Sakura Kato

skato

Sakura Kato is the 2014 Nikkei Community Intern for the Japanese American National Museum (JANM) and the Japanese American Bar Association (JABA) primarily working to document the legacy of Japanese American jurists. She is also a proud Trojan studying History and Pre-Law at the University of Southern California.

Updated July 2014

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The Nikkei Community Internship: Strengthening the Future of the Three Remaining Japantowns

By Sakura Kato
11 Aug 2014

It is incredible to imagine that there had been a staggering 43 Japantowns throughout the nation at one point in time. However, when Pearl Harbor was bombed and Executive Order 9066 was signed, the once populous Japanese American communities began to disappear. Now, only three recognized Japantowns are left in the United States—Little Tokyo in Los Angeles, Nihonmachi in San Francisco, and Japantown in San Jose. These remaining historic relics of the Japanese American community are spaces that physically capture the hopes of the immigrant generation, the injustices of the war period, a…

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The JABA Legacy Project: Two Generations of Pioneering Judges in the Nikkei Community

Judge A. Wallace Tashima: A Judge Who Looks Like Us

By Sakura Kato
6 Aug 2014

Living in the bleak barracks of a WWII concentration camp, the young Judge A. Wallace Tashima could sense “a dark atmosphere [in American society], that there was something sinister about being Japanese.” Because all persons of Japanese ancestry were branded as “un-American” and “subversive,” Tashima grew up during a time when Japanese Americans like himself could not be conceived as judges. Yet in becoming the first Japanese American elevated to the U.S. Court of Appeals, Judge Tashima has successfully proven otherwise and now upholds the promises of t…

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The JABA Legacy Project: Two Generations of Pioneering Judges in the Nikkei Community

Judge Fred J. Fujioka: Honoring our Past and Empowering our Future - Part 2

By Sakura Kato
30 Jul 2014

Read Part 1 >>Breaking the Bamboo Ceiling Over the 17 years that he practiced as an attorney, both in the Public Defender’s Office and in private practice, he recalls being one of very few Japanese American criminal defense attorneys. “I did everything from drunk driving trials to death penalty trials. I wasn’t afraid. I would try anything. And so to me, to be able to be a criminal defense attorney was real important because it broke the stereotype of the quiet Asian,” Fujioka said. Yet in being one of the few Japanese American criminal defense attorneys …

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The JABA Legacy Project: Two Generations of Pioneering Judges in the Nikkei Community

Judge Fred J. Fujioka: Honoring our Past and Empowering our Future - Part 1

By Sakura Kato
29 Jul 2014

On January 7, 1951, Moto Hayami held her newborn grandson in her arms and prophetically said, “Fred is going to be the lawyer of the Fujioka family.”* Indeed, Judge Fred J. Fujioka of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County has fulfilled his grandmother’s expectations in becoming not only the “lawyer of the Fujioka family,” but also the community organizer, the political activist, and last but not least, the judge of the Fujioka family. A Long Line of Japanese American Legacies Judge Fujioka hails from a long line of Japanese American legacies that he p…

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Nikkei Chronicles #3—Nikkei Names: Taro, John, Juan, João?

Growing Up with a Japanese Name in the United States

By Sakura Kato
22 Jul 2014

My name is Sakura Kato, and just Sakura Kato. I have no middle name or an English name or really anything to signify my identity as a Japanese-American. When growing up, I could never find my name on a pre-made mug or keychain like my friends named “Ashley” or “Christine,” and references to my name could only be found in anime like Naruto or Cardcaptor Sakura. During roll call, my heart would always beat faster and my face would turn red in fear that the substitute teacher would somehow mispronounce my name yet again. With a name like Sakura Kato, there could never be…

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Japanese migrants and their descendants

Sakura Kato

The JABA Legacy Project: Two Generations of Pioneering Judges in the Nikkei Community

The JABA Legacy Project: Two Generations of Pioneering Judges in the Nikkei Community

The JABA Legacy Project: Two Generations of Pioneering Judges in the Nikkei Community

Nikkei Chronicles #3—Nikkei Names: Taro, John, Juan, João?

Series this author contributes to

Narumi Ogusuku—Ubiquitous Nikkei Artist

The Power of Irei

Digging up Ways to Honor Her Ancestors—Kyoko Oda and Ireichō

Two Worlds: The Life and Photography of Wakaji Matsumoto

Part 1—Wakaji’s Beginnings

Niki Nakayama: How a JA Angeleno Conquered the Rarefied World of Japanese Kaiseki Cuisine

My Name is Neal

Journal Entry #10, 18, and 1958 are Good: "Best Numbers..."

アメリカの日本語媒体

第12回 全米に行き渡るインターネットラジオ『さくらRADIO』

Book review: Beyond the Betrayal, The Memoir of a World War II Japanese American Draft Resister of Conscience

Of Inomatas and Kingis: The Story of a Remarkable Family

Child Labor and Generational Business

書評：和泉真澄『日系カナダ人の移動と運動―知られざる日本人の越境生活史』

1992年渡米、目標は「アカデミー賞」— 俳優の井上英治さん

Kizuna 2020: Nikkei Kindness and Solidarity During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Tiempos pandémicos: teletrabajo y koden digital

Kizuna 2020: Nikkei Kindness and Solidarity During the COVID-19 Pandemic

COVID-19 e os heróis anônimos

香川県海外移民の父：今雪真一の情熱と功績

第３部：金子正則知事の南米訪問とその主な見解

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Journal Entry #10, 18, and 1958 are Good: "Best Numbers..."

Book review: Beyond the Betrayal, The Memoir of a World War II Japanese American Draft Resister of Conscience

Of Inomatas and Kingis: The Story of a Remarkable Family

Child Labor and Generational Business

Living, Dying and Passing It On — Alan Nishio Family at Ireichō

Part 1: Yone Hara

Journal Entry #Per 24 Hour Cycle: "Internet Inaction..."

A Vision Takes Root: The Legacy of Judy Nishimoto Ota and the San Pedro Firm Building

Aloha, France — Part 2

Aloha, France — Part 1

Finding Forgiveness: Director Stafford Arima on Bringing the Award-Winning Memoir to the Stage

When We Enable Racism

Postwar Japanese Emigration to the Dominican Republic — Part 2: The Japanese American Response

In Remembrance of the Tohoku Earthquake & Tsunami: An Interview with The Hidden Japan’s Derek Yamashita—Part 1

Seiichi Higashide — A Man With Three Homelands

Futon, Shoyu, and More: Japanese Words Incorporated into the Vocabulary of Brazil

Remembering Them—Tsuchiya Family Honors Elders Through Ireichō

Yoshie Fujiwara and Japanese Americans I: A Night at the Opera

Setsuko Moriya — Part 3

Redress: A film about the Office of Redress Administration

Journal Entry #2/14/23: "The Most Dangerous Day..."

Manzanar, Diverted: An Appreciation

Ancestry and Toxicity: Breaking Free From Old Patterns and Toxic Relationships

Surrender

Postwar Japanese Emigration to the Dominican Republic — Part 1: A Tragic Tale

Barbed Wire, Guard Tower, Tar Paper Barracks, Roll Call

Dutch Leonard - The Ballplayer who challenged Fresno's racism

Toronto Japanese Canadian Duo Releases Groundbreaking EP

Yasuko Aratani—She Never Stopped Dreaming

Tokita Tales—Only in America

Journal Entry #My Top 6: "Holy Crappy Cartoon, Batman!"

Being Blasian

Bill Mauldin – An Artist with a Cause

70th Anniversary of Fukuoka Kenjinkai Mexico

A Letter to My Community Urging Protection of Minidoka

Thomas Takashi Nakahara

In Remembrance of the Tohoku Earthquake & Tsunami: An Interview with The Hidden Japan’s Derek Yamashita—Part 2

Tea with my Ancestors

Lessons Realized

American Dream

Journal Entry #Only 2 Choices: "Do or Not Do..."

Our Man on the Hill: Sidney Yates — Part 2

OBITUARY - Juan Pollo Restaurant Founder Albert Okura, 71

Ask a Historian: How Did Alaska Natives Wind Up Inside Japanese American Concentration Camps?

Celebrating a Century: Nisei War Veteran and Esteemed Journalist Frank Moritsugu Turns 100

Journal Entry #At Least 4500 Years Old: "Infinite Bands..."

第12回全米に行き渡るインターネットラジオ『さくらRADIO』