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Pelosi: ‘Japantown Represents More than 100 Years of a Unique Immigrant Experience’

September 19, 2006

Pelosi: ‘Japantown Represents More than 100 Years of a Unique Immigrant Experience’

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

Contact: Brendan Daly/Jennifer Crider, 202-226-7616

Washington, D.C. â€" House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi inserted the following statement into the Congressional Record to commemorate the 100th anniversary of San Francisco’s Japantown:

â€Å"Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to our San Francisco Japantown and celebrate with them on their 100th anniversary as a community. Affectionately called J-town, San Francisco Japantown is the oldest and joins San Jose and Los Angeles as the only remaining Japantowns in the continental United States. A century ago, there were more than 50 in California, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Utah. Japantown is more than just a physical location where Japanese people migrated after the Great San Francisco Earthquake of 1906, a distinctive area where the Japanese culture is on display, or a tourist destination. Japantown represents more than 100 years of a unique immigrant experience, which started with the arrival of the first generation - the Issei.

â€Å"Prior to 1906, Japanese immigrants gravitated to ethnic enclaves where rents were affordable and they felt accepted. The arrival of picture brides through Angel Island Immigration Station in San Francisco Bay after 1906, many of them meeting their future husbands for the first time, was the genesis of the second generation - the Nisei. The 100 years included the emergence of the activist third generation - the Sansei - who are now ‘baby boomers’ and the parents and grandparents of the fourth and fifth generations - the Yonsei and Gosei.

â€Å"As the younger generation makes their mark on our global society, I hope they will recognize the critical role of family and community in their successes. I was recently made aware of an example of what is possible. NASA Astronaut Daniel Tani represents the next generation of Japanese Americans in space, following the tradition of Astronaut Ellison Onizuka, who tragically lost his life on the same mission as teacher Christa McAuliffe in 1986. Astronaut Tani flew the 2001 Endeavour mission. He is a shining example of the boundless possibilities of the immigrant experience. His family has roots in J-town.

â€Å"The road was not always easy: in fact, Japanese Americans often persevered under great hardship to overcome prejudice. In its 100 years in San Francisco's Western Addition, the community suffered segregation in local schools, a racially motivated exclusionist immigration policy, and a shrinking community with each redevelopment. During World War II, eligible Nisei men volunteered for military duty while their families remained behind barbed wire without due process, many of them United States citizens. Our government under the guise of war forced Japanese Americans from their homes and escorted them under armed guard to internment camps throughout the United States. Most of the San Francisco Japantown community was interned in Topaz, Utah. It took three generations until redress was made in the form of monetary reparations and our government's apology, though no amount of compensation or apology could ever adequately replace or repair what Japanese Americans lost. The lessons that we learned during the internment should serve as a reminder of how we must continue to fight for our freedoms today. Protecting civil liberties must be a constant priority of our government.

â€Å"As San Francisco’s Representative in Congress, and House Democratic Leader, I am grateful that I can count on the steadfast strength of our San Francisco Japantown community and its extraordinary leaders, too many to name individually.

â€Å"Congratulations Japantown for more than 100 years in San Francisco.”