The letter, which Scott keeps on
the computer in his den, says in part: "Your fellow Americans
have, in a very real sense, renewed their traditional
commitment to the ideals of freedom, equality and justice."
Even now, Scott gets angry when he mentions how Japanese
internment was never brought up in school. His desktop is full
of research on the topic, including photos of the camps and
government documents.


Given the depth of his feelings, it makes sense that Fujita has
adopted the ideals of perseverance that sustained his
grandparents. As a high school freshman in 1994, he was his
father's height: 5'6". Over the next three years, he shot up to
6'4" and became a star safety for Rio Mesa High. But lacking
mass, he drew meager attention from major D1 schools, and Cal
offered him a shot to walk on only a few months before his
graduation.


Fujita redshirted his freshman year, but not before blowing
away coaches in his first camp by helping out the
injury-plagued Bears at safety even though both of his hands
were clubbed up with tape—one because it was broken, the other
because of a nasty gash. The Bears gave him a scholarship the
next spring, and he added 20 pounds to his 6'5" frame while
switching from safety to linebacker. But as a sophomore in
1999, he was plagued by nerve stingers in his neck. Following
the season, he had career-threatening surgery that put him in
the ICU for three days and a neck halo for a week. That was
March. By August, he was cracking skulls again in live practice
drills. Two seasons later, he was among Cal's leading tacklers.
"I call it Pat Tillman syndrome," says former Cal defensive
coordinator Lyle Setencich, now at Texas Tech. "There are a few
players you come across who give their heart and soul to the
game. That's Pat Tillman, and that's Scott Fujita."


In Kansas City, Fujita's relentless play led his teammates to
name him the Chiefs' best rookie of 2002, and he topped the
team in tackles in 2003 and 2004. At times, though, he suffered
from "walk-on disease." Fearing the next bad play might be his
last, he stressed and pressed, not realizing that often the
only difference between good and great linebackers is just a
stutter step—the split-second difference between thinking
through a play and reacting on instinct. "I used to be the guy
running around, banging his head on the walls before a game,"
Fujita says. "Not anymore. Sometimes success is more about
relaxing and getting comfortable."


And finding the right fit. After making over their linebacker
corps, the Chiefs traded Fujita to Dallas five days before the
2005 season. He started the final eight games for the Cowboys
and made enough plays to draw interest, as an unrestricted free
agent, from Dallas, Jacksonville, Philadelphia and Oakland. His
first trip, though, was to New Orleans, where former Cowboys
assistant Sean Payton had just been hired as head coach.


The first time Fujita met with Payton in his office at the
team's practice facility (which had been used as a national
command center during Katrina), he was struck by how Payton had
embraced the Saints' role as sports savior of New Orleans.
Sappy or not, Fujita wanted to buy in, if only because he
thought that embodying something bigger than the game would
bring out his best as a player. "The hurricane, my family's
internment, issues of race—I feel like all that is a part of me
when I play."


Shortly after his sit-down with Payton, Fujita and Jaclyn were
enjoying dinner at Emeril's when Saints GM Mickey Loomis called
to thank him for visiting. "I'm ready to sign," Fujita blurted.
Ten minutes later, Loomis raced in with a contract in his
hands. Fujita got a four-year, $12 million deal for dessert,
and the Saints got a key piece for their rebuilt defense
without breaking the bank.


On Sept. 25, during the grand reopening of the Superdome on
Monday Night Football, Saints defensive back Mike McKenzie
introduced Fujita to a national TV audience by calling him "the
Asian Assassin." On the very next play, Fujita erupted through
a crack in the Falcons line and sacked a thoroughly shocked
Mike Vick, forcing a fumble and a fourth down. Fujita
celebrated with a fist-in palm samurai bow (a move now being
mimicked on high school football fields in New Orleans). The
Saints then blocked the Falcons' punt and recovered it in the
end zone to begin the 23-3 romp.


By the time the Saints reached their Week 7 bye, coming off
gritty wins over Tampa and Philly, they had morphed from
Katrina recovery mascots to contenders. Most of the hype has
centered around the backfield of Drew Brees, Deuce McAllister
and Reggie Bush, but the real credit belongs to the
Fujita-fueled defense that ranked fourth in the NFC through
Week 8. Playing behind a dominant, attacking front four, Fujita
is often left unblocked, free to shoot run gaps, roam the deep
middle and wreak havoc 80 feet in either direction. He has
prototypical size, strength and speed, but it's his
lightning-fast presnap recognition that keeps him one step
ahead of opponents and all over the stat sheet—a team-high 55
tackles and two picks, plus 2.5 sacks, a forced fumble and five
passes defensed. "In the huddle," McKenzie says, "he looks like
a missile ready to launch. He's everywhere out there."


Lest anyone want to dismiss Fujita as an overblown do-gooder,
note his $7,500 bill for a low hit away from the action on
Carolina's Steve Smith in Week 4. Or the red, swollen cleat
scars up and down his shins, courtesy of illegal leg whips by
blockers—the ultimate sign of respect in the trenches.


Halfway through the Saints' bye week, in fact, Fujita's shins
are still so swollen and discolored that he has to gimp the
last few blocks home from his favorite sushi joint, Rock-n-Sake
(home of the Mt. Fujita Roll). When he gets home, there are
half a dozen UPS boxes full of Pottery Barn picture frames
waiting for him. One of the candidates for the new frames is a
photo of the banner that Fujita's neighbors made for him after
the Eagles game. Spread out across his parking space, the sign
reads: McNabb Got FUJITA'ED.


It was a nice gesture, and it's a decent enough photo, but the
universal truth behind the message is what makes Fujita eager
to frame it: the idea that no matter where you're from or how
you were raised, no matter what you look like or who you play
for, when fans turn your name into a verb, well, you've arrived.

Ken Mochizuki – Be Water, My Friend

By Susan Osa
3 Feb 2010

Award-winning author Ken Mochizuki has always been fascinated by storytelling. Born in Seattle, Washington, he grew up in the Beacon Hill area of south Seattle. While attending the University of Washington, he became active in the Asian American movement, working on Seattle’s first Asian American newspaper, Asian Family Affair. After graduating with a degree in communications, he worked as an actor for five years in Los Angeles, including time with the East/West Players, the oldest Asian American theater company in the country.

With his downtime from acting, he spent a lot of time reading, which would set him on the course to becoming a writer. “In college, I had heard a lot about the rediscovered novel, No-No Boy, regarded as the greatest work by an Asian American author,” says Mochizuki. “When I reached the last page, I was blown away, not only from the power of the words, but also the power of his truth that Seattle author John Okada dared to portray Japanese Americans in a realistic and often unflattering way,” he continues. “More importantly, his one and only novel told me that we can write our own stories, that we can write our own versions of ourselves.”

To hone his new craft, Mochizuki returned to Seattle, and spent 10 years as a newspaper writer/reporter, which helped him develop the skills to write books for young readers.

Early on, Mochizuki aspired to write adult novels, but a classic case of serendipity steered him toward writing children’s books. “I received a phone call from Philip Lee in New York, whose wife, Karen Chinn, I knew from Seattle. He had started the children’s picture book company, Lee & Low Books, and was searching the country for authors and illustrators for its first published books,” recalls Mochizuki. “I had never written anything for children or young adults, but then Phillip suggested the topic that became my first picture book, Baseball Saved Us.” The critical and commercial success of this booked launched a 16+ year career for Mochizuki.

Since his first picture book, he has authored Heroes, and Passage to Freedom: The Sugihara Story, and most recently, Be Water, My Friend: The Early Years of Bruce Lee. As an author, the Asian-American experience has been a recurring theme in Mochizuki’s work, influenced from his own personal history. “I have been the recipient of stereotypes about Asians most of my life, so that has had a major impact on the career paths that I have chosen and what I did within those careers,” says Mochizuki. “As a writer of books for young readers, my life’s work has involved making the American experiences of those of Asian descent known, which is especially important for young readers as they are forming perceptions of others, and to not rely on stereotypes” he continues. “Hopefully, readers will come away with something they hadn’t known or realized before, and gain traction with a positive theme such as “attitude determines altitude” (from Baseball Saved Us), the “importance of passing down a family legacy” (from Heroes), or “might is not always right” (from Be Water, My Friend).”

Mochizuki’s most recent picture book, Be Water, My Friend, is a gentle tribute to martial arts legend Bruce Lee, following Lee from his birth in San Francisco through his youth in Hong Kong. Lee’s family life, impatience with school, and legal troubles are touched upon, as is his growing passion for martial arts. “When I first contemplated writing a biography of Bruce Lee, I wasn’t sure why I should,” says Mochizuki. “But, when I toured an exhibit in Seattle [which was based on a collector’s collection of Bruce Lee memorabilia], I learned how he had his own personal library of 2,500 books as an adult, and how he developed and followed his own personal philosophies, these were revelations,” he continues. “When I saw a photo of Bruce Lee sitting on the floor reading a book in front of the shelves of his library, I knew I wanted to do this book. Readers needed to know this side of Bruce Lee,” says Mochizuki.

Mochizuki hopes readers of Be Water, My Friend see more than just the super-human fighting machine seen on the big screen from his book. “I hope readers, especially guys, will think about this: if you call your peer who wears glasses a nerd, if you think reading is boring, or a waste of time, if you think you don’t have to take school seriously, and won’t live to regret it – remember Bruce Lee, often considered the man of men, the most macho of men, was and did all these things, and much, much more.”

* Excerpts from this interview were referenced from “Book Talk with Ken Mochizuki” (leeandlow.com), “Interview with Ken Mochizuki” (mawbooks.com), and the author’s website.

© 2010 Japanese American National Museum

Angel Island, landmark of U.S. diversity

Japanese women arrive at Angel Island early last century. Some 70,000 Japanese were detained there.
Photo: Courtesy / CA State Parks Collection


Carl Nolte, Chronicle Staff Writer

Thursday, January 21, 2010

More... Today is the 100th anniversary of the U.S. immigration station on Angel Island - a place of hope and despair, and a landmark symbolizing the rich history of immigration in this country.

The anniversary will be noted by looking both back and forward, by recalling the complex history of the immigration station and with a 10 a.m. ceremony at the San Francisco Civic Center naturalizing 100 citizens from 44 countries.

Today's commemoration is fitting, because the immigration station on the island was designed to admit new immigrants and to keep others - mainly Chinese and other Asians - out.

There will be talks by old men and women who became Americans only after an ordeal on the island, and there will be a proud moment when 100 younger men and women take an oath to become the country's newest citizens.

"Angel Island is a symbol of both inclusion and exclusion," said Judy Yung, a retired professor of American studies who is writing a book on the immigration station.

"It's a story of persistence to overcome obstacles to becoming part of this country," said Eddie Wong, executive director of the Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation. "It is the classic American immigrant story."

The Asian gateway
More than 500,000 people passed through Angel Island between 1910 and 1940, about a third of them Asian. It was the Asian gateway to the United States - the Ellis Island of the West. Now, many generations later, the several million people who are their descendants have left their mark on this country.

"It is an important part of our story," Yung said.

It is also a story of institutionalized racism. For 61 years, until they were repealed in 1943, federal laws, notably the Chinese Exclusion Act, greatly limited Asian immigration to the United States.

The laws were enforced at the immigration station on Angel Island, a bucolic and beautiful place where thousands of Chinese and other immigrants were detained - sometimes for as long as a year - while immigration officers determined whether they could be admitted into the country.

The laws were particularly tough on Chinese immigrants, allowing only certain classes of them to be admitted - scholars, clergy, merchants and the children of American citizens among them. They were intended to make sure that working Chinese men and women would be kept out. Over 100,000 Asians were admitted despite the restrictions.

Competition unwanted
It was part of an anti-Asian immigrant movement that swept the Pacific Coast in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Stirred up by fears of economic competition from Asian workers, politicians and the news media warned of a "Yellow Peril." James D. Phelan, a former mayor of San Francisco, ran a successful campaign for the U.S. Senate by promising to "Keep California White." For years, the 1882 exclusion acts were renewed and expanded so that most Asian immigrants were affected.

As a result, about 100,000 Chinese were detained for questioning on Angel Island. About 70,000 Japanese were held there for varying periods, Yung said. About 8,000 South Asians, mostly from India, were stopped at the island. Roughly half of the Indians were refused admission.

It wasn't just Asians who had problems with immigration officials on Angel Island. Roughly 7,000 Russians passed through the station, most of them stateless political refugees who had fled Russia after the Bolshevik revolution and who had headed to the United States through Manchuria and China. They had to prove they were not criminals or likely to be deadbeats.

The island's history
The immigration station was closed after a fire in 1940. Angel Island is now a state park, and the immigration station buildings have been restored. Many of them have poems written on the walls by immigrants kept there.

The Angel Island station got its start when the government decided to replace facilities on the San Francisco waterfront used to screen passengers arriving from Asia.

In those days, most white and first-class ship passengers were allowed into the country after a cursory examination by immigration officers, but Chinese and other Asian passengers traveling steerage class were kept aboard idle ships or in a building at First and Brannan streets called the "immigration shed." The shed was owned by the Pacific Mail Line and was located on its dock.

The government opened an immigration station on Angel Island on Jan. 21, 1910, and would-be immigrants were taken there from San Francisco by small steamers. It was like Ellis Island in New York, but with a major difference.

"Ellis Island was more of a welcoming gateway to European immigrants, and we always celebrated the immigration story of that island," Yung said. "But the majority of people coming from Asia were not welcomed."

'Paper sons'
Some of the people who passed through Angel Island had false papers, claiming in many cases to be sons and daughters of Chinese American citizens, a ticket for admission under the era's restrictive laws. These so-called "paper sons" had spent considerable time studying the background of their supposed ancestors, and the job of the immigration officers was to ferret out these "paper sons" through extensive interrogation sessions. If they were caught, they were shipped back to China; if they succeeded they were admitted to the America they could see shimmering across the bay.

Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of immigrants got through the process using false papers. "Once they were admitted, they worked to raise families and be successful and make a contribution to our country," Yung said.

The experience has left a unique legacy in many Chinese American families. Yung's own family was one of them. "I'm a descendant of a paper son," she said.

When immigration laws were relaxed in the 1950s and '60s, the government offered amnesty to people who had used false papers. Many accepted, "but there are many more paper sons and daughters who did not confess," said Yung. Many of them, she said, did not trust the U.S. government, particularly in the era before the United States normalized relations with what many conservatives called "Red China."

Today's centennial ceremony will include presentation of the Outstanding American by Choice award from the Citizenship and Immigration Services to Dr. Samuel So, a professor at the Stanford School of Medicine and an expert on hepatitis and liver cancer. So was born in Hong Kong and became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1998.

Immigrant gateways to America
Ellis Island


The first federal immigration station, an island in New York Harbor, opened Jan. 1, 1892, and closed in 1954.

Approximately 12 million immigrants were processed there, most of them Europeans. Most were detained for two to three hours and treated courteously. About 40 percent of all Americans can trace at least one ancestor who was processed at Ellis Island.

Source: National Park Service

Angel Island


The first West Coast immigration station, an island in San Francisco Bay, opened Jan. 21, 1910, and closed after a fire in 1940.

Approximately 500,000 immigrants went through Angel Island; 300,000 of them were detained. Of these, more than 100,000 were Chinese. Detention ranged from overnight to a few who were held for a more than a year.

Source: California State Park Service, Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation

E-mail Carl Nolte at cnolte@sfchronicle.com.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/01/21/MN231BKGQH.DTL