By BILLIE LEE
Nichi Bei Times Correspondent

SAN JOSE — Finally, after three years, the "Ikoi no Ba" project is completed. As part of Japantown preservation efforts under Prop. 40, the installation of the Ikoi no Ba (or "peaceful rest place") and was supervised by the Japantown Community Congress of San Jose (JCCsj) and the San Jose Redevelopment Agency.

The five Ikoi no Ba have been situated along two blocks on Fifth Street, between Taylor and Jackson and Jackson and Empire. Joe Yasutake, former president of the JCCsj, explained that "this is because these streets represent the corridor which leads to City Hall and to the heart of Japantown."

By BEN HAMAMOTO
Nichi Bei Times

In what defense attorneys are calling an “enormous victory,” U.S. District Judge Benjamin Settle imposed a preliminary injunction on the trial of Lt. Ehren Watada, the Sansei officer who refused deployment to Iraq on the grounds he believes the war to be illegal. The Nov. 8 decision, which temporarily prevents the Army from trying Watada a second time, represents a rare case of a civilian court intervening in the military justice system.

SACRAMENTO — Sacramento's Osaka-ya, one of three remaining manju stores in Northern California, has launched an online Website for its customers where customers can order and have Japanese confectionaries delivered the following day.

Journalist Bill Hosokawa, who author numerous books on Japanese America, passed away Nov. 9 at his daughter's home in Sequim, Wash., where he had lived the past four months, the Seattle Times reported. He was 92.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — With the Nov. 6 elections, Asian Americans were elected and re-elected to local, city and statewide office from Las Cruces, New Mexico to Louisiana to Fitchburg, Massachusetts, announced nonprofit voter education organization APIAVote.

SACRAMENTO — In conjunction with Veterans Day, the Sacramento County Office of Education announced that it will again award high school diplomas to qualifying U.S. veterans and Japanese American citizens through its popular "Operation Recognition" program.

By KENJI G. TAGUMA
Nichi Bei Times

SAN JOSE — An electrical fire may have idled a third-generation culinary institution, but it could not fully snuff out one of the most beloved destinations in San Jose's Japantown.

The coming year is sure to be an exciting one for Jun Imai, the 32-year-old senior designer at Hot Wheels. The year 2008 marks the leading die-cast toy maker's 40^th year in business and to celebrate they have solicited outside designs from companies like Ford, Chevrolet, Honda, Mitsubishi, Lotus and General Motors.

By ALEC YOSHIO MacDONALD
Nichi Bei Times Columnist

Basketball turned Lindsey Yamasaki into a true globetrotter. Her talent landed her on pro teams all over the map, in places as close by as San Jose and as far away as Turkey. With her career as a player having finally reached the end of the road, however, she's come back to the Bay Area to embark upon a different kind of journey.