NikkeiWest--Northern California Japanese American Newspaper

By J.K. Yamamoto--Japanese Ambassador to the U.S. Ichiro Fujisaki toured San Jose Japantown and met with community leaders on Aug. 25 during a trip to the Bay Area.

Fujisaki, who was assigned to the Embassy of Japan in Washington, D.C. in June 2008, has made it point to familiarize himself with the Japanese American community during his tenure. Last year, he visited San Francisco Japantown to take part in the Cherry Blossom Festival’s Senior Appreciation Brunch and Grand Parade. He has also participated in events with Japanese American veterans and political leaders in the nation’s capital.

Fujisaki’s guides during his San Jose tour included board members Jimi Yamaichi and Joe Yasutake of the Japanese American Museum of San Jose, San Jose JACL President Leon Kimura, and San Jose Chief Deputy City Manager Ed Shikada. They visited the new, expanded museum, which will soon have its grand opening; the Issei Memorial Building, which opened 100 years ago as the Kuwabara Hospital and now houses San Jose JACL and other community organizations; and the birthplace of former Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta, whose father ran an insurance business in Japantown.

Fujisaki was also shown the three-sided “Three Japantown” monument, which can also be found in San Francisco and Los Angeles. The panels depict the Issei pioneers, the wartime internment, and a present-day Obon festival.

The ambassador was accompanied by Yoko Anazawa, second secretary of the Embassy of Japan’s Press and Information Section, and Yoshiro Tasaka, community affairs advisor at the Consulate General of Japan in San Francisco.

At Yu-Ai Kai, Fujisaki was greeted by Executive Director Sophie Horiuchi-Forrester and attended part of a ukulele performance by students of Michelle Kiba. During a break in the program, the ambassador briefly addressed the audience, first apologizing for interrupting “this beautiful music” and joking, “I thought I was almost in Hawaii.”

He noted, “The first time I came to the West Coast … was about 50 years ago. I was a junior high kid in Seattle, Wash. The second time I was pretty close to here, in Palo Alto. I went to Stanford University. After I joined the Foreign Service they sent me to brush up my English for two years and I went the first year to Brown in Rhode Island and the second year came down here for graduate school.”

Fujisaki first worked at the embassy in Washington as the political minister from 1995 to 1999. He has also been posted in Jakarta, Paris, London, Geneva and the United Nations in addition to various assignments at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Tokyo.

As ambassador, he said, “I’ve been around the country and I was told that San Jose has a Japantown, that the only three Japantowns left are L.A., San Francisco and San Jose … It’s really great to see this Japantown.”

He confessed that he had expected San Jose Japantown to look “more rustic.” Instead, he found that it didn’t look old at all.

On the subject of U.S.-Japan relations, Fujisaki commented that the two countries “have a lot of problems always, sometimes economic issues, sometimes U.S. base issues. But all in all, we are in good shape because we share common values … We really have freedom of speech, democracy … More importantly, we like each other. 80 percent of Japanese like Americans, 80 percent of Americans say they like Japanese.”

Crediting Japanese Americans with having “enriched” ties between the U.S. and Japan, Fujisaki noted that Issei and Nisei took “a long, winding road” toward equality in American society. “I know that it was not an easy road … (Today) Nisei and Sansei have come up the ladder to have such an honorable place in this great country. So I am honored to be here.”

The tour included Yu-Ai Kai’s Akiyama Wellness Center, which was developed in conjunction with the Boys and Girls Clubs of Silicon Valley and will house Yu-Ai Kai’s Healthy Aging Initiative programs. Fujisaki was introduced to the center’s coordinator, Mai Yamamoto.

The ambassador made a stop at San Jose Buddhist Church Betsuin and chatted with Rev. Gerald Sakamoto in the main hall, which was built in 1937. The first temple was built in 1907 and the congregation dates back even further to 1902. Sakamoto said that the temple’s Buddhist swastikas (manji) were once confused with Nazi swastikas, and this led to a “teaching moment” between the Japanese and Jewish communities.

Sakamoto added that the church hosts school visits to educate the public about Buddhism. “We try to be as open as possible … try to go outside the boundaries of our community.”

During lunch at the Issei Memorial Building, Fujisaki had an opportunity to talk with Shikada, Yasutake, Kimura and Horiuchi-Forrester, along with Roy Hirabayashi, co-founder of San Jose Taiko; Yoshihiro Uchida, businessman and San Jose State University judo coach; Tamon Norimoto of Asian Americans for Community Involvement and the Japantown Community Congress of San Jose; and Kathy Sakamoto, executive director of the Japantown Business Association.

Topics of discussion included a “Yosakoi” dance tour being planned for the three Japantowns next year. Fujisaki suggested that Portland, Ore. — which has a historical plaza and museum where Japantown once stood — be included on the tour.

Fujisaki also talked about his ongoing dialogue with Rep. Mike Honda (D-San Jose), who has been pressuring the Japanese government to apologize to comfort women, POWs and others who were mistreated by the Japanese military during World War II. The ambassador delivered such an apology to survivors of the Bataan Death March last year in Texas.

“It was such an honor and a pleasure to have the ambassador and the second secretary of press and information visit Japantown,” Sakamoto said after the meeting. “We hope that this is not the last time we see them! They are welcome anytime.”

During his stay, Fujisaki also went to San Francisco to visit the Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park, attend the annual meeting of the National Association of Japan-America Societies, and speak at the opening ceremony of the 20th America-Japan Grassroots Summit at the Westin St. Francis Hotel.