By KENJI G. TAGUMA
Nichi Bei Times

Dressed in traditional Korean clothing, military rape camp survivor Yong-soo Lee demonstrated that the Japanese military may have tried to kill her spirit during World War II, but they could not kill her pride. Nor could they eternally silence her.

NEW YORK — New York native Alan Gilbert, the chief conductor and artistic advisor of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra since 2000, has been named the New York Philharmonic’s next music director, beginning in 2009-10.

The New York orchestra is literally in his blood. Gilbert’s parents Yoko Takebe and Michael Gilbert, both violinists in the New York Philharmonic, were his first teachers. His father retired from the orchestra in 2001.

Twenty-five years after Vincent Chin was beaten to death because of his race, hate crimes against Asian Americans continue unabated.

By JULIA KITLINSKI-HONG
New America Media

On July 1, 2007, Satendar Singh, a 26-year-old Fijian man of Indian descent, was picnicking by a lake with his friends when he was beaten to death in what witnesses say was an ugly racial hate crime. Singh’s friends said that “a group of Russian-speaking men and women had directed homophobic slurs at Singh, and racial insults at his group before the physical attack,” according to a report in the Sacramento Bee.

The Niigata Prefectural government and the Japanese Red Cross Society in Japan are now accepting donations for those affected by the recent earthquake disaster in Niigata, the Consulate General of Japan in San Francisco announced.

TOKYO (Kyodo) — An American man who has been searching for the owner of a Japanese flag thought to have been left behind by a Japanese soldier during World War II appealed for help in locating the owner or his kin in Tokyo on July 20.

By BEN HAMAMOTO
Nichi Bei Times

Academy Award-winning director Steven Okazaki’s new documentary, "White Light/Black Rain," begins in the trendy Shibuya area in Tokyo. Stylish teens out shopping and hanging around are asked, "Do you know what historical event happened on Aug 6. 1945?"

Most had no answer. Some made vague guesses like, "was there an earthquake?" None of the young people featured in the film knew it was the day that the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima.

Nichi Bei Times Report

ALAMEDA — In an effort to outreach to a burgeoning Japanese and Filipino fan base, the Oakland Raiders on July 19 announced the launch of two new language sections on their official Website catering to those audiences.

Raiders in Japanese (raidersinjapanese.com) and Raiders in Tagalog (raidersintagalog.com) add to the growing list of team language sites already in existence, which includes Raiders en Espa�ol, Raiders in German and Raiders in Chinese.

By DREW MORITA
Nichi Bei Times

GCL Braves (Atlanta Braves Rookie League affiliate) outfielder Takumi Hamaoka is batting .213 with six RBIs in 22 games. The 20-year-old Amagasaki native has hit 4 RBIs in his last 10 games.

By CHIZU OMORI
Nichi Bei Times

Maybe it’s not so mysterious after all. The movie business is a hard one in many ways. Why a film succeeds or fails is unpredictable most of the time and even the concept of “success” is variable.