New national memorial honors Japanese Americans

By Susan Roth
Advertiser Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON — The speeches at yesterday's opening of the National Japanese American Memorial resonated with images of valor, dignity and patriotism in the face of injustice.

The five boulders in the reflecting pool represent Japan, Okinawa and the three generations of Japanese Americans who struggled during World War II. Associated Press

"It's great to see this to remind everyone about what happened" when 120,000 citizens of Japanese ancestry were forced to move to U.S. concentration camps during World War II, said Lauren Akitake, 19, of Wailuku, Maui, a summer intern in the office of Sen. Dan Inouye.

"Being in Hawai'i, we're so sheltered" by the multiracial environment, said the fourth-generation Japanese American. "I find my generation, overall, is so far removed, they don't appreciate what these people went through.

I just find this so meaningful. I want to take a lot of pictures for my grandma, who is in the hospital but would've liked to be here."

Behind her stood a soaring 14-foot bronze sculpture depicting two golden cranes — Japanese symbols of happiness and long life — straining to free themselves from shackles and barbed wire. The sculpture, by artist Nina Akamu, sits in the center of the memorial, surrounded by curved walls of pink granite.

The walls are inscribed with the names of the 10 camps, along with the numbers of people interned in each one. The names of 800 Japanese Americans who died fighting in World War II are also inscribed, as are several quotes from prominent Japanese Americans, including one from the late Spark Matsunaga, a war veteran like Inouye whom Hawai'i sent to the Senate.

Catherine Shiraga of Seattle takes a rubbing of George Sawada's name from a memorial wall. Sawada died in Germany during the war. Associated Press

The memorial, designed by Washington architect Davis Buckley in consultation with Japanese-American groups across the country, also includes a reflecting pool containing five boulders representing Japan, Okinawa and the three generations of Japanese Americans who struggled during the war.

First proposed by veterans in 1989, the memorial was authorized by Congress in 1992. The National Japanese American Memorial Foundation raised about $10 million in donations to build it.

In his speech, Inouye told the story of his 442nd Regimental Combat Team's monumental effort to break through German lines in October 1944 and rescue trapped fellow soldiers in two weeks of nonstop fighting.

"We suffered 1,500 casualties and more than 200 dead," the senator said. "The second day was the ultimate go-for-broke battle, the battle to test our loyalty, our patriotism, our love of country. From that moment on, we stood tall. It was bloody, but it was the most crucial moment in our lives."

Recalling the names of his fallen friends inscribed in the memorial, Inouye said: "I'm sure they are looking down on us with smiles and saying, 'It was worth it.' "