This year’s Los Angeles Day of Remembrance (DOR) at the Japanese American National Museum (JANM),videos of naked older sister teaching shy younger brother how to have sex First Street and Central Avenue in Little Tokyo, will honor community heroes Alan Nishio, Martha Nakagawa, and Min Tonai on Saturday, Feb. 17. at 2 p.m.
Collectively, the three represented the best in the Japanese American community for their dedication to civil rights, education, mentorship, and service to others.
Alan Nishio was best known for his leadership in the National Coalition for Redress/Reparations (NCRR) and his tireless work with Little Tokyo Service Center (LTSC) and other community institutions. Nishio was also the first director of the UCLA Asian American Studies Center and retired as the associate vice president of student services at Cal State Long Beach. He was fondly remembered by many students and activists he mentored, including people on the DOR Committee.
Jenny Chomori, co-chair of the Manzanar Committee, recalled the impact Alan had on her when she first met him at UCLA:
“I was a freshman in the Asian American High Potential Program at UCLA in 1970 when Alan was the acting director of Asian American Studies at the school. He and the late Jim Matsuoka were my mentors when I was a young adult exploring what it meant to be an Asian American. Remember, we didn’t have many role models at that time, so Alan and Jim helped to fill that void in my life. Because of Alan, I later participated in the movement against redevelopment in J-Town with the Little Tokyo People’s Rights Organization (LTPRO) in the 1970s and have been involved in other community activities ever since.”
Had Martha Nakagawa not passed away in 2023, she would have been invited to participate in this year’s DOR since this year’s theme is “Rooted in Resistance: Fighting for Justice During World War II.” Nakagawa is perhaps best known to many in the Japanese American community as a journalist who covered numerous events for Rafu Shimpo, Pacific Citizen, and a number of other publications. However, her work with the UCLA Asian American Studies Center researching and archiving the experiences of the World War II draft resisters, “No-No Boys,” and renunciants is something that will leave a lasting legacy.
Professor Art Hansen recalled in Nakagawa’s Rafu Shimpo obituary:
“While I was profoundly moved by her courageous championing of multiple civil liberties, human rights, and social justice causes relative to the Japanese American community, what most impressed me within this context was her personal and journalistic support of the World War II Nisei draft resisters of conscience.”
Min Tonai was a long-time community leader who served on numerous boards of directors, including JANM. He is remembered for helping to build up community institutions like JANM and for also being a tireless advocate of educating future generations about the wartime incarceration. Tonai led the effort to create a monument to the Terminal Island community that was destroyed after Japanese Americans were forcibly removed during World War II. He was a regular speaker at Katari’s educational program, which educates college students about the incarceration and how it relates to today’s events.
Gann Matsuda, co-chair of Katari, recalled in Tonai’s Rafu Shimpoobituary how he regularly drove up to Manzanar to address the program’s students:
“There was one year when, right after the weekend program ended, and we were all about to leave Manzanar, our students surrounded Min, asking questions, and thanking him for sharing his story. We almost had to drag our students to our van to get them back to Southern California at a decent hour. That was an incredible sight to behold.”
To attend this year’s Day of Remembrance, RSVP at: www.janm.org/events/2024-02-17/2024-los-angeles-day-remembrance
The Los Angeles DOR Committee is a coalition of organizations, including: Go For Broke National Education Center, Japanese American Citizens League-Pacific Southwest District, Japanese American National Museum, Little Tokyo Service Center, Manzanar Committee, Nikkei for Civil Rights and Redress, Nikkei Progressives, Organization of Chinese Americans-Greater Los Angeles, and Progressive Asian Network for Action.