Volume XV, Number 2 • Spring/Summer 2003
Preservation

Gambatte imasu: Japantown San Jose
by Kathy Sakamoto

Behind The Passage of the Manzanar Bill
by Sue Kunitomi Embrey

Minidoka: Preservation and Beyond
by Maya Hatta Lemmon

Reunion in New Denver: A Japanese Canadian Internee Remembers
by Roy Yasui

Memory Erased: Sacramento's Japanese Town
by Kevin Wildie

Internment Camps Revisited
by Frank Iritani

Little Tokyo's Enbun
by Steven Kawa

Kokoro: The Heart of a Community
by Kenji Murase

Recommended Reading

In Their Own Words: Linda Jofuku,
Japantown Taskforce
by Chiori Santiago

Member News
by Rosalyn Tonai

Building 640 Update

Program Calendar

Kevin Wildie, a graduate student at California State University Sacramento, was searching for a topic for his master’s thesis when he found it in his own backyard. His wife’s family had lived near Sacramento’s old Japanese Town before the war. While their recollections remained intact, the place itself had been erased from the city map. "My advisor, Dr. Joseph Pitti, had mentioned that not much had been written about the ethnic enclaves downtown that were destroyed as a result of Sacto's redevelopment efforts in the 1950s-60s," he says. So Wildie set about gathering oral histories and researching the double demise of what was once a social and economic center for the region. His article, condensed from many pages of fascinating history compiled in his thesis, begins on p. 10.

Wildie’s effort is a reminder that Nikkei history, just a few generations old, is gradually being lost as our population ages and memories grow dim. Even the physical reminders of our passage through time—the bath houses, Buddhist temples, manju shops and those infamous "camps"—are gradually disappearing, excised from the map of our past. This issue of Nikkei Heritage reviews the many efforts to preserve what remains, from Frank Iritani’s tour of relocation sites to insiders’ views of the last three J-towns in the nation. There are many ways to get involved, and if what you read here prompts you to action, we hope you’ll take advantage of the resources we’ve included to read a book, take a pilgrimage, donate to a cause or just get over to a Nihonmachi for a bowl of udon.

Thanks to all who’ve commented on past issues. In response to Homer Yasui’s article on matsutake hunting in our Harvest issue (Fall 2002), George Kitazawa of Monroeville, PA, was compelled to reveal his secret gathering spot: "As kids 80 years ago we hunted for mushrooms in the open fields in the Santa Clara valley (now Silicon Valley). Our parents call them ‘kinoko’."

Our last issue, on the Military Intelligence Service, prompted much reminiscence. Jinna Wilson in Oakland, CA, reminds us that the drafters of the post-war Japanese constitution included one woman, Beate Sirota Gordon, a graduate of Oakland’s Mills College. Gordon crafted the portion relating to women’s rights. Her autobiography, The Only Woman in the Room: A Memoir (Kodansha International) traces a life devoted to bicultural exchange. Thelma Robinson of Boulder, CO, enjoyed "More Than Mannequins," Kenji Murase’s article about Nikkei WACs, and adds that "Another group of Nisei women, more than 350, served in the US Cadet Nurse Corps in assembly centers, relocation camps and in both civilian and military hospitals during World War II." Robinson has compiled a book, Cadet Nurse Stories: the Call For and Response of Women During World War II, which contains stories from 30 Nikkei nurses (for details, see www.nursingsociety.org). Mas Yonemura of Oakland, CA, suggested that in a future issue we cover the work of the Allied Translator and Interpreter Service, of which the vast majority of language personnel were Nikkei. Good advice: your letters really do help guide our coverage, and make Nikkei Heritage a forum for ideas and exchange. Think of it as a J-town coffee shop that comes in the mail.