Jack Matsuoka Honored by City of Watsonville
WATSONVILLE—As a boy living in Watsonville, Jack Matsuoka went through some traumatic times.
His father was picked up by the FBI immediately after Pearl Harbor. The rest of the family was forced to sell their possessions for a fraction of their value before being sent to the Salinas Assembly Center and later the Poston Relocation Center in Arizona.
The atmosphere was quite different on June 22, when Matsuoka — one of only a handful of Nisei professional cartoonists and one of the few Japanese Americans to have drawn a comic strip — was honored by the City of Watsonville for his accomplishments.
The proclamation was presented by Mayor Luis Alejo. Matsuoka was joined by his daughter, Emi Young, and granddaughter, Jennifer Young, as well as members of the Watsonville-Santa Cruz JACL.
Highlights of Matsuoka’s career were listed, including his early work as a cartoonist for the Japan Times, the Yomiuri News, and other publications while serving with the Army during the occupation of Japan; his work with such Bay Area papers as the Pacifica Tribune, San Mateo Times and San Jose Mercury News, as well as the San Francisco Giants and other local teams; and his creation of a comic strip, “Sensei,” which ran in the Hokubei Mainichi and was later published in book form.
Matsuoka, who now lives in San Jose, is known for his 1974 book for young readers, “Camp II, Block 211,” which featured sketches of daily life in an internment camp. A revised edition of the book, retitled “Poston Camp II, Block 211,” was published by Asian American Curriculum Project in 2003, edited by Matsuoka’s daughter, an East Bay educator, and funded by the California Civil Liberties Public Education Program.
In the proclamation, the mayor extended to Matsuoka “our deep appreciation for his distinguished service and our best wishes for many more happy and productive years in the future.”
Using illustrations from the book, Mas Hashimoto of the local JACL chapter gave a brief presentation on the history of Japanese Americans in Watsonville.
“It was a pretty exciting moment especially for Jack,” Emi Young said after the ceremony. “Jack briefly thanked the council and the audience. It was just right …
“With the Santa Cruz-Watsonville JACL rallying at Marcia and Mas Hashimoto’s home before and during the ceremony at City Hall, the mood was festive and warm. This was, after all, something of a homecoming, Watsonville being Jack’s hometown. He and his 18-year-old granddaughter, Jennifer, met many active women in their 90s and talked with new and upcoming teachers who are dedicated to serving the multicultural community of Watsonville.”
The event was spearheaded by Ignacio Ornelas, a history and social studies teacher at Everett Alvarez High School in Salinas, who took part in a teacher in-service program at SPICE (Stanford Program on International and Cross-Cultural Education) under the direction of Dr. Gary Mukai.
“When he met Jack there, he suggested that the City Council in Watsonville honor Jack for his art and history contribution to the community,” said Young. “For someone so young, Mr. Ornelas is a testimony of someone’s best teaching, for he has caught the vision of valuing the lesson of the Japanese American experience in U.S. history. While he himself had no family member in the internment camps … he impressed me as an ally for this cause, someone equally vested in this lesson for all school students. “
“The evening recognizing Jack was truly inspiring,” Ornelas commented. “It is critically important to recognize our American heroes. When I first met Jack at Stanford, I couldn’t stop thinking about how great it would be for him to be recognized by the very town that interned him many years ago. I enjoyed every minute … While the evening can never replace the hardship that Jack went through, it will certainly be in the city’s history books.
“During his recognition, the council and the mayor made many remarks about how we are seeing similar anti-Mexican sentiment today. Jack’s story is truly inspiring for many of us to do more and speak against fear and hate-mongering by many groups locally and across the country. Jack’s story and work should be printed in books we use, especially in California.
“As a new generation of new legislators are elected … We will advocate for his story and work to be included in all history books. If all goes well and Luis is elected in November to the State Legislature, we can recognize Jack at the Capitol in Sacramento.”
