FOR THE NIKKEI over the Fourth of July holidays in Denver, Colorado, the question was - "Whose America? Who's American?," the theme of JANM's conference.
For the hakujin, they came to JANM's third national conference in Denver. For the majority Nikkei attendees at JANM's project that took three years of preparation at the Hyatt Regency Hotel by Denver's Convention Center downtown, the day at Amache camp site (August 1942 - October 1945) was an astonishing experience (at least for this writer).
Six 50-passenger buses with JANM tour-guides rolled eastward towards Amache for a burrito lunch and a power-point presentation about the camp.
After 30 untended years, the Amache Preservation Society to preserve and protect was formed by Granada High School students due to extraordinary efforts of a dedicated teacher and resources given by the Denver Central Optimists, National Park Service, University of Denver's Anthropology Department, among others.
Noticeable were the Nisei counselors in their green T-shirts at the Amache commemorative visit. Of kind assistance to me personally was Col. Paul Maruyama, retired Air Force Academy graduate who was the Japanese American member of the first U.S. judo team, coached by JANM board member Yoshio Uchida of San Jose, at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.
The JANM conference squeezed some 50 topics over three days (July 3-5) with moderators and panelists. In place of the Amache tour Thursday, there were visits to University of Colorado's U.S. Navy Japanese Language School at Boulder, another to visit the National Archives-Rocky Mountain Region at Federal Center downtown or the University of Denver's anthropology museum - both focusing on Amache.
I deliberately chose topics that were forward-looking: (a) "Preserving a Historic Place: Nihonmachi in California and Interior West," which covered ongoing efforts to save Japanese communities in Colorado and Utah. National JACL President (1970-72) Raymond Uno of Salt Lake City was a panelist. Kara Miyagishima, a National Park Service historian, covered the 100 years of Japanese in Colorado. California's project director Donna Graves to Save the Japantowns of Los Angeles, San Jose and San Francisco has also added 40 pre-war Nikkei communities.
And there were other similar workshops such as "Future of the Japanese American National Museum" that took place at the same hour as I wanted to meet (and fortunately did later) New Yorker Greg Robinson PhD, now teaching at Université du Québec, Montreal, Canada, author of "By Order of the President: FDR and the Internment of Japanese Americans" and Nichibei Times columnist.
His latest column, "Another Look at Our Queer Nikkei Heritage" reveals Nikkei gays and lesbians comprise "a vital component of the Nikkei community." He cites JACL in the mid-90s was the second civil rights organization (after ACLU), on record to support same-sex marriage as a civil rights matter.
The second session which I chose: (b)"Perceived Threats: Being Persons of Japanese Ancestry in (prewar) Hawaii and Canada" was moderated by Dr. Lloyd Inui, JANM advisor and professor emeritus at CSU Long Beach in Asian American Studies.
Paired on the panel with Dr. Robinson who detailed the lock-up of Issei in Hawaii was Toronto-born Norman Okihiro, PhD from Halifax, Nova Scotia, who reviewed the ill treatment of Japanese Canadians because of Pearl Harbor. Having two scholars from Canada for this conference about "Enduring Communities and the Japanese American Experience in Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas and Utah" was a unique gathering nowhere else in the Nikkei world.
(c) "The Bonds of Community: Hapa Identity in a Changing US," moderated by past P.C. Board Chair Gil Asakawa of three bienniums, pictured the Hapa past, now and future. The two panelists were Dennis Tojo Bambauer and Michelle Tamotsu Trevino. Michelle grew up in Okinawa, Camp Zama, Japan, and for the past 20 years has worked as a counselor at UC Boulder.
After his mother died in childbirth, Dennis was placed in an orphanage, then at Manzanar's Children Village, and was adopted by the Bambauers of Bishop, Calif. After graduating from Occidental College, he taught for 33 years in California.
JANM plans to issue a summary of all the sessions. So I'll close here.
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