Welcome to the Nihonmachi Outreach Committee's Web Site

Click here to view the latest
NOC E-Newsletter

On This Page:

39th Annual San Jose Day of Remembrance

Speakers

Cultural Performances

Book Signing

Other Day of Remembrance Events

	Camp Pilgrimage Information
	Past Events

39th Annual San Jose
Day of Remembrance

Sunday, February 17, 2019
5:30 p.m - 7:30 p.m

San Jose Buddhist Church Betsuin
640 North Fifth Street,
San Jose, CA

Free and open to the public

The 39th Annual San Jose Day of Remembrance event commemorates the anniversary of the signing of Executive Order 9066. The order, signed on February 19, 1942, led to the forced removal and incarceration of 120,000 people of Japanese descent during World War II. Hundreds of people will gather together at this annual event not only to remember that great civil liberties tragedy, but also to reflect on the rising tensions that are building within our communities today.

he 2019 event carries the theme "#Never Again Is Now". During the past year, the story of Japanese American incarceration has been melded into several big national stories.

Many prominent Americans, including former first lady, Laura Bush, and actor George Takei, drew stark parallels between Japanese American WWII incarceration and the "zero-tolerance" border policy

"I cannot for a moment imagine what my childhood would have been like had I been thrown into a camp without my parents. That this is happening today fills me with both rage and grief: rage toward a failed political leadership who appear to have lost even their most basic humanity, and a profound grief for the families affected."

-- George Takei

Justice Sonia Sotomayor's dissent in
Trump v. Hawaii (Trump Travel Ban):

By blindly accepting the Government's misguided invitation to sanction a discriminatory policy motivated by animosity toward a disfavored group, all in the name of a superficial claim of national security, the Court redeploys the same dangerous logic underlying Korematsu and merely replaces one “gravely wrong” decision with another."
Download SCOTUS Trump v. Hawaii opinion

As recipients of an official apology from the United States government as a part of the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, many Japanese Americans, as well as other Americans, feel that it is our responsibility to defend our friends, neighbors, classmates, colleagues, and other communities when they become the target of discrimination. During these tumultuous and divisive times, ordinary people are rising up within their own communities to effect positive change.

Featured Speaker: Don Tamaki

Don Tamaki, a partner for Minami Tamaki LLP, was an attorney for the coram nobis legal team that reopened and helped to overturn the Supreme Court case Korematsu v. the United States. Don wrote the following article for the Nichi Bei Weekly in July 2018.

On June 26, 2018, by a 5-4 majority, the Supreme Court in Trump v. Hawaii upheld President Donald Trump’s so-called “Travel Ban,” the thrice-revised executive orders barring entry of people from Muslim-majority nations.

When Trump announced his first order in January, 2017, travelers having nothing to do with terrorism were detained, U.S. residents were stranded abroad, and families were separated. Thousands of validly issued visas were canceled. Hundreds with such visas were prevented from boarding planes or denied entry on arrival, including refugees running for their lives from terrorism who had already undergone a stringent vetting process.
Read more...

Featured Speaker: Teresa Castellanos

Teresa Castellanos is the Coordinator for Immigrant Relations and Integration Services for Santa Clara County. She has worked with immigrant communities for over 25 years. Through Teresa’s work in collaboration with colleagues and community agencies, 131,000 SCC residents have received assistance with the citizenship process. Previously she worked as Citizenship Services Coordinator for Catholic Charities. She has also served on the Curriculum Advisory Committee representing Special Education.

Remembrance Speaker: Chizu Omori

Chizu Omori was 12 years old when she and her family were forced from their home in Southern California to the Poston War Relocation Center in 1942. Under Executive Order 9066, they were imprisoned in the Arizona desert for three and a half years. Chizu and her sister co-produced the documentary Rabbit in the Moon, which told about their family’s WWII incarceration experiences and the divisions and tensions that the incarceration caused within the Japanese-American community. Their documentary was recognized with several awards including the Best Documentary Cinematography at the Sundance Film Festival in 1999. Currently in her late eighties, Chizu is active with the Nikkei Resisters, a Japanese American social justice group in the Bay Area.
Listen to Chizu Omori talk about how her incarceration experience fuels her activism on KALW

NOC Keynote Speaker: Masao Suzuki

Professor Masao Suzuki has taught economics at Skyline College for 18 years. His main fields of interest are U.S. economic crisis and the economics of race, ethnicity, and immigration, in particular the economic achievement of Japanese immigrants to the United States. He has written articles on these topics for Fight Back! newspaper and scholarly journals and has given many talks on campus and in the community. Professor Suzuki has been active in the Japanese American community in the South Bay for almost 30 years with the Nihonmachi Outreach Committee (NOC).

In 2010, Masao Suzuki was visited by the FBI as part of the raids and Federal Grand Jury subpoenas aimed at antiwar and international solidarity activists in the Midwest. Since then he has worked with the South Bay Committee Against Political Repression (SBCAPR), an affiliate of the national Committee to Stop FBI Repression (CSFR).

Day of Remembrance Cultural Performances

San Jose Taiko's Mission:

Connecting people through cultural understanding, creative expression, and rhythmic heartbeat.

Advancing the taiko art form by evolving and raising the visibility of San Jose Taiko's unique style and philosophy around the world.

Asha Sudra is a local educator and an international poet, striving to use art to create radical change. Asha has been featured on the cover of Content Magazine, is a feature at many of the prominent poetry events in the Bay Area, as well as active speaker, emcee, and performer at numerous rallies and marches for civil and human rights, including emcee of the 2016 Women’s March and a performer at the 2017 The March For Our Lives. Asha was the focus of a recent short documentary by KQED ARTS.

Several NOC members first saw Safiyah Hernandez perform at a September 11 remembrance event that was hosted by the American Muslim Voice. We were all captivated by her beautiful voice and her great passion. We were also amazed that this young singer wrote her own songs that tackled personal and social issues.

Jake Shimada is an accomplished ukulele musician and he is a previous winner of the Bay Area Aloha Festival Ukulele Contest for Kids under 13. Jake is a product of the Japantown community and he started lessons at Ukulele Jams. He is also a member of the Wesley Methodist Church Ukulele Band. Jake previously attended the Day of Remembrance event with his grandfather, a World War II veteran.

Andrew Urata, on snare drum

Andrew’s grandfather, Yasuo Tanaka, served in the Military Intelligence Service (MIS) during WW II. He protested when he was not allowed to visit his family in the concentration camp during his leave and was then transferred to other assignments. Andrew’s great-grandfather, Chikashi Tanaka, was detained and accused of being a spy when authorities learned that he owned a Los Angeles photo studio. He was incarcerated in the Gila River, Arizona camp. Andrew's other great-grandfather, Kengo Takenaka, was arrested and incarcerated at Ellis Island for ignoring curfew orders when trying to go to work.

Karen Sanico, on piano

Karen's father, Walter Matsumoto, was a senior at Hilo High School, on the Big Island of Hawai’i, at the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Walter served in the famed 442nd RCT and the 100th Infantry Battalion and he was involved in the campaign to rescue The Lost Battalion. Walter was wounded and was honorably discharged in 1945. Walter celebrated his 95th birthday in June and is in good health.

Day of Remembrance Book Signing
Fred Korematsu Speaks Up

Laura Atkins and Stan Yogi

Come to the San Jose Day of Remembrance and
have your book signed by the authors

Other Day of Remembrance Events

DAY OF REMEMBRANCE: RADIO DISCUSSION &
COMMUNITY ART PROJECT
Japanese American Museum of San Jose

Sunday, February 17, 2019
1:00 PM - 3:00 PM

Click here for more information: