By BEN HAMAMOTO
Nichi Bei Times

On Saturday, Aug. 18, the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) National Board voted to pass a resolution in support of the civil rights of 1st Lt. Ehren Watada, the Sansei U.S. Army lieutenant who refused deployment to Iraq on the grounds that he believes the war is illegal. The vote occurred at the organization’s regular board meeting at its San Francisco headquarters.

By ALEC YOSHIO MacDONALD
Nichi Bei Times Contributor

Nearly fifteen years ago, three Nikkei students at UC Berkeley launched a movement to reconceptualize Japanese America. It was 1992 when Eric Akira Tate, Steven Masami Ropp, and Greg Mayeda founded Hapa Issues Forum (HIF), an organization which sought to give individuals of mixed race a more prominent role within the Japanese American community.

LOS ANGELES (Kyodo) — Downtown Los Angeles was illuminated the evening of Aug. 19 by a "Nebuta" float made specially in Japan and shipped to the United States for the 67th annual Nisei Week Japanese Festival Grand Parade.

LOS ANGELES — Monika Taniguchi Teuffel, a 23-year-old resident of Huntington Beach, Calif., was crowned the 67th Nisei Week Queen on Saturday, Aug. 18 at the George & Sakaye Aratani Japan America Theatre in Little Tokyo.

By BEN HAMAMOTO
Nichi Bei Times

On Friday, Aug. 17, the Nikkei Community Internship Program celebrated its end for the year with a luncheon at the Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California (JCCCNC). The statewide program, which will celebrate its 10^th anniversary next year, offers college students an opportunity to get experience with various community organizations and increase their understanding of contemporary issues affecting Japanese Americans.

WASHINGTON (Kyodo) — Ryozo Kato became the longest-serving Japanese ambassador to the United States on Aug. 19, having carried out his duties in Washington for over five years and nine months.

By NANAE KEMMOCHI
Kyodo News

NEW YORK — New Yorkers are becoming increasingly accustomed to a wide range of authentic Japanese food as soba, udon, yakitori and ramen restaurants continue to make inroads. Even a Japanese-style crepe store specializing in hijiki seaweed crepes is appealing to hungry Manhattanites seeking to push the gastronomic envelope.

By ALICIA KAGAWA
Nichi Bei Times Contributor

On July 28, a sea of orange shirts overwhelmed the Narita Airport in Tokyo when the 22 families and five coaches of the Shinzen USA Nikkei Youth Goodwill Sports Program (Shinzen Program), directed by the staff of the Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California (JCCCNC), arrived to celebrate its 11th year.

LONG BEACH, Calif. — The 14^th annual North/South High School Basketball Tournament, showcasing some of the top Asian American basketball players across California, was held Aug. 3-5 at the Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo High School in Long Beach.

By CHIZU OMORI
Nichi Bei Times Columnist

Did you know that Japan ranks as "the most unequal of the world’s rich countries" when it comes to female participation in a nation’s economy and politics? This is the finding of a United Nations Development program’s "gender empowerment measure", as reported in the New York Times of August 6, 2007.