Organization backs Biden administration’s efforts amid external, internal pressure. By P.C. Staff The National JACL on Thursday issued a statement urging the Biden administration to “continue to advance negotiations for a ceasefire, and to provide and ensure the availability of humanitarian aid for the residents of Gaza.” The statement comes after months of external and internal pressure upon the nation’s oldest Asian American civil rights organization to take a stand with regard to Israel’s prosecution of its war on Hamas, which on Oct. 7, 2023, launched an attack on Israel that killed about ..read more

The Justice Department announced today that ex-Dodgers employee Ippei Mizuhara has agreed to plead guilty to one count of bank fraud and for signing a false tax return. He had served as the interpreter for and de facto manager of Dodgers player Shohei Ohtani, from whom Mizuhara was alleged to have illegally transferred nearly $17 million from the Major Leaguer’s bank account to pay off huge gambling debts. Mizuhara, 39, whose arraignment is scheduled for May 14, is expected to enter a plea of guilty to the charges in United States District Court in the coming weeks. According to the Justice De ..read more

San Fernando Valley, Ventura County, Riverside chapters usher in the Year of the Dragon. By P.C. Staff “Aware of the responsibility to which I have been elected and conscious of the role which the Japanese American Citizens League must play in our community and our nation, I do swear that I will discharge the duties of my office conscientiously and to the best of my ability. I will continue to further the purposes and mission of the JACL and to serve my fellow citizens in this country, the United States of America.” With that oath, JACL chapters across the nation have installed their respectiv ..read more

It’s official: Camp Amache in February received status as an national historic site and will now be under the jurisdiction of the National Parks Service. (Photo: Gil Asakawa) Official designation for Colorado concentration will help prevent erasure of history. By Gil Asakawa, P.C. Contributor (Editor’s note: Nearly two years after President Joe Biden signed the Amache National Historic Site Act, which designated the Amache site as part of the National Park System, Interior Secretary Deb Halland on Feb. 15 formally established the Granada War Relocation Authority Center, aka Camp Amache, as the ..read more

David Inoue March was officially Women’s History Month. Among the celebrations that took place was the release of the Patsy Takemoto Mink commemorative quarter at the end of the month. The quarter design highlights her role in championing Title IX legislation, which promises equal opportunity in education for women and girls. Mink was the first Asian American woman — and the first woman of color — elected to Congress. Her career was one of breaking barriers and struggling against gender roles that told her she should not go to law school and not work in a prestigious law firm despite gr ..read more

The Justice Department’s Los Angeles office on Thursday charged former Los Angeles Dodgers employee Ippei Mizuhara with having stolen more than $16 million from Dodgers’ superstar Shohei Ohtani’s bank account to pay an illegal bookmaking operation to cover the Japanese language translator’s gambling debts. Mizuhara, who was fired by the franchise after revelations that he was alleged to have stolen an initially reported figure of $4 million from Ohtani, was charged with bank fraud. If convicted of the felony, the 39-year-old Newport Beach resident could be sentenced to up to 30 years in prison ..read more

Incarcerated as a boy in Heart Mountain, he also served as JACL national president. By P.C. Staff Raymond Sonji Uno, an Ogden, Utah-born Nisei who spent part of his boyhood in an American concentration camp but whose accomplishments included becoming a civil rights advocate, serving as Utah’s first minority judge and in 1970, the youngest person ever elected to the office of national president of the Japanese American Citizens League, died March 8 at Salt Lake City’s Veteran’s Hospital. He was 93. Larry Oda, who served as JACL national president from 2006–10 and currently serves again in the s ..read more

PHILADELPHIA — The National JACL Nominations Committee is seeking members who are interested in running for a seat on the National JACL Board of Directors. The initial filing deadline shall be May 11. After that date, those wishing to submit their names as candidates must run from the floor of the National Convention and are subject to additional requirements. The term of office for this election shall be two years covering the 2024-26 biennium. Positions include National President, National Secretary/Treasurer, Vice President of General Operations, Vice President for Planning & Developmen ..read more

Click on an image below to view or download it as a PDF. To enlarge this browser page for Windows users, use keyboard commands Control key and + (plus symbol); for Macintosh users, use the keyboard commands Command key and + (plus symbol). View 2023 Obituaries here ..read more

Luncheon will feature California Strawberry Festival Chair Dean Kato. Dean Kato, chair, California Strawberry Festival The Ventura County Chapter of the Japanese American Citizens League has announced that the keynote speaker for its annual installation of officers luncheon will be Dean Kato, chairperson of the California Strawberry Festival. The luncheon will take place at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley on Jan. 28. “We are excited and pleased that Dean will be sharing an important story about our agricultural community here in Ventura County,” said Lily Welty Tamai, c ..read more