The Song that Sent Bobby Kennedy to the Podium

(Photo courtesy of Josephine Ong)

"Yuyake Koyakeno Akatonbo Owarete Mitanowa Itsuno Hika?"

"Homeways on pre sunset
When was it that I saw them on Mom's back?
Color deepening red dragonflies!"

While waiting for the Newbury Park Library to open in California, my wife and I browsed the gallery of local artists and sculptors next door. Among the large frame mountain and oceanic paintings, we found two modest sized photographs of a red dragonfly perched on the point of a reed, absolutely still. We marveled at the work for a while.

As I was exiting the gallery, my wife beckoned me to return to the gallery. She was talking with an elderly gentleman on duty. She introduced him to me as the photographer of the red dragonfly. Apparently he noticed that we showed interest in his work and wanted to talk to us. I wrote out the above lyrics from a Japanese children's song and told him it is a popular song called "Akatonbo".

On my drive back home from the library I recalled a 1962 incident involving this particular "Akatonbo" song and the then U.S. Attorney General Bobby Kennedy's visit to Waseda University in Tokyo, witnessed by one of the students in attendance. He was a student from Taiwan, experiencing changes in life, language and culture. He related the incident to his fellow countrymen, asking them if the Taiwanese had a song like Akatonbo that could unify divided minds when it is most needed.

After dinner that night I recounted the following tale to my wife, daughter and her husband.

I was under the impression that Bobby Kennedy visited Waseda University by request and a transcript of his speech would be available. I was working in New York at that time. Information was not readily accessible in those days as it is today. After searching through all available speeches by Bobby Kennedy, I was not able to find a copy of that particular speech. To this day I have not been able to find his Waseda speech.

Upon returning to Japan to retire, I started digging again, especially for the Waseda speech. Then I ran across a blog written by the Taiwanese student described above. He wrote that Bobby Kennedy was not officially scheduled to speak that day. It was a day of student debates. Bobby happened to attend the debate with hopes of getting a chance to speak.

The eventful debate was chaotic from the start. As time went on, it took a turn for the worse, escalated into antagonism, and the division was driven further apart uncontrollably. Bobby stood on stage perplexed and bewildered. A depressed mood fell over the crowd with no rescue in sight. Suddenly someone started singing or humming from the corner of the auditorium, inaudible at first, then gradually the lyrics took shape and fell into rhythm of the song "Akatonbo." More and more people joined in, forming a chorus. Everyone was singing with one voice, loud and proud, forgetting hatred and erasing the chaos. The Akatonbo song eventually restored civility and invited Bobby to take the podium. Students, afresh from the song, were eager to listen to what he had to say.

After years of searching, I found that Bobby did speak to the students. On his return to the U.S., Bobby published his account of his travels in a book entitled Just Friends and Brave Enemies. He used the royalties from the book to create the Robert Kennedy Scholarship, which he donated to Waseda University.

Here's my translation of the complete song:

Homeways on pre sunset
When was it that I saw them last on Mom's back?
Color deepening red dragonflies!

Blurred in memory is the day
When the mountain field mulberries
picked and carried in a small basket?

At age 15 my beloved maid got married
I haven't heard from her since
My first love!

Greg Irwin, an American songwriter translated the lyrics differently by ryhthm and tone.

Dragonflies as red as sunset
Back when I was young
In twilight skies there on her back I ride
when the day was done

Mountain field in late November
Long ago it seems
Mulberry trees and treasures we would gather
Was it only just a dream

Just fifteen she went away one day
Married then so young

Like a sister lost. I loved and missed her
Letters never seemed to come

Famous Art Historian Recommends Dear Miss Breed

Art historian / essayist Seinosuke Nakajima reviewed the book Dear Miss Breed (written by Joanne Oppenheim, translated by Rio Imamura, published by Kashiwashobo) for the January 31, 2009 Book Review Club column of the Sankei Newspaper of Tokyo. Below is my translation of the article.

*****

The story begins with the discovery of letters and mementos bequeathed by Clara Breed, a librarian hired in charge of children by the City Library of San Diego. There were over 200 letters eventually donated to the National Museum of Japanese Americans in Los Angeles, including one-cent postcards and envelopes with three-cents V (for victory) stamps.

There was a letter written by 6-year old Florence Ishino in tottering alphabet or another written by 17-year old Louise Ogawa in a refined, elegant style. They were living proof of sad and unfortunate injustices, a part of American history, almost buried and out of sight for half a century. It is bygone history, yet still remembered.

When World War II broke out with the Pearl Harbor attack by the Imperial Japanese army, the Japanese American mothers living in California immediately organized Red Cross activities, blood drives, bandage service, war bond drives, etc. in their effort to alleviate their shame, infamies and awkwardness. Clara Breed comforted them saying this is America where everyone is treated equally with no bias.

Things did not turn out as she predicted. Suspicions and hatred prevailed. Japanese Americans were treated no different from the despicable enemy “Japs”. Everyone who had Japanese ancestry was sent the President Executive Order to go to internment camps, away from their homes in California. That number reached 120,000 in total.

The day before the evacuation, Clara distributed self-addressed cards hurriedly printed with one-cent stamps on them to children she knew and asked them “be sure to write back.” She told them, “I will send you books.”

The book Dear Miss Breed, along with the children's letters, shows rare photos taken inside internment camps by cameras that were officially forbidden. Also shown were harsh hate illustrations and cartoons such as “Jap” hunting licenses, deformed buck teeth and slanted-eye caricatures of Japanese. These images contrasted sharply with images of smiling children, despite their adversity, acting brave and bright and young men working hard in farms and camps.

What struck us most is the touching humanity and boundless love of a woman named Clara and the young Japanese Americans who heroically walked their life believing in their futures.

The testimony of Grace Nakamura deftly expressed the feeling: “Until you lose your freedom, you do not realize how dear it is. There is no price tag for freedom.”

*****

Seinosuke Nakajima was born in 1938 and is known as the Godfather of the Aoyama curio shop street in Tokyo. He authored “50 years as Pottery Critic”.

General Shinseki and Hiroshima

I thought it strange that no one claimed any connection with General Shinseki, appointed as VA Secretary by President Obama, in Hiroshima since it is the General's grandparents native home. My friend in Hiroshima dispelled my doubt recently by sending me an article in the local paper Chugoku Shinbun dated January 22, 2009 about General's second cousin who lives in Kaita-cho, between Hiroshima and Higashi (eastern) Hiroshima. Kaita is a town of about 30,000, still claiming its autonomy, sandwiched between two mega cities. Mikinosuke Ota, a gold medalist of 1928 Olympics triple jump event at Amsterdam was from this town. This I remember because I knew his niece personally. She was very proud of her athlete uncle.

Back to General Shinseki's second cousin. His name is Giichi Neishi, 73 years old, serving as President for a NPO medical organization. The Chugoku Shinbun article shows Giichi Neishi holding his family album. He said he met Eric Shinseki just once, about 35 years ago and he thinks General Shinseki has not been in Hiroshima.

An elder brother of Mr. Neishi's grandfather named Gisaburo Ishii immigrated to Hawaii also and his daughter is married to Shinseki's father. David Ishii, a popular Hawaiian pro-golfer, came from the Ishii family. I guess Neishi, Shinseki and Ishii are all second cousins. As a golfer myself, I know David Ishii, who won two major tournaments, 1982 Kapalua Open and 1990 Hawaiian Open. He toured in Japan and was a winner of several tournaments. I saw the name of DSIF Invitations and it is for junior champ competition under the David Ishii's Foundation.

Along with the Neishi article, the Chugoku Shinbun reported that Hiroshima citizens involved in Peace and Anti-Nuclear Movements are all thrilled with the inauguration of President Obama. They believe he will support the ban on future use of all nuclear weapons allowing voices of many people to be heard, including those of Mayor Akiba, Japan Council representative Against A/H Bombs Victims Organization and docent of the Peace Memorial Museum. All are looking forward to an early visit of President Obama to Hiroshima.

The Return of General Shinseki

"Swift as the Wind
Silent as the Forest
Fierce as Fire
Immovable as the Mountain"
(from the Art of War by Sun Tzu)

In the early 1960s, I took my family to visit the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy in Great Neck and the U.S. Military Academy in West Point. I was stationed in New York then as part of my job assignment. My son was in kindergarten and he liked to watch the Sunday parades of cadets. We visited Great Neck at the invitation of my former American colleague to visit with his family as his son had just enrolled in the Merchant Marine Academy. We learned that a cadet is given the privilege to head a parade whenever the academy is informed that his or her parents are visiting. My colleague was proud of introducing his son at the very front. As to West Point, I belonged to the postbellum generation greatly influenced by General Douglas MacArthur and I wanted to pay a courtesy visit to his alma mater near Bear Mountain by the Hudson River. A young Eric Shinseki may have been among the cadets who paraded for us. According to demographic information for both West Point and Annapolis, Asian Americans, as well as African Americans, make up 7-8% of the total enrolled there today.

First, I thought Shinseki is an Okinawan name but it turned out that it was not. After I found out that his grandfather immigrated from Hiroshima, I researched how many people with the surname Shinseki live in the Hiroshima area. The result was only four instances out of one million names. Digging further, I found nine in Osaka, two in Tottori, one each in Kyoto and Okayama, so I stopped and concluded that it is a rare name. His Kanji name meant "new fort" (could alternately be pronounced either Arazeki or Niizeki), which is a very suitable name for a soldier.

A news flash came on the symbolic Pearl Harbor Day last year. General Shinseki was nominated as Secretary of Veterans Affairs by then President elect Barak Obama, a thrilling news to Japanese Americans as well as the Japanese. As a returnee from the States myself, I wanted to learn more about the General. My Korean friend now living in Hawaii, who grew up in Okinawa and served in the U.S. Marine Corps, sent me a book in time for Christmas entitled My Name is ... Shinseki... and I am a Soldier written by Richard Halloran. Apparently this book is sold only at the Hawaii Army Museum. I finished reading it during New Year Holidays and found it very inspiring.

According to the book, Shinseki bravely fought at the Vietnam front lines and was injured, losing part of his leg from a land mine. While recuperating, he received a masters degree from Duke University in literature, which broadened his vision and horizons from Shakespeare to Fitzgerald. I imagine that he is familiar with Bushido or Hagakure, the guide for a Samurai Warrior, learning in particular three virtues of warriors: knowledge, humanity and courage. Of course, he must be familiar with Sun Tzu's The Art of War, as quoted above at the top of this article. He told the University of Georgia students shortly after his retirement that he comes from a country where nobody looks alike and most of them come to the U.S. with culture.

"Beware the 12-division strategy for a 10-division Army. Our soldiers and families bear the risk and the hardship of carrying a mission load that exceeds what force capabilities we can sustain. So we must alleviate risk and hardship by our willingness to resource the mission requirement." (From his retirement speech, June 11, 2003)

General Shinseki is known as a strong advocate and promoter of the Stryker concept - a vehicle more rugged than a vulnerable Humvee and less unwielding than a tank. He also supported black berets as a morale booster for the army. He was planning an army transformation into the 21st Century.

His love for his soldiers is well expressed in his saying: "I was rescued on a soldier's back more than once. You can't imagine how I embrace a feeling of affection toward them!"

His diversity and leadership as an Asian American had been admired by all men and women under his command.

"General Shinseki knows soldiers and knows what it takes to keep faith with the men and women who went forth to serve the nation."

"General Shinseki will be people-centric. It must be results-driven, and by necessity, it must be forward-looking."

"General Shinseki is very cordial and engaging."

As Army Chief of Staff, he challenged some of the Bush Administration's assumptions going into the Iraq War which led to confrontations with Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and his Deputy Paul Wolfowitz. General Shinseki's statement to Congress can be viewed on YouTube

He kept stoically silent since his retirement, turning down interview requests from 60 Minutes, Dateline, Atlantic's, James Fallows,...etc. However, I found out he made two speeches after his retirement. One was at the Asian American Journalists Association in San Diego on Aug 15, 2003 and the other was at the University of Georgia Chapel on April 5, 2004. The title of the 2004 speech was "From Autocracy to Democracy: the effort to establish market democracies in Iraq and Afghanistan." I tried hard to obtain either transcripts of the two speeches as a Toastmaster but was unable to do so.

I saw nothing but praise for General Shinseki, and we all believe he was one of Obama's best selection for an important post.

Now that the confirmation hearings for the Secretary of Veterans Affairs are progressing well and General Shinseki has started his own web site to share his views with his fans and followers, I'm hoping to be able to read more of his speeches and statements on the transformation of the VA structure into the 21st Century. Every pundit expects he will make changes swiftly and decisively. His second act is starting and will surely attract a lot of attention. It was reported that at the beginning of confirmation hearing he quipped, "F. Scott Fitzgerald said, 'There are no second acts in American lives.'"

He'll prove otherwise.

***

General Shinseki's New Web Site

General Shinseki with his acquaintance at the dedication ceremony of the National Japanese American Memorial in Washington, D.C. in November 2000. Photographer Kiyotaka Shishido, who kindly gave permission for me to post this photo, lives in Sendai, Miyagi-ken, Japan. He won 29th Ina Nobuo Award in 2004.

Brief Biography of General Shinseki

Eric Ken Shinseki was born on November 28, 1942 in Lihue, Kauai, Hawaii so his age is 66. His family is Japanese-American.

He graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1965 with a Bachelor of Science degree and a commission as a second lieutenant. He earned a Master of Arts degree in English Literature from Duke University. He was also educated at the Armor Officer Advanced Course, the United States Army Command and General Staff College and the National War College.

Within a few months of his graduation in 1965 he was a second lieutenant on his way to Vietnam to serve as an artillery forward observer. On a second combat tour he commanded a tank squadron. During those Vietnam tours he was wounded three times - including losing part of his foot.

General Shinseki has held a number of commands including the 1st Cavalry Division, 3rd Infantry Division, Army Chief of Staff, Commanding General Seventh United States Army, Commander Allied Land Forces Central Europe, and Commander of NATO Stabilization Force in Bosnia-Herzegovina. He became the Army's 34th Chief of Staff in 1999 and at the end of his four-year term, he retired.

General Shinseki is the first Asian American in U.S. history to be a four-star general, and the first to lead one of the five U.S. military services. His years as active military were from 1965-2003.

Mo Marumoto, a Washington Pioneer who Opened Government's Door to Pacific/Asian Americans

His name is well known in the U.S. but he possibly goes unrecognized in Japan. William H. Marumoto, better known as "Mo". His middle name is Hideo, but it was seldom used I guess. He had an unexpected massive heart attack and passed away in late November at the age of 73.

His funeral service was at the McLean Bible Church (MBC), Virginia. MBC is famous for its online Internet Campus which features live video services with music and message as well as an online community. I came to know the Internet Campus through my Toastmaster friend I met at the Washington Convention a few years ago. Sherrie is her name. She came from Taiwan and works at the National Institute of Health in Bethseda and holds a PhD. She is in the MBC Choir and I saw her singing at the MBC Cultural Diversity Celebration (CDC) program awhile ago.
MBC Diversity Culture
Celebration Choir
She wrote to me recently that she sang for Jean, one of the choir members, Mo Marumoto's wife (really a small world). She reported that it was a two hour Memorial Service. Elaine Caho, Secretary of Labor, as well as Norman Y. Mineta, former Secretary of Transportation, delivered their messages, mentioning how Mo welcomed them when they first arrived in Washington DC as young professionals.

Marumoto received more than 25 national professional awards for his work in higher education, fundraising, direct mail campaigns, events management, and publications. In June 2008, he was honored by President George W. Bush with the Lifetime President's Volunteer Service Award. His staff had estimated that he had contributed more than 40,000 volunteer hours to 35 local, regional and national non-profit organizations over a 50-year period. Mo sat on numerous boards and commissions, including the Board of Trustees of the Japanese American National Museum and Whittier College, of which he was a graduate.

He was very enthusiastic in doing promotions. He was also a member of the Wolf Trap Foundation of the Performing Arts, the Asian and American Pacific Islander American Scholarship Fund (APIASF), and the National Asian Pacific Center on Aging. Marumoto is listed in Who's Who in America and Who's Who in Finance. He was named in the spring of 1996 by Avenue Asian Magazine as one of the 500 most influential Asian Americans in the country. He was also named by Asian Weekly as one of the most influential Asian Americans in Washington, D.C. He was the first Asian American to become a member of the Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Maryland.

I found a couple of harsh and sour discrediting notes. First is his Watergate connections because he had an office next to E. Howard Hunt and G. Gordon Liddy, and he worked under H. R. Haldeman, John D. Erlichman and Charles Colson, all of whom did prison time for their roles in the Watergate cover-up scandal that rocked the nation and culminated with the resignation of a disgraced Nixon. Mo, too, was subpoenaed and grilled by the investigation committees but was not indicted. The other negative situation was the "Brown Mafia" charge against him. I'm sure he would relentlessly discard these charges, as he was so proud of his placement records of minorities in senior level government jobs. He attained some records that have never been broken since.

He was a Nisei, born in the Santa Ana area, and he and his family were herded with other Niseis during WWII into stables at the Santa Ana Race Track. He was later relocated by train under the eye of an armed FBI agent, to an internment camp in Gila Bend, AZ, where the family remained until the war ended. Mo wrote: "That was my first and most unforgettable experience with the Federal Government."

Mo graduated from Whittier College and was actively involved in alumini relations at Whittier for 10 years. He also worked in planning and development positions with UCLA and the California Institute of the Arts. Mo moved to D.C. in 1969 as assistant to the Secretary of the Development of Health, Education and Welfare, responsible for recruiting senior executives for the office of Education. In 1970, Mo was appointed a presidential aide responsible for filling cabinet and sub-cabinet positions.

The following is my favorite quote from Mo:

"One of the myths some folks have is an overestimation of their own worth. When you're Presidential Aides such as Jim Baker or Dick Darman, you may expect six-figures. But those folks are the exceptions. Out of 5000 political appointees, probably less than 2% get the six-figure salaries when they leave government."

I read Mo's interview in an Japanese article by the Japan Commerce Association of Washington DC (JCAW) in April this year. He lamented that most Japanese Americans prefer professional jobs such as doctors, lawyers and engineers, and avoid entering politics. He was of the opinion that more Pacific Asian Americans need to show dedicated interest in becoming politicians in the near future, in view of the increasing trends such as 30-40% of UC graduates belong to ethnic groups. Mo has said that the population of Pacific Asian groups is almost 17 million, which is approximately 4-5% of the U.S. population. Yet politically, they were well under-represented - almost one one-hundreth of one percent.

He gave advice to Japanese businessmen coming to Washington and major U.S. municipal cities which stated:

1. Voluntarily get involved in any non-profit organizations, hopefully in major roles, and show resolute leadership.
   
2. Promote Pacific Asian Americans to key and executive positions of the subsidiary company
   
3. Think philanthropy as a mission of corporate existence in the local community.

Japanese Brazilians

Professor Morimo of Chuo University wrote to me that he ordered my translation of the book Dear Miss Breed for his multicultural education class. I appreciated the endorsement. He published a book in June this year titled, The Theory and Practice of the Studies of Japanese Immigration from Publisher Akashi Shoten.

Professor Morimo also suggested I send a copy to Kokei Uehara, President of the Brazilian Society of Japanese Culture. I followed his advice. A few days ago, I received a photograph of President Uehara holding the book I sent and felt very honored.

According to a book written by Yasunori Maruyama, Professor Emeritus of Komazawa University, The Strength of the Japanese Brazilians over 100 years (2008), the life of President Uehara is the embodiment of the Japanese immigrant saga. He left Okinawa when he was 9 years old, accompanied by his uncle and families on board the vessel Santos, in order to join his elder brothers who immigrated four years earlier. Kokei was the youngest of 8 children. (They had not seen their parents because of the war and their father died in Okinawa during the war.) His brothers had cotton and coffee farms in the City of Olympia, 500 kilometers from Sao Paulo.

While engaged in farming to help his brothers, Kokei was sent to school. Kokei excelled in school, conquering the language handicap. Medicine was his preference, but his brothers who had supported him, suggested "pursue engineering or back to the farms." Thus he chose fluid mechanics at Sao Paulo University and had a chance to work with a French research team. It was recommended that he study at the Sorbonne University. After graduating, he designed dams, including the Itaipu dam over the Parana River. He was sent to UNESCO as a Brazilian representative from 1976 to 1979. He taught at Sao Paulo University for many years. He was chosen as the most popular professor in the engineering department for 13 consecutive years.

He served as the chairman of the Japanese Immigration Centennial celebration of the Japanese immigrants to Brazil. When His Imperial Highness Crown Prince Naruhito visited Sao Paulo, President Uehara served as the guide to the Prince. He visited Tokyo in April this year and gave a talk at Hotel Okura. Ryukyu Shimpo reported that he said he would construct the Japan-Brazil Composite Center as the place most young men would like to take their lovers and where people can learn the Japanese culture from making Miso soup to enjoying the Noh Play. The center will be a twin-tower building of 20 floors, with a total space of 93,600 square meters, costing 70 million dollars. This project, however, is reportedly held in abeyance at the moment.

The Japanese immigrants totaled 250,000, combining 180,000 in pre-war days and 70,000 in post war days. Currently, Japanese-Brazilians total one and half million in Brazil.

***

In 2000, I had a chance to tour the Itaipu dam. The dam's structures stretch almost 9 kilometers and reach a height of more than 200 meters. The generating capacity is 12,600 megawatts - enough to supply both a quarter of Brazil's electricity needs and 90% of Paraguay. The reservoir is twice the size of Biwa Lake of Japan. It's a wonder of the modern world. I bought a Itaipu cap to wear on the day of the visit, and went around by an Itaipu courtesy bus. I remember the tour-guide emphasized their care for the environment and caution they exercised in protecting nature as is. There was a place where I straddled the border between Brazil and Paraguay.

Japanese Canadians

The 2008 Toastmaster International Convention was held in Calgary, Canada. I made plans to attend the convention early this year. My plan included a trip to Vancouver to visit Nikkei Place, Burnaby, on the way to Calgary, and donate a copy of my translation of Dear Miss Breed book. Nichola Ogiwara at Nikkei Place responded that she could arrange an opportunity for me to give a talk that day if I so wished. I answered that would be a terrific idea.

My talk on Joanne Oppenheim's Dear Miss Breed and what motivated me to translate the book was to start at 2:00 PM on Saturday August 8, 2008. My son-in-law Raymond took a few days off to accompany me from Kirkland, Washington to Vancouver, Canada. We thought we had enough time to arrive and refresh ourselves before the meeting. Was I wrong!

It took over an hour to cross the Canadian border! There was a long line of cars ahead of us and only three gates were open. It was almost like the Mexican border on weekends. Then I was instructed to go inside customs to get my passport stamped.

Nichola was already up on the second floor, probably explaining the "no show" of the scheduled speaker. Her face showed much relief the moment she saw me racing in.

I had to jump start my talk to the audience of about a dozen Caucasians as well as Japanese Canadians, evenly split. I'm glad we made it and I feel my speech was well received.


Nichola was kind enough to give me a guided tour of Nikkei Place after my talk. She also gave me a book about Japanese Canadian concentration camps during World War II.

About 22,000 Japanese Canadians were sent to the British Columbia interior, 100 miles or 160 kilometers away from the coastline, where a dozen concentration camps were located. About ten percent of them were sent to Tashme Camp, the famous of them all, located 14 miles east of Hope. The name "Tashme" came from three Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) security commissioners, TAlor, SHirras and MEad.

The book mentions a small, beautiful Japanese friendship garden that was built in Tashme in the summer of 1991 dedicated to all the Japanese Canadians encamped there. My son-in-law and I were originally planning to stay in Hope but later changed plans and had to leave for Golden. If I knew about the garden prior to the visit, we surely would have taken the time to visit and see the garden.

I might add that I bought and watched a White Pine Pictures film WATARI DORI: A Bird of Passage produced by Linda Ohama. The story is about the reunion of Irene Tsuyuki, a camp school child, and Winifred Awmack, her school teacher, 50 years after the war. It is another beautiful story that parallels the experience of Miss Clara Breed. I can donate this film to a Japanese library upon request (first come first serve).