LOS ANGELES (Kyodo) -- “Letters From Iwo Jima,” a drama depicting the Battle of Iwojima during World War II from the Japanese point of view, won the Golden Globe award Jan. 15 for best foreign language film category.

By AKIKO MINAGA
Nichi Bei Times Contributor

What can you get for $1.50? More common things might include a pen, a ride on the MUNI or a candy bar -- but how about a frying pan? Some classical music CDs? A T-shirt?

Yoriko Kishimoto became the first Asian American mayor of Palo Alto Jan. 8 during the Palo Alto City Council meeting. Her call to action is “building a green economy through innovation.”

By ANSHO UCHIMA and MINORU SHINMOTO

A veteran of the famous 100^th Battalion, Francis Shigeo Takemoto joined the Hawaii Army National Guard after the war and was promoted to brigadier general in 1964 to become the first Japanese American (Nikkei) to attain the rank of general.

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom has announced his appointment of Bruce M. Oka to the city’s Taxi Commission.

By CRYSTAL WONG
Kyodo News

NEW YORK -- Jazz great Toshiko Akiyoshi, whose six-decade career has seen her as a pianist, bandleader and composer, was one of seven acclaimed musicians and jazz contributors to be awarded the 2007 National Endowment for the Arts’ Jazz Master award in New York on Jan. 12.

By BEN HAMAMOTO
Nichi Bei Times

The Golden Globe Awards the other night are probably a good thing for APIs. I mean, at least it’s as good as some red carpet award ceremony -- true measure of success in life, by the way -- can be without any APIs getting an award. No, Masi Oka didn’t win, but plenty of API-related stuff did.

By BEN HAMAMOTO
Nichi Bei Times

Most of the pieces at the National Japanese AmericanHistorical Society’s new exhibit, “Katami: Objects of Memory,” are not the work of a famous artist. Many are crafty items made by resourceful people in times of scarcity. Others were produced in factories, spewed out by a machine or assembled by an anonymous laborer. Yet even the objects with the most mundane origins have been imbued with special meaning by the journeys they took to get to where they are today.

By ANDREW MITCHELL
Asahi Shimbun

Goaltender Yutaka Fukufuji became the first Japanese player to appear in a regular season NHL game when he hit the ice for the Los Angeles Kings during a 6-5 loss to the St. Louis Blues on Jan. 13.