Please join us at the 75th annual Memorial Day Service at Arlington National Cemetery (ANC) on Sunday, May 28, 2023 at 10:00 AM. This is the longest continual ceremony hosted at the ANC. Co-sponsors include: the Japanese American Veterans Association, the National Japanese American Memorial Foundation, and the Japanese American Citizens League, National. Parking will be limited, so please contact us at jaclwdc@gmail.com for parking permits. Flowers will be placed on every Japanese American veteran site. If you can come early to help with arrangements or after the service to help lay flowers at gravesites, that would be welcome. We are accepting donations to help with the cost of the arrangements, and you can donate HERE.

Come see No No Girl and meet director, and filmmaker, Paul Goodman with actors Mika Dyo, Chris Tajima, and Kurt Kanazawa!

Film Synopsis: Eighty years ago, on the eve of war and incarceration, a Japanese American family buries a secret in their backyard garden. Three generations later, a clue is discovered – unearthing the trauma and truth of their historic past. See trailer here.

Director Paul Daisuke Goodman is a filmmaker and two-time cancer survivor. He began his career as a camera operator on the high seas for Discovery’s Whale Wars until his first cancer diagnosis at age 25. For the next six years, he would undergo treatments for his Leukemia that would achieve remission and then relapse and remission again. During that time, Goodman began writing and editing from his hospital room and would shoot films in his months as an outpatient. Today, Paul lives in Los Angeles with his fiance and manages his own production company, Eight East Productions, named for the wing of the hospital where he made his first films.

Date and time: Sun, March 5, 2023, 7:00 PM – 9:50 PM EST 

(Reception from 6pm/Screening at 7pm)

Location: Landmark’s E Street Cinema, 555 11th Street Northwest Washington, DC 20000.

Admission to the panel discussion, film screening, and reception: $15

Click here to purchase: 

Event Description: Tsuru for Solidarity invites you to join a book talk with Deepa Iyer, author of Social Change Now: A Guide for Reflection and Connection. Deepa will present the social change ecosystem framework and lead participants in exercises to identify and strengthen their social change roles. We will be hosting two follow-up workshops In April!

Biography Deepa Iyer is a South Asian American writer, strategist, and lawyer. Her work is rooted in Asian American, South Asian, Muslim, and Arab communities where she spent fifteen years in policy advocacy and coalition building in the wake of the September 11th attacks and the ensuing backlash. Currently, Deepa leads projects on solidarity and social movements at the Building Movement Project, a national nonprofit organization that catalyzes social change through research, relationships, and resources.

Talk: Sunday, March 26, 12:30-1:30PM Eastern Register: bit.ly/3Yt8FwT

From Left to Right: DC Board Member (Secretary) Noriko Sanefuji, DC Co-President Julie Abo, and UMCP Adjunct Lecturer/Cultural Competence Trainer Dr. Phil Tajitsu Nash.

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Co-President Julie Abo describes her recent experience visiting the exhibit at the University of Maryland College Park as follows:

“We were so humbled by learning more about the transnational incarceration of Germans, Italians, Okinawans, and Japanese nationals in 18 Latin American countries during WWII at UMD with Dr. Phil Tajitsu Nash and his students. Don’t miss this exhibit! From UMD: The “Enemy Aliens” Exhibit will be displayed at Hornbake Library at the University of Maryland College Park, Exhibit, Hornbake Library, February 20-March 15. Description from UMD website: The exhibit reveals the little-known stories of over 31,000 German, Italian, and Japanese immigrant residents and citizens of the U.S seized from 18 Latin American nations who were imprisoned as “enemy aliens” in the U.S. in over 50 Department of Justice and Army camps and detention facilities during WWII. This poignant history carries broad lessons for issues of deportation and removal today. Student docents will be available.”

Join the UMD Libraries, Asian American Studies Program, Latin American and Caribbean Studies Program, Italian Studies Program (SLLC), and EAF Consortium as we present this exhibit on the UMD Campus.

To learn more about the exhibit, click HERE.

#wwii #eo9066 #japaneseamericanhistory @njhs

Each year, Day of Remembrance reflects on the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II. In numerous U.S. states, events are held on or near February 19, the day in 1942 that President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, which resulted in the imprisonment of Americans of Japanese ancestry.  

For Day of Remembrance 2023, the National Museum of American History will host composer, dancer, singer, and activist Nobuko Miyamoto and her ensemble for a concert and post-performance dialogue and performance of her Smithsonian Folkways album 120,000 Stories and her memoir, Not Yo’ Butterfly.

The event will pay tribute to two Japanese American leaders who played key roles in advancing Asian American history at the Smithsonian: the Honorable Norman Mineta (November 12, 1931–May 3, 2022), chair of the 1998 Smithsonian Asian Pacific American National Advisory Group and Dr. Franklin Odo (May 6, 1939–September 28, 2022), founding director of the Asian Pacific American Center. 

Reserve a spot

Dates/Times: Monday, February 20, 2023, 9:00 AM – Wednesday, March 15, 2023, 5:00 PM

Exhibit: Hornbake Library

Learning Session: Stamp Student Union, Thurgood Marshall Room (Rm. 2113)

Description: The “Enemy Aliens” Exhibit will be displayed at Hornbake Library from February 20-March 15. The exhibit reveals the little-known stories of over 31,000 German, Italian, and Japanese immigrant residents and citizens of the U.S. seized from 18 Latin American nations who were imprisoned as “enemy aliens” in the U.S. in over 50 Department of Justice and Army camps and detention facilities during WWII. This poignant history carries broad lessons for issues of deportation and removal today. 

Join the UMD Libraries, Asian American Studies Program, Latin American and Caribbean Studies Program, Italian Studies Program (SLLC), and EAF Consortium as we present this exhibit on the UMD Campus. 

Two Learning Session Opportunities/Walking Tour Stamp Student Union, Thurgood Marshall Room (Rm. 2113) Monday, Feb 20th, 1-1:30 PM (followed by walking tour) and 5-5:30 PM (followed by walking tour) Exhibit at Hornbake Library from February 20-March 15th.

*Click HERE to learn more!

Since 2010, Hawai’i, Virginia, Florida, New York City, Arizona and now New Jersey have also established a day of recognition every year in honor of Fred Korematsu’s fight for justice and the importance of upholding our civil liberties and the Constitution. JACL DC was honored to sign the letter to Congressional leaders in support of legislation to recognize Fred Korematsu’s legacy as a civil rights hero:

(1) Fred Korematsu Congressional Gold Medal Act
(2) Recognizing the importance of establishing a national “Fred Korematsu Day of Civil Liberties and the Constitution”
(3) Korematsu-Takai Civil Liberties Protection Act

#korematsu #civilrights

https://korematsuinstitute.org/what-is-fred-korematsu-day/

JACL DC expresses our deepest condolences to those who lost a loved one in Monterey Park and Half Moon Bay and the communities that must face the aftermath in the days to come.

#HalfMoonBay #MontereyPark

To read JACL National’s statement, please click HERE.

JACL Members get 24-hour early access to 2023 Kakehashi Program Applications!

JACL National is excited to announce the return of their in-person Kakehashi project trips! This year’s program will be from March 6 – March 14, 2023. This year’s cohort will consist of 37 participants who will travel to Japan with the purpose of enhancing their understanding of the Japanese economy, society, history, diverse culture, politics, and diplomatic policies of Japan through people-to-people exchanges. Participants are expected to play an active and important role in the future of U.S.-Japan relations.

Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, this year’s program will consist of a smaller number of participants. Please be very thorough in your application. They are limiting the number of applications they will receive to 225. Individuals who participated in their virtual program in 2021 will be eligible to participate in this year’s trip, however, they will need to reapply!

Some changes to this year’s program include an increase in the age requirements; participants can be up to 27 years old when they leave for the trip. All participants who attend will also need to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 as defined by CDC guidelines. All other requirements are laid out in the Kakehashi applications and online at jacl.org/kakehashi.

Applications will close on Sunday, December 11th at 11:59 pm Hawaiian Standard Time or after they have received 225 applications total. 

The JACL Kakehashi Program is coordinated by the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) and the Japan International Cooperation Center (JICE), and supported by funding from the Japan Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 

The JACL DC Chapter is hosting our annual Mochitsuki on Saturday, December 3 at North Bethesda Middle School, 8935 Bradmoor Drive, Bethesda, MD 20817 starting at 12:00 PM. Come join us for a fun-filled, Japanese American community event where people of all ages can take part in pounding rice, and making their very own mochi!

Registration closes on Wednesday, November 30th. Register today and place your pre-order bentos & mochi HERE.

*This will be an indoor event, and we ask that you continue to take necessary precautions to keep yourself and others healthy.  Masking is encouraged.