Meeting the Monroes!  March 11, 2024. (left to right) Jim, Gary, Holly, me, and Mark. In the last 2 years, I’ve spoken over 150 times to different groups & schools. In my presentation, I’ve had a photo of everyone except for Mr. Frank Monroe, my dad’s lifelong mentor. Frank Monroe was the President of the First National Bank Garden Grove and played a major role in the Mendez/Munemitsu collaboration during WWII.  My dad said that Frank was “the best friend you could ever have - he didn’t have a prejudiced bone in his body.” I had met his wife as a child on our annual visits to he ..read more

Professors Kathy Nakagawa & Daniele Lauro, Me, Marlene Shigekawa, Bill Staples, and Prof. William Hedberg made up the program. I thought I had seen somewhere a sign for an on-campus art museum and after wandering around a bit, I found the beautiful entry and smiled at the free admission.  I thought I had seen somewhere a sign for an on-campus art museum and after wandering around a bit, I found the beautiful entry and smiled at the free admission.  I thought I had seen somewhere a sign for an on-campus art museum and after wandering around a bit, I found the beautiful entry ..read more

“Kindness is… remembering what others have suffered with compassion and hospitality; even when you have suffered far worse.”   pg. 159 I originally wrote this phrase in tribute to the Colorado River Indian Tribe, Poston, AZ and their collaboration with the Japanese Americans to this day.  But this holds true for many more stories than that. This month, we honor and celebrate Black History Month and so many famous and not so famous Black Americans and their contributions to our country and our world.  If there was an award for “Best Neighbors Ever” it just might go to the Marshal ..read more

Blessings for New Year 2024! Tradition is to make new year’s resolutions but few people I know are able to keep them all year long. I know I rarely do! While on a retreat in early December, I got the chance to play with some building blocks and it gave me an idea. Why not gather proverbs to live by as the building blocks of my new year? They provide a framework for how I want to live my life, with its joys and also difficulties. Proverbs leverage the wisdom of centuries of humanity. What better guideposts for me this year, and every year! I’m featuring Mexican and Japanese proverbs listed in ..read more

I always take some time in December to reflect on the year, personally and globally. In a year filled with the horrors of wars, aggressors’ actions harming or killing innocent victims, and so much grief and loss around the world, I came across this quote from Simon Wiesenthal, a WWII Holocaust survivor and lifelong advocate for justice. "Hope Lives When People Remember.” - Simon Wiesenthal It can be really overwhelming to hear the news and feel like there is nothing that can be done. But this lie undermines our true human potential to work together, build community, and collaborat ..read more

My Grandpa Seima was born in November 1899, right at the turn of the century. This month, I celebrate that he was born 124 years ago, and he came to California in 1916 at age 17, 107 years ago! People are always surprised at that as most think of Asian immigrants being relatively “new” in this country. Grandpa was a pioneer and had already been in the U.S. for 26 years, the majority of his life, when WWII broke out in 1942. Before that, he was a humble farmer, raising 2 sons, and twin daughters in Westminster, CA. Before the war, he would just say they farmed, and my dad would add to th ..read more

Read this conversation from the CanvasRebel to an interesting and insightful story of Janice Munemitsu. Read the Article ..read more

Selected for the California/West Coast premiere at the Newport Beach Film Festival, “Growing up Behind Barbed Wire” was inspired by “The Kindness of Color.” Director/Producer Brendan Bubion and Author Janice Munemitsu will be at the showing on October 19, 2023, Thursday at The Lot Theater, Fashion Island, Newport Beach at 3:45pm. @growingupbehindbarbedwire NBFF2023 Event and Newport Beach Film Festival On February 20, 1942, the Munemitsu family and 125,000 other Japanese Americans were ordered by Presidential Executive Order #9066 to leave their homes and be sent to the Poston Incarceration Ca ..read more

Read this article from the National Park Services to explores the entangled inequalities that brought the two families together. It also highlights some of the people and historic places that can speak to their story. Read the Article ..read more

For Hispanic Heritage Month, I began thinking about a wonderful group of mostly Latino college students that I met this summer at Vanguard University, Costa Mesa. These enthusiastic “first gen” college students were dedicating 4 weeks to Vanguard’s Bridge Program to ensure a smooth transition into college. One of their summer assignments was to write a personal biography and at the invitation of Professor MIchael Jimenez, I was a speaker for this portion of the class. The students wrote a paper on “The Kindness of Color” and Dr. Jimenez kindly sent those papers to me as feedback. Along with r ..read more