May.-Jun. 2012

Report of JAA Japan Disaster Relief from JAA News 5/6/2012

JAA will hold its Inaugural JAA Japan Rising Golf Tournament
sponsored by the partnership of Morgan Stanley and MUFG(Mitsubishi
UFJ Financial Group) on October 1, 2012 at the Montclair Country
Club.

Signs of recovery can be seen in some areas of Tohoku such as
the City of Sendai, but the devastation along the coastline
has yet to be dealt with. If one travels to the region, the
extent of the destruction is not to be believed. The tsunami
ravaged the coastal area that is equivalent to the distance
between Boston and Washington, D.C. Many people are still in
temporary housing, younger people have left the area to find
employment, communities are dealing with issues of family and
job loss, and there are many instances of depression and inability
to cope. JAA has visited with Tohoku based NGOs and NPOs and
continues to identify viable, sustainable organizations with
which JAA can partner on a long range basis. Along with other
organizations in the New York area and other parts of the United
States, JAA is focusing on efforts that provide that maximum
leverage. Our efforts include encouraging the development of
leadership skills, education exchange and revitalization of
the Tohoku economy to foster self reliance among the residents
of Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures. JAA truly appreciates
the efforts of Morgan Stanley and MUFG in this endeavor.

We
received copies of thank you letters from women who were supported
by JOICFP (Japanese Organization for International Cooperation
in Family Planning) which support women, pregnant women and
babies residing in the Tohoku region. Please see www.joicfp.or.jp

A colleague and I recently spent a day up in the Tohoku region,
visiting Rikuzentakada, Ofunato (Koishihama), and Sendai. In contrast
to my previous visit to the same area in February, the weather
cooperated, and with no snow impeding our vision like the last
time, we were able to see more clearly the progress to date and
the work that still needs to get done. Here are some observations
from the trip:

Photos of "Rubble" and "Cleared
but no activity"

While mounds of debris still exist in Rikuzentakada, vast areas
have been cleared, which only serves to highlight the dearth of
rebuilding that is taking place along coastal towns. The lack
of rebuilding is partly a function of people being afraid to rebuild
in the same location and a lack of clarity from the government
(central, prefectural, and local) on future zoning.

The Third Annual Japanese Heritage
Night
@New York Mets

(L to R) Mr. Kuwayama, Amb. Hiroki, Mr. Yamaguchi, Mr. Kanzaki

Memorial Day Ceremony
at the Japanese Cemetery in Mt. Olivet Cemetery

On a beautiful sunny day, Memorial Day Services (Bosankai) were
started from 11 AM on May 28 at the Japanese Cemetery at Mount
Olivet Cemetery in Queens. This year　marks the 100th Anniversary
of the　purchase of land at Mt. Olivet Cemetery to bury Japanese
who have passed away in New York. The ceremony, sponsored by
the JAA, with the support of the New York Buddhist Church and
the Japanese American United Church (JAUC) was conducted by
JAA Vice-President, Katsuo Takeda.

Rev. Hoshu Matsubayashi of the Buddhist Church, read from the
Sutra while incense and flowers were offered to the pioneers
who had contributed so greatly to the present standing of the
Japanese and Japanese American Community, followed by services
performed by Rev. Jun Yoshimatsu, JAUC.

Ms. Susan J. Onuma, JAA Honorary President gave a greeting and
a brief history of the 100 years of JAA and the cemetery. Ambassador
Hiroki expressed his appreciation to our pioneers who had promoted
good relations between the U.S. and Japan. Mr. Yasuyuki Uchino,
Principal of Greenwich Japanese School of NY and Mr. Toru Okamoto,
Principal of the Japanese Childrenﾕs Society each gave a heartfelt
talk. 442nd Infantry member Mr. Yeiichi Kelly Kuwayama, MIS
member Mr. Kazu Yamaguchi and Vietnam veteran Mr. Stanley Kanzaki
talked about their war experiences. Special thoughts and prayers
were delivered to those victims of March 11, 2011 by the 150
people who attended.

Wreaths were offered by the Consulate General of Japan in New
York, Nippon Club, Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry
in New York, Japanese Lions Club, NY Buddhist Church, JAUC and
JAA.

Annual JAA Scholarship Dinner
of
the 42nd Scholarship Awards and the 6th Honjo Scholarship Awards

The JAA Scholarship Awards Dinner was held at the Harvard Club
on May 31, 2012. The Honorable Kiyo Matsumoto, United States
District Judge, Eastern District of New York, Consul General
and Madame Shigeyuki Hiroki, Mr. & Mrs. Mitsuhiko Kawai,
President & CEO of Mitsui & Co. (U.S.A.), Inc. and Mr.
Tsutomu Karino of JCCI headed the guest list of 122 donors,
awardees and their families and JAA members who attended the
event. Eleven high school recipients received a total of $39,000
and one round trip ticket from All Nippon Airways in the 42nd
JAA Scholarship ceremony. Three graduate school recipients received
a total of $29,644.29 from the Honjo International Foundation
in the 6th Honjo Scholarship ceremony.

The ceremony began with MC Dr. Makoto Iwahara, Chair of the
Scholarship Committee, followed by greetings from Ambassador
Hiroki and JAA President Gary Moriwaki. We were honored to have
Judge Matsumoto as our keynote speaker. She gave a wonderful
speech that inspired not just the students but all who were
present. She spoke about how she learned the importance of higher
education through her parents who were in a relocation camp
during the WWll. Ms. Yuriko Inaba, recipient of the Dr. Soji
Tomikawa Scholarship and Ms. Reina Saeki, recipient of the Honjo
Award expressed their appreciation for their respective groups.

To conclude the ceremony, Mr. Satoru Murase thanked the donors
and guests. Ms. Susan Onuma presented a flower bouquet to Mrs.
Madeleine Tomikawa, widow of Dr. Soji Tomikawa. She spent 61
years in the U.S. and is returning to her home country of Switzerland.

This year, JAA received 34 applications, the highest number
in our history of the Scholarship program. Also, for the first
time, we learned that there were two sets of parent- child recipients
– Dr. Keiko Kimura, mother of Philippe Hiro Kimura – Thollander
was a 1984 JAA Scholarship awardee and Mathieu Osamu Rolfo’s
mother, Sachie Makishi, was also a Honjo Scholarship awardee.

During the 42 year history of our scholarship program, many
JAA award recipients have played an important role in our community.
(JAA’s Honorary President, Ms. Susan Onuma was a recipient of
a 1973 scholarship award.) If you know of any recipients who
are active in their field, please let JAA know about them.

Scholarship Dinner table sponsors were Bingham McCutchen Murase
LLP, Fox Rothschild LLP, Ito En North America, Inc. and J.C.C.
Fund of the Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry of New
York.

The Scholarship Committee consisted of Chair Makoto Iwahara,
MD, and the committee members : Julie Azuma, Michiko Ito Crampe,
David Hiromura, Frederick Katayama, Gary S. Moriwaki, Satoru
Murase, Susan J. Onuma, Koji Sato, Suki Terada Ports and Katsuo
Takeda.

Dinner table Sponsors:
Bingham McCutchen Murase LLP
Fox Rothschild LLP
Ito En North America, Inc.
Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry of New York, Inc.

Honorable
Kiyo Matsumoto
United States District Judge,
Eastern District of New York

In July 2008, Judge Matsumoto was appointed as a United States
District Judge for the Eastern District of New York. At the
time of her appointment, she was the second Asian American (and
Japanese American) female to be appointed to the federal bench
and the eighth Asian American federal district judge then active
out of 850 federal judges nationwide.
Born in Raleigh, North Carolina, Judge Matsumoto graduated with
honors from the University of California at Berkeley, as a journalism
major, and the Georgetown University Law Center, where she was
a legal research and writing fellow. Following her graduation
from law school, Judge Matsumoto was a litigation associate
at MacDonald, Hoague and Bayless in Seattle, Washington. Thereafter,
she joined the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District
of New York as an Assistant U.S. Attorney, where she served
as Chief of the Civil Division and Chief of the Financial Litigation
Unit and Civil Health Care Fraud Coordinator.
Prior to her appointment as a United States District Judge,
Judge Matsumoto was appointed a United States Magistrate Judge
for the Eastern District of New York in July 2004. She has also
served as an instructor at the Attorney General’s Advocacy Institute
and as an adjunct professor at Brooklyn Law School and New York
University School of Law. She has served on and continues to
be a member of numerous prestigious judicial and bar association
committees.
Both of Judge Matsumoto’s parents and grandparents were interned
during World War II. Judge Matsumoto is married to painter Colin
Lee and they have four children.

1. Bingham McCutchen Murase Scholarship
($6,000 plus NY-Tokyo round trip ticket)
Ryota Ishizuka (Born in New York)
Greenwich High School; will attend Harvard College

2. Dr. Soji Tomikawa Scholarship ($5,000)
Yuriko Amy Inaba (Born in Los Angeles, CA)
Bergen County Academies: Academy for the Advancement of Science
and Technology (Hackensack, NJ); will attend Princeton University

3. Dr. Soji Tomikawa Scholarship ($5,000)
Mizuho Yoshimune (Born in New York)
Bronx High School of Science; will attend Yale University

4. Mitsui USA Foundation Scholarship ($3,500)
Moeko Nagatsuka (Born in New York)
Northern Valley Regional High School at Demarest; will attend
Duke University

5. Mitsui USA Foundation Scholarship ($3,500)
Mathieu Emilio Raymond Osamu Rolfo (Born in New York)
Horace Mann School; will attend Stanford University

6. Orient Corp. of America Scholarship ($3,500)
Sarah May Turbin (Born in Tokyo, Japan)
Cresskill High School; will attend Northwestern University

7. Miyoko & John Davey Scholarship ($3,000)
Ken Munakata Leszkowicz (Born in Teaneck, NJ)
Cresskill High School; accepted at Boston College (on the waiting
list at Cornell University)

8. Hartman-Sakazume Scholarship ($3,000)
Erika Sawada Chan (Born in Boulder, Colorado)
Ridgewood High School; will attend Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy,
Doctor of Pharmacy Program at Rutgers University

9. Toyota Motor North America Scholarship ($2,500)
Philippe Hiro Kimura-Thollander (Born in Stockholm, Sweden)
Eastchester High School; will attend SUNY Stony Brook, Honors
Program in Computer Science

10. TV Japan Scholarship ($2,000)
Tetsuji Ono (Born in Kawasaki, Japan)
Tenafly High School; will attend University of California at
Berkeley

11. JAA Special Scholarship ($2,000)
Jacob Shohei Appelbaum (Born in New York, NY)
The Beacon School; will attend SUNY Buffalo

6th JAA-Honjo Scholarship Awards
(for graduate students)

Reina Saiki (￥800.000)
Masters candidate at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies
at Harvard University; undergraduate degree from Brown University

Chelsea Szendi Schieder (￥800,000)
PhD candidate at Columbia University of Philosophy; undergraduate
degree from University of California (Los Angeles)

effrey Volinski (￥800,000)
Masters candidate at Columbia University in Business Administration
(School of Business) and International Affairs (School of International
and Public Affairs); undergraduate degree from Tufts University;
currently attending University of Tokyo Graduate School of Public
Policy

photos by Masao Katagami

The 17th annual Art Exhibition of the Japanese and Japanese American
Artists in New York was held from May 3 to May 12. The 34 artists
(including four new artists: Sequoyah Aono, Kotatsu Iwata, Keiko
Miyamori and Hiroshi Sumiyama), displayed their 64 art works at
the JAA Hall.
The opening reception held on May 3rd was attended by Consul General
Shigeyuki Hiroki, Mr. & Mrs. Motoatsu Sakurai of Japan Society,
Mr. Tsutomu Karino of JCCI, the artists, JAA members and guests.
The attendees enjoyed unique international art works.
JAA greatly appreciated those who bought art pieces from which
a donation was made to JAA: Ms. Kumiko Baumann, Ms. Yasuko Kawamura,
Ms. Fusako Ota, Mrs. Nobuko Sakurai, Ms. Yoko Sasaki and Kintetsu
International.

6th Japan Day @ Central
Park

On Sunday, May 13, 2012, many people gathered at the Band shell
area in Central Park.
Volunteers from the JAA calligraphy class and their Instructor,
Fusako Otsubo demonstrated their beautiful and skillful brush
work to 1000 New Yorkers. The booth was so popular that we ran
out of ink and papers!

JAA participated in the Silent March "End Stop and Frisk"
against racial profiling on Father’s Day, June 17th.
It was very interesting because people were so surprised to see
the JAA banner that many pictures were taken as we marched – Mieko
Craig, Shuji Kato, Cobi Narita and her husband Paul and two of
their friends and Michiyo Noda and Suki Terada Ports. Several
people joined us along the way – Therese Rodriguez, Director and
Ding Pajaron from APICHA, Laura Jarvis, Director of the Westside
Federation for Senior Housing and in front of us marched OCA and
behind us were AAFE. The CACF youth marched way in front and some
of their staff marched with AAFE. The Honorable John Liu, Comptroller
led the Asian group.

New
JAA member of the Board of Directors:
Consul Yoshikatsu Aoyagi

He is the successor to Mr. Shigeyuki Hirakawa at the Consulate
General of Japan in New York.

2012-the
27th JAA Foreign Minister’s
Baseball Tournament

Results of five weeks of the preliminaries are very competitive,
"A" block includes the teams Junks, Bees and Orega,
"B" Block consists of the teams Boko Boko, Jokers and
Radiators. Please visit www.jaabaseball.bogspot.com
for recent scores.

JAA
Business Women’s Committee

May 14: Monthly Meeting The film director Ms. Kyoko Gasha
talked about her recent film "3/11 in the moment" and
part of it was shown. Next meeting will be on June 27 with guest
speaker, Ms. Keiko Tsuyama, journalist.

Social Service Committee

Keirokai-Luncheon for Seniors

On 5/17 we had our regular luncheon for seniors with guest story
tellers from the Atsumi Kodan School. Our guest speaker Artist
Keiichi Morimoto talked about Sumie painting on 6/14. At all events
the K. Iwaki Band performed and members enjoyed Karaoke sing along.

May 21: One day trip to Storm King Art Center in the
Hudson Valley 45 seniors enjoyed the beautiful scenery and strolled
through the sculptures of well known artists. The trip was sponsored
by Goldman Sachs.

JAA Committee on Aging Issues

June 20: Lecture "Japanese Social Security Benefits
and U.S. Tax Law" Mr. Kentaro Ando from the Consulate
General of Japan in New York and Mr. Joe Oshima (CPA) discussed
this topic.

6th Senior Week will be held from September 13 to September
23 at JAA Hall for all ages. Many events will be scheduled.

JAA received the Community Service Award from the Hamilton Madison
House’s Japanese Mental Health Clinic at their First Fund Raising
Dinner on May 23rd.

Donation

To Sakura Matsuri
Mrs. Chieko Inagaki $7,678.55

To General Account　一般会計
Toshiba America Inc. $1,000.00
Brother Int’l $500.00

To 42nd JAA Scholarship
Kawasaki Heavy Industries (USA), Inc. , Ann Harakawa,
Chisato Haratani, Reiko-Seo Hsla, Eiko Iwahara,
Toyokazu Matsumoto,
Cobi Narita and Kinichi Shibutani

To Special Scholarship Fund for student

in Tohoku Earthquake Area
Fusako Ota and Mr. & Mrs. John Yoshinaga
and Kathryn A. Bannai