On This Date in 1942:

The Pervasive Fear

In the wake of the 2016 Presidential Election outcome, a wave of fear and loathing has gripped many non-whites and people of all persuasions. Acts of vandalism, racists taunts, and violence against Blacks, Muslims, Latinos, and LGBTQ have occurred with an alarming growing frequency and there is no sign that this will wane anytime soon. In reaction there have been protests and counter vandalism. Neither of which will change the outcome of what has occurred. Until the next presidential election cycle begins in 2018, we must live with a vindictive man who keeps a list of enemies now control of the highest office in the land. What is more frightening is the collection of a who's who of  Republican extremists that are being vetted for Cabinet positions. What we are witnessing is in essence what Bill Maher describes as a Right Wing Coup that embraced racist extremists and fanned the flames of racial & social divide. With vulgar calls from Mr. Trump himself to "knock the shit" out of people and other UN-presidential examples of his erratic behavior that has only encouraged the darker elements of our society to act upon their desires to wage terror on non whites, Muslims, and LGBTQ peoples. This is not what America stands for. And with Mr. Trump making no effort to restrain his more unstable supporters, his recent call for national unity comes off as insincere.

Anger and intolerance has made an ugly return. This happened once before in this country. We go to our Buddhist Temple with people who as children were forced from their homes and put on trains to be sent to concentration camps. This was the result of Executive order 9066. This is an idea that Trump himself said he was open to. This is a frightening prospect and more so for our Muslim citizens who Trump had said he wanted to ban all Muslims from entering this country. Whether he follows through with that threat is yet to be seen. As of yesterday, he removed the Muslim Ban from his campaign's website. But the damage has been done and the racists have only become further emboldened to commit acts of violence and intimidation. This is a dark time in America. One could only wonder what it must have been like before EO9066 was issued. People thought it couldn't happen here but it did. The Isei who lived here in those times used to say "Shigata ga nai" which translates "It could not be helped." The fallout from the election has left this country more fiercely divided. We are fortunate that we live in the Free Thinkers states but for those who do not, we fear for them. We hope we are wrong but as the days go by and scarier news makes it ways, we are less than optimistic. With the Pervasive Fear replacing anger and disgust, one must ask if it too early to say Shigata ga nai? We'll soon find out. Pray for the USA. We're going to need it.

Iconic WWII Internee Dies at 103

Ms. Fumiko Hayashida passed away in Seattle Washington this weekend at the age of 103. Ms. Hayashida as seen from her world famous photo that was taken on March 30th, 1942 carrying her then 13 month old daughter became the face of the 227 Nisei who were forced from their homes on Bainbridge Island. This was the result of President FDR's Executive Order 9066 forcing all people of Japanese Ancestry into "War Relocation Camps" which were nothing more than America's Concentration Camps during World War II. She was recorded to be the oldest living survivor of the fewer than 80 survivors of the Bainbridge Island expulsion. We at American Mishima wish her peace and safe journey to the Pureland.

Greatest Generation: Dying Man Casts Final Vote

As the World War Two or Greatest Generation leaves us in ever greater numbers, We at American Mishima from time to time like to feature these old Warriors who make the news. As previously posted on CNN, seen here in the above photo lies Frank Tanabe of Honolulu Hawaii who in 2010 was among a group of Japanese-Americans who were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal as part of the Military Intelligence Service Unit during World War II. (Better late than never no?) As seen in the photo, Mr. Tanabe 93, cast his final mail in vote as he is in the final stages of inoperable liver cancer. Mr. Tanabe grew up in the Niesei community of Seattle and attended University of Washington when he was forced to drop out and abandon everything they owned in compliance with Executive Order 9066 to be put on trains and forced into the Interment Camps that imprisoned Japanese Americans following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor during one of America's darkest chapters of World War II.

Upon hearing that there was a need for interpreters, Mr. Tanabe volunteered for the US. Army while his family remained imprisoned. As previously posted on CNN: According to his daughters, Frank has never missed a presidential election, and wasn't about to let his illness deter him from voting this time around. Since this photo was taken and uploaded to the internet, Mr. Tanabe's story has been reposted and seen around the world including here on American Mishima. His daughter Barbara said that she has been telling her dad about all of the internet "buzz" and is sure he is "thrilled about it." "He is very patriotic, very proud," she said, adding that her father instilled a similar sense of appreciation to his children. "He always told us it was very important to vote, because he saw his comrades in arms fight and die for American rights," she said. Among those, she added, was the right to vote. As the Greatest Generation and in particular those MIS and Go For Broke Japanese Americans leave us there will be fewer opportunities to feature them, So here at American Mishima we would like to offer one final salute for his service and long standing patriotism. Thank you Mr. Tanabe!
ありがとうございます!

Never Forget - Never Again

Imagine one day you wake up and here that your government has declared you a security risk. You suddenly are no longer a citizen, that you no longer have the right to attend school, own a business, own money, or your home. Worse, you have to abandon everything you own and report to an assembly point to board a train to some far off concentration camp and all because of your ancestry? Sounds like Nazi Germany right? Well this wasn't the Third Reich. This happened right here in the City of Angels some 70 years ago this week in the United States of America.

December 7th, 1941 may have been declared a "Day of Infamy," but today marks marks the 70th anniversary of President Roosevelt signing of Executive Order 9066 - The forced relocation of all people of Japanese Ancestry from the West Coast and Hawaii. A shameful chapter in our history and one that should never be repeated.

 

Never Forget - Never Again.

受像 George Takei to appear on Celebrity Apprentice

America's best known Nisei George Takei better known for his portrayal of Hikuru Sulu on Star Trek will appear on the 2012 Season of Donald Trump's Celebrity Apprentice. As Takei-san put it:  "Now, the Donald and I don't always see eye to eye, but I'm doing this for charity, playing to raise money and awareness for Japanese American National Museum." Now what is special about his relationship to the Japanese American National Museum is that most people do not know that years before his big break on the set of Star Trek, Takei-san was once a young five year old Nisei in Los Angeles whose family was forced to abandon everything they owned and watch their neighbors loot their belongings while his family boarded buses with only one suitcase per person containing all they were allowed to keep. This of course was the result of President Franklin Roosevelt's shamefully misguided lowpoint in the history of American Civil Liberties, Executive Order 9066, which led to the forced evacuation of some 120,000 Japanese and Japanese-Americans from the West Coast to remote Concentration Camps. Takei-san in previous interviews described being bused to the Santa Anita Race Track and forced with his entire family to live behind barbed wire and guarded by armed soldiers in filthy horse stables for one week before being made to board trains at gun point to be relocated for the next three years to America's Concentration Camps during WWII.

George Takei has always been and continues to be a strong supporter of the JANM to help educate future generations of Americans of the dangers of cultural fear and ignorance and what it could lead to so that what happened to him and his family will not happen again to any ethnic group on US Soil. We at American Mishima support these efforts of the Japanese American National Museum and the efforts of people like George Takei. For a better understanding of this experience we reccomend watching the 1990 film Come See The Paradise starring Tamlyn Tomita & Dennis Quaid. After watching this you will have an idea what people like George Takei went through and why this cause is so important.

The new season of Celebrity Apprentice debuts Feb. 12th, 2012. We would like to wish Takei-San がんばってください! To find out more about the Japanese American National Museum please visit their website @ http://www.janm.org/ or simply visit them at 369 East First Street, Los Angeles California 90012 in the Heart of Little Tokyo. You'll be thankful you did.