George Inagaki Chapter Citizenship Award Presented at 48th Annual JACL National Convention

From left to right: Ron Yoshino (Chicago JACL- recipient of George Inagaki Chapter Citizenship Award), Amy Watanabe (Venice-West LA JACL), Travis Nishi (Chair, JACL Awards & Reocgnition)

Washington, D.C. – On July 7, 2017, the Venice-West Los Angeles JACL Chapter presented the George Inagaki Chapter Citizenship Award to the Chicago Chapter. The Award recognizes the work of a model chapter in the areas of civil and social rights advocacy, community engagement and commitment to youth and leadership development.

The Chicago JACL Chapter was recognized for their continuous work in developing relevant and impactful programs and creating a strong leadership pipeline. Currently, over one-third of their Chapter Board is under 30 years old and many of JACL National's young leaders come have come from their chapter, such as Stephanie Nitahara (JACL National Associate Director), Rebecca Ozaki (Program Coordinator), Christine Munteanu (former Program Coordination), Kenji Kuramitsu (Youth Rep) and Brandon Mita (former JACL Legal Counsel). Chicago JACL's program have also been used as a model for JACL National programs, in particular the Kansha program. Through the Kansha Program, every year they bring 10 Chicago and Midwest 18-25 year olds to Little Tokyo in Los Angeles to learn about community history and visit Manzanar.

The George Inagaki Chapter Citizenship Award is named after George Inagaki, who is best known for serving as JACL National President from 1952 to 1956. In 1956, he was named the JACL Nisei of the Biennium. The George Inagaki Award was established in 1968 to honor Mr. Inagaki's many years of service and outstanding dedication to the national organization.

2017 Scholarship Awards Dinner

(Left to Right) Shannon Tsumaki, Masumi Asahi, Mariko Brooks, John Saito Jr.

On July 5, 2017, the Venice-West Los Angeles JACL hosted its annual Scholarship Awards dinner to announce the recipients of the Chiyo M. Hattori Medical Scholarship and Freshman Scholarship.

The evening featured keynote remarks by 2016 Miss Western LA Shannon Tsumaki. Ms. Tsumaki shared her experience as a member of the Nisei Week Court, including traveling to Japan, Hawaii and Washington, D.C.

The recipient of the 2017 College Freshman Scholarship was Mariko Brooks, a prospective freshman at Princeton University.  She graduated from Culver City High School as the Class of 2017’s salutatorian and received the Culver City High School Dave Sanchez Scholar Athlete Award.  She was a starter on the varsity softball team as well as the captain and MVP of the Varsity water polo team.  Ms. Brooks will attend Yale University in the Fall and plans to major in History of Medicine, Science and Public Health.  She hopes to gain the skills to reinvent healthcare systems in underserved communities, specifically to serve seniors and other groups in need.

The recipient of the Chiyo M. Hattori Medical Student Scholarship was Masumi Asahi. The Chiyo M. Hattori Medical Student Scholarship is given to a student entering or currently enrolled in Medical School. Masumi is a fourth year medical student at Western University of Health Sciences in the College of Osteopathic Medicine.  He graduated from C. K. McClatchy High School and graduated from UCLA where he majored in Physiology. He has received honors from the Japanese American Medical Association and volunteers his time at local health clinics through the Asian American Health Professors Student Association. Mr. Asahi is also an active volunteer at the Koyasan Buddhist Temple in Little Tokyo where he teaches weekly taiko classes.

The Scholarship Program and Awards Dinner Program was coordinated by Scholarship Chair, Marisa Tamaru.

Mariko Brooks addresses the attendees

Masumi Asahi addresses the attendees

48th Annual Manzanar Pilgrimage: “Never Again, To Anyone, Anywhere!

2017 Manzanar Pilgrimage- (from left to right) Amy Watanabe, Keith Kawamoto, Hon. Warren Furutani, Annia Yoshizumi

Independence, CA – The Venice-West LA Chapter was proud to support the 48th Annual Manzanar Pilgrimage that took place on Saturday, April 29, 2017. The program featured former California State Assemblymember and grassroots activist Warren Furutani. Warren spoke on this year’s Pilgrimage, “Never Again, To Anyone, Anywhere! 75th Commemoration of Executive Order 9066,” and shared his story and call to action recognizing our history and the current political climate.

The Manzanar Committee also recognized long-time activist and community leader Alan Nishio with the Sue Kunitomi Embrey Legacy Award. The day also included performances by UCLA Kyodo Taiko and a powerful poem performed by Sahar Pirzada, traci kato-kiriyama, Kathy Masaoka and traci ishigo. More than 2,000 attended this year’s Pilgrimage. 

For photo and video coverage of the event, check out: https://blog.manzanarcommittee.org/2017/05/29/video-48th-pilgrimage-mad2017/

Rafu Shimpo coverage of the event: http://www.rafu.com/2017/05/trump-concerns-dominate-48th-manzanar-pilgrimage/

Jordyn Akari Terukina Selected as 2017 Miss Western Los Angeles

The Venice-West LA JACL Chapter sponsors the Miss Western Los Angeles Court Candidate with the Venice Japanese Community Center. The 2017 Miss Western LA Court Candidate is Jordyn Terukina. Jordyn is 24 years old and graduated from California State University, Dominguez Hills in 2016 with a Bachelors degree in Health Science and Community Health. She currently lives in Cypress and works as a physical therapy rehabilitation aide at Atlantis Physical Therapy in Torrance. Jordyn was the 1st princess in the Nisei Week Baby Show when she was 3 years old and has wanted to be a part of Nisei Week since then. Congratulations to Jordyn on being selected as 2017 Miss Western LA, representing the Venice Japanese Community Center and Venice-West LA JACL chapter.

We thank Kazie Kame and Delcene Kuwata (from VJCC), Jean Ushijima (former West LA JACL board member), Shannon Tsumaki (2016 Miss Western Los Angeles) and Marisa Tamaru (2009 Miss Western Los Angeles and First Princess) for conducting the interviews and selected the 2017 Miss Western LA.