By TAKEHIKO KAJITA
Kyodo News

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Three women who were forced to become sex slaves for the Japanese military during World War II on Feb. 15 described their plight and reiterated their demand for Japan to offer a “formal” apology.

By KENJI G. TAGUMA
Nichi Bei Times

SAN JOSE — The Nichi Bei Times caught up with Congressman Mike Honda (D-San Jose) at the San Jose Day of Remembrance commemoration to discuss the controversial House Resolution 121, which he recently introduced calling on the government of Japan “to formally acknowledge and apologize for the Japanese Imperial Armed Forces’ World War II-era coercion of some 200,000 young women — known as ‘comfort women’ — into sexual slavery.”

By BEN HAMAMOTO
Nichi Bei Times

Japanese participation in World War II is mostly taught in K-12 schools only as it directly involves the United States. Though Japan’s colonialist period and its wartime aggression and atrocities are the foundation for a number of political, social and human rights issues that make up the Asian political landscape today, anything beyond Pearl Harbor and the atomic bomb is largely omitted.

By HIROSHI MATSUBARA
Asahi Shimbun

OSAKA — The mayors of Osaka and San Francisco on Feb. 19 kicked off a series of events to celebrate the 50th anniversary of their sister-city ties, planned on both sides of the Pacific throughout this year.

By ALEC YOSHIO MacDONALD
Nichi Bei Times Contributor

This year in San Francisco’s Japantown, Day of Remembrance featured a little bit of everything. Held at the Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California on Feb. 17, the event incorporated people from all walks of life, paying tribute in all kinds of ways to the memory of the World War II incarceration of 120,000 people of Japanese descent.

As everyone probably knows, the judge in the Ehren Watada case on Feb. 7 declared a mistrial and put off completing the deliberations until March. This was a surprising turn of events and Watada’s lawyer expressed his opinion that to try the case again couldn’t happen because it would constitute double jeopardy.

STANFORD (Bay City News Service) — Stanford University alumnus and Yahoo! Co-founder Jerry Yang and his wife Akiko Yamazaki have donated $75 million to the university, with much of the donation being earmarked towards construction of a new environmental studies building, according to the university.

By ALLISON BRADY
Kyodo News

LOS ANGELES — It may not have been love at first sight, but a growing enthusiasm for Japanese sake among Americans is making the United States an important market for Japanese brewers.

By KAZUO MIKAMI
Kyodo News

NEW YORK (Kyodo) — A strong rebound is expected this year in the number of Japanese tourists to 9/11 terrorist attack-hit New York — and Boston — thanks to three Japanese rookies in U.S. Major League Baseball, a New York official at Japan’s biggest travel agency says.