Rafu Shimpo

By JUDD MATSUNAGA, ESQ. Back when we were little, i.e., the old Crenshaw days, my mom would teach us not to stare. As kids, we were naturally drawn to things that seemed unusual, different, or interesting, leading us to stare. For example, we would point (also a “no-no”), laugh, and stare at the guy wearing […]

By MARY UYEMATSU KAO I am writing this on May the Fourth Be With You. And as the saying goes, “May the Force be with you” — I can’t think of a better time to be repeating this mantra morning, noon, and night. On a more grounded note, I will take a stab at giving […]

“Enduring Voices: Local Impacts of the Japanese American Incarceration of World War II” will be presented on Wednesday, May 20, at 6 p.m. at Museum of Ventura County’s Agriculture Museum, 926 Railroad Ave., Santa Paula. CSU Channel Islands’ Dr. Lily Tamai will lead a community conversation inspired by this y ear’s “One Book, One Coast” […]

The Yorba Linda Veterans Memorial Association will be holding its traditional Memorial Day ceremony on Monday, May 25, at 2 p.m. at the Yorba Linda Veterans Memorial, 4766 Valley View Ave., Yorba Linda. The keynote speaker will be Norio Uyematsu, a 95-year-old Korean War veteran. He and his family were incarcerated behind barbed wire on […]

Join Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Evelyn Iritani for a conversation with former Los Angeles Times reporter and Asian American Journalists Association-Los Angeles President Teresa Watanabe about Iritani’s new book, “Safe Passage: The Untold Story of Diplomatic Intrigue, Betrayal, and the Exchange of American and Japanese Civilians by Sea During World War II.” The event, part of […]

Kazuo Masuda VFW Post 3670 will hold its annual Memorial Day service on Monday, May 25, at 3 p.m. at Westminster Cemetery, 14801 Beach Blvd., Westminster. The cemetery is the final resting place of Kazuo Masuda, a staff sergeant in the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, who was killed in action in Italy in 1944 and […]

By J.K. YAMAMOTORAFU SHIMPO Al Muratsuchi, who has represented the South Bay in the State Assembly for 12 years, is now running for California superintendent of public instruction in the June 2 election. If elected, he will succeed fellow Democrat Tony Thurmond, who was elected in 2018 and 2022 and is now running for governor. […]

Little Tokyo Service Center (LTSC) is pleased to announce Noelle Ito as its new deputy executive director. As a key member of the Executive Team, she will provide strategic leadership for LTSC’s development, communications, and external relations functions, driving fundraising strategy, donor and partner engagement, and brand presence. She will work closely with the co-executive […]

The Greater Los Angeles JACL Scholarship and Chapter Fundraiser Luncheon will be held on Sunday, June 7, from 12:30 to 3:30 p.m. at Zamperini Field, Torrance Municipal Airport, 3301 Airport Dr., Torrance. The event will include presentation of 2026 scholarship awardees and a silent auction. Guest speaker is Seia Watanabe, vice president of public affairs […]

SACRAMENTO — Gov. Gavin Newsom’s appointments this year include the following: Meagan Tokunaga Block of Sacramento has been appointed director of program development and strategic initiatives at the California Housing Finance Agency. She has been assistant program budget manager at the California Department of Finance since 2025 and held multiple positions at the California Housing […]

Lilyan Kaoru Hirohama passed away on February 22, 2026 in Stanton, California, at the age of 96. She is survived by her daughter, Janis (James Pollard), and son, David; family friend, Joycelyn Caparas; and sister, Pauline Hayakawa. She is also survived by many other relatives here and in Japan, including nieces, nephews, and cousins. Lilyan […]

July 17, 1931 – March 24, 2026 June Kazumi Nagai of Monterey Park, California, passed away peacefully on March 24, at her daughter’s home in Santa Rosa, California. Born in downtown Los Angeles, June experienced the upheaval of wartime incarceration during World War II. Following the war, her family returned to her father’s hometown near […]

Sadie Nakamura, 92, passed away December 22, 2025. She was born in Kahuku, Hawaii and was a long-time resident of Gardena, California. She is survived by her loving husband of 65 years, Burt; her children, Glen and Susan; son-in-law, Michael; and her grandchildren, Michaela, Malia and Matthew. She is also survived by her siblings, Yasuko […]

A private funeral service will be held for Jerry Yukio Ogawa, 78-year-old Fresno, Calif.-born Sansei, who passed away on April 30, 2026 in Los Angeles. He is survived by his loving spouse, Roy Natividad; siblings, Patty (Fred) Yamano, Craig (Cindy) Ogawa and Susan Ogawa; also survived by other relatives. www.kubotamortuary.com(213) 749-1449

April 7, 1932 – April 4, 2026 John Koichi Ohara, 93, resident of Los Angeles and U.S. Army veteran, passed away peacefully on April 4, 2026. A private funeral service was held on April 16, at Fukui Mortuary “Chapel in the Garden” with Reverend Taiso Matsumoto of Koyasan Beikoku Betsuin of Los Angeles officiating. He […]

The beloved Suehiro Cafe is coming back to Little Tokyo. After being evicted in 2023, the 54-year-old family-owned Japanese restaurant will return as a tenant in Go For Broke Plaza & First Street North Residences, Little Tokyo Service Center’s new mixed-use development in the heart of historic Little Tokyo. “Little Tokyo is the heart and […]

By MIKEY HIRANO CULROSS, Rafu Sports Editor Shohei Ohtani was as effective as ever on the mound Wednesday, tossing seven scoreless innings in the Dodgers’ 4-0 victory over the visiting San Francisco Giants. Concentrating on pitching, Ohtani (3-2) did not bat, but scattered four hits and struck out eight in the win that saw his […]

“Shape of Our Voices,” directed by Chie Saito, will be presented on Thursday through Saturday, May 14-16 and 21-23, at Caminito Theatre, Los Angeles City College, 855 Heliotrope Dr., Los Angeles. A devised theatre performance centered on Asian immigrants and Asian Americans.Through lived experiences, we examine themes of oppression, discrimination, liberation, and transformation expressed through […]

“From JA to Shohei: Baseball and the Japanese American Experience,” a film screening and panel discussion, will be held on Saturday, May 16, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at 18th Street Arts Center, 1639 18th St., Santa Monica. Yuriko Gamo Romer’s documentary short “Baseball Behind Barbed Wire” is about the role that baseball played […]

Two Japanese features will be screened on Saturday, May 16, at the Redlands Japanese Cultural Center, 542 E. Stuart Ave., Redlands. “Suzume” (2022), directed by Makoto Shinkai, at 12 p.m. as part of Anime Movie Matinee. A modern action-adventure road story where a 17-year-old girl named Suzume helps a mysterious young man close doors from […]

“Kintsukuroi” (2024, 130 minutes) will be screened on Saturday, May 16, at 2:30 p.m. at Gardena Cinema, 14948 Crenshaw Blvd., Gardena. Written and directed by Kerwin Berk, “Kintsukuroi” depicts the incarceration of more than 120,000 Japanese Americans by President Franklin D. Roosevelt during World War II, following two families from the western prison camps to […]

By ROBERT HORSTING Though born and raised in San Jose, M. Kimura felt a sense of cultural isolation, resulting in a series of bad choices. “I was not the model minority … I was doing all the wrong things.” Dropping out of school, then enrolling in alternative high school led to an enlistment in the […]

“Himeyuri,” a story of the cost of survival during war, will be presented on Thursday and Friday, May 21-22, at 7:30 p.m. at UCLA Freud Playhouse, 245 Charles E. Young Dr. E., Los Angeles. “Himeyuri” is an original play directed by UCLA student Eve Mori and written by Mori and Callan Farris, telling the story […]

WASHINGTON — May is Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) Heritage Month, which recognizes the history, contributions, and achievements of the AANHPI community. The month of May was chosen due to two important milestones in AANHPI history: May 7, 1843, when the first Japanese immigrants arrived in the U.S., and May 10, 1869, […]

80 years ago, on March 20, the Tule Lake Segregation Center, the last War Relocation Authority (WRA) camp, came to a close. This closure marked the end of the WRA’s mass incarceration camps that imprisoned more than 125,000 people of Japanese ancestry. Despite the war in the Pacific Theater coming to a close in September […]

Fans bring all sort of items when attending a game at Dodger Stadium, to show their support and to help spur the team to victory. For the annual Japanese Heritage Night on April 27, a special treasure made it to the game as a tribute to a dedicated Dodgers fan. “He was obsessed with Ohtani […]

By ROBERT HORSTING Having just seen the newly envisioned East West Players production of “Flower Drum Song,” my short recommendation is: “Why are you wasting time reading this? Go buy your tickets!” David Henry Hwang had written a different take on this Rodgers and Hammerstein production (with the estates’ permission/collaboration) in 2001. Revisiting that effort, […]

The Los Angeles Public Library will celebrate Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month at Central Library. 630 W. Fifth St. in Downtown Los Angeles, with the third annual AAPI Joy festival on Saturday, May 16, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. “The AAPI Joy festival uplifts the voices, stories, and traditions that have shaped […]

A Toriumi Plaza community forum will be held on Thursday, May 14, at 6 p.m. at the Japanese American National Museum’s Democracy Center, 100 N. Central Ave. in Little Tokyo. The purpose of the meeting, organized by Sustainable Little Tokyo (Little Tokyo Community Council, Little Tokyo Service Center, Japanese American Cultural & Community Center, JANM) […]

Yoko Ono, the visionary artist, musician, and activist whose work has shaped contemporary culture for more than seven decades, will be celebrated at The Broad, 221 S. Grand Ave., Los Angeles, in “Yoko Ono: Music of the Mind,” the artist’s first solo museum exhibition in Southern California, organized in collaboration with Tate Modern, London. Visitors […]

A special cultural workshop introducing a simplified, “no-cut” pre-tied obi technique will be held on Saturday, May 30, at the New Gardena Hotel, 1641 W. Redondo Beach Blvd. in Gardena, marking the U.S. launch of Warakukai. The three-hour session, scheduled from 9 a.m. to noon, will feature certified instructors invited from Japan, offering participants a […]

The “Kibō Nobori” installation by Faith-Ann Kiwa Young at the Japanese American Cultural & Community Center, 244 S. San Pedro St. in Little Tokyo, will close on Tuesday, May 12. JACCC presents “Kibō Nobori” (Hope Flags), an installation series inspired by the Japanese tradition of koinobori, carp streamers flown in celebration of Kodomo no Hi […]

Eight short films from Asian American filmmakers, selected by the Academy’s Short Films Branch, will be shown on Wednesday, May 13, at 7:30 p.m. at the David Geffen Theater, Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, 6067 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles. Featured films: “The Bead Game” (1977, animation, Oscar nominee) “Dol (First Birthday)” (2011, narrative) “Gwai Lo: […]

This Memorial Day, Monday, May 25, marks 67 years since Japanese American communities in Los Angeles’ west side started gathering at the Ireito (memorial tower) at Woodlawn Cemetery to honor the area’s Issei pioneers and Nisei soldiers who died in World War II and the Korean War. These forebears endured hardship and sacrifice in hopes […]

By SHEILA YONEMOTO, PT Have you ever stopped to think of what memories keep popping into your consciousness? I started to look at what specific moments I remember from my life and came up with some categories: key events, emotional events, lessons learned and historical moments. Some memories are put into an age category — […]

After a more than 10-year absence, the Chibi-K: Kids Fun Run made an enthusiastic return to Kodomo no Hi (Childrens’ Day) festivities in Little Tokyo on May 3. “This is genuinely a core memory of coming to Little Tokyo,” said Marisa Kawakami, member of the Chibi-K team, who ran in the Chibi-K when she was […]

The Gardena Nisei Memorial VFW Post 1961 will hold its annual Memorial Day service honoring all deceased post members who served in defense of our country on foreign soil. The service will be held on Sunday, May 24, at 2 p.m. in the Nisei Veterans Hall at the Gardena Valley Japanese Cultural Institute, 1964 W. […]

The Veterans Memorial Court Alliance (VMCA), together with co-sponsors Go For Broke National Education Center, Japanese American Cultural & Community Center, Japanese American National Museum, Keiro and Little Tokyo Service Center, announced that on Saturday, May 23, at 11 a.m., the annual Memorial Day Service to honor all Japanese Americans who gave their lives in […]

WASHINGTON – Rep. Doris Matsui (D-Sacramento), ranking member of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Communications and Technology, released the following statement on March 19 after the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Media Bureau approved the merger between Nexstar Media Group and Tegna Inc. The move would allow a single media conglomerate to exceed the […]