Downtown L.A. JACL President receives award from Mayor Villaraigosa's office and from City of Gardena. From Left, former Monterey Park Mayor and Ms. Sankey. Gardena Mayor Paul Tanaka and Ms. Sankey on August 21, 2005.

Downtown JACL Vice-President Marilynn Nakata speaks at rally in Pasadena, California supporting Kamehameha Schools admission policy. Marilynn was born and raised in Hawaii and graduated from the University of Hawaii.

Downtown Los Angeles JACL members support Kamehameha Schools Rally.

Downtown Los Angeles JACL members participate in Kamehameha Schools Rally marching to the
9th Circuit Cout of Appeals in Pasadena, California.

Brief Overview

The year was 1929 when a group of Nisei (second generation Japanese Americans) banded together in Los Angeles calling themselves the Japanese Citizens Association. The Association's first president, Masao Igasaki, was a Hawaiian Nisei who had just passed the bar and was beginning his legal practice in Los Angeles. Serving with Igasaki were James Suyenaga as vice-president, Elmer Yamamoto as secretary, Dr. Edward Tanaka as sergeant-at-arms, and Thomas Takayama as treasurer.

Soon, as a result of conferencing in Seattle, Washington, the newly formed Japanese American Citizen League (JACL) declared the first official JACL chapter noting its representation of the major population center for Americans of Japanese ancestry. Thus, the “Association” became the JACL-Downtown Los Angeles Chapter (DLA). The 76 years since has seen many distinguished leaders preside over its meetings, beginning with pre-war presidents: Kay Shugahara, John Maeno, Herbert Wada, Ken Matsumoto, Fred Tayama, Shigemi Aratani, and Dr. Masaru Horii.

The Downtown Chapter, forced to curtail its civic work by wartime hysteria and Executive order 9066, reactivated in July 31, 1946 with Frank Chuman (author of the acclaimed The Bamboo People) at the helm. Frank was followed in subsequent years by John Aiso (WWII Military Intelligence Service language School head and the first Japanese Supreme Court Justice), Dr. John Watanabe, Dr. George Kambara, Harry Honda (longstanding editor of the JACL newspaper, Pacific Citizen). Harry M. Fugita, David Yokozeki, Kei Uchima, Duke S. Ogata, Frank Suzukida, and Katsuma Mukaeda.

Past presidents of the Downtown Chapter have served the community in various capacities in both local and national JACL and also as leaders in their respective fields including business, law, medicine, journalism, banking and politics. Such include Frank Omatsu, Father Clement, Frank M. Tsuchiya, Ed Matsuda, Alfred Hatate (also JACO District Governor), Kiyoshi Kawai, and Ted Kojima. Those who served additionally as Japanese Chamber of Commerce president or vice president are Eiji Tanabe (known for his work as a Nisei Week founder), Soichi Fukui, Takito Yamaguma (1972, 4th Imperial Order of Japan recipient), Toshi Yamamoto(1997, Order of the Secret Treasure, Gold and Silver), Mitsuhiko Shimizu and Joe Hazama.

The chapter has benefited from the leadership skills of Sansei (third generation Japanese Americans), presidents – George Fujita, Patrick Ogawa, Mary H. Nishimoto, George Kita, Gary Itano, Greg Tanaka, and Rodney Nakada. This leadership tradition, fostered by JACL, found Paul Igasaki, grandson of the first Downtown Los Angeles Chapter president Masao Igasaki, serving as the JACL Washington, D.C. representative. In fact, current president Kitty Sankey is the granddaughter of Gongoro Nakamura, a 1959 DLA president and a former president of the Japanese Chamber of Commerce.

The Downtown Los Angeles Chapter has mounted Issei (first generation Japanese in America) Recognition programs; presided over ensuring the franchise of the Issei obtained through the McCarren Act during the early fifties; participated in Nisei Week events and planning; and for 53 years, co-sponsored the Women of the Year annual luncheons in recognition of the individual achievements of Japanese American women.

The chapter has supported Little Tokyo health Fairs for the elderly and the Shogun Santa Parades for the local youth and their parents; actively contributed toward achieving redress and reparations for the WWII injustices; and supported programs in local schools. In addition to supporting the efforts of many organizations concerned with the artistic, cultural, historic, and social development of Americans having Japanese or Asian/Pacific heritage, the Downtown Los Angeles Chapter has often come to the defense of groups and individuals who have had their civil and constitutional rights threatened. The chapter supports a scholarship for graduates of Ninth Street Elementary School, sponsors an annual Dodger Night for residents of Little Tokyo Towers, and administers the annual Holiday Cheer program that provides monetary supplements to the needy.

Krissy Needs Bone Marrow Donor

Important news:

Hello,

> I am not a JACL member, but my UC Irvine classmate and friend, the
> late Hiromi Ueha (SW Governor) was very much involved in your
> organization.
> 
> I am a Japanese American who went to Maryknoll School in downtown LA
> near Little Tokyo.
> 
> Today a former classmate from Maryknoll has asked me to help in the
> search for a bone marrow donor for her cousin, Krissy. Their family is
> of mixed heritage - Japanese and Caucasian - thus making finding a
> match difficult.
> 
> Here is a link their page:
> 
> http://www.teamkrissy.com/
> 
> Could you inform members of the JACL chapter and other folks that a
> donor drive will be happing at the Japanese American National Museum
> event, Thu Sep 25 7pm – Thu Sep 25 9pm?
> 
> http://www.janm.org/events/2008/idfilmfest/about/
> 
> The time and exact location of the drive is TBA but plan for the
> evening and near the museum or at the building that the films will be
> viewed.  location at 111 N. Central Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90012.
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Yuzo

Push for Postal Honor for Japanese Americans who served in WWII.

The Downtown Los Angeles JACL supports the push for a Nisei WWII Commemorative Stamp. More than 30,000 Nisei (second generation Japanese Americans) volunteered during WWII. What resulted was a mostly Japanese American unit called the 442nd Regimental Combat Team and 100th Infantry Battalion which became one of the most highly decorated units in U.S. Military History. The U.S. Postal Service Commemorative stamp review committee meets in January 2008. The U.S. Postal Service has issued commemorative stamps honoring minority veterans in the past including honoring Latin Veterans in 1984 and the African American Buffalo Soldiers about ten years later. Among the success of the 442nd was the rescue of a Texas batallion trapped in the Vosges mountains of France. Its reported that the 442nd Regimental Combat lost four men for every Texan rescued. To sign the on line petition click the following link.
Online Petition for a Nisei WWII Commemorative Stamp Also check out another informative website NiseiStamp.org