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CURRENT EVENTS:
Can you believe Florida’s constitution still has “alien
land law” language in it?
This language was popular in the US at the
turn of the 20th century and was aimed at Japanese and Asian
immigrants. Funny (sad really) that we
said these immigrants were aliens and yet, they couldn’t become citizens if
they wanted. Today, every state except
Florida has
eliminated this language.
In 1926 Florida joined several other states and
added this racist language to our state constitution. Finally, after all these years there are
those in our legislature who are trying to right this wrong.
Senate Bill 84 (House Bill H1553) will remove this
discriminatory language. Please
contact your State Senators and Representatives to ask them to pass this
bill.
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WERE THERE REALLY SAMURAI IN FLORIDA?
It was 1905. In Japan, the
Tokugawa Shogunate had fought its last battle less than 20 years prior and
Emperor Meiji’s restoration was well underway. The Sakai family was one of several valuable
samurai family retainers for the Tokugawa Shogunate. The proud noble family
was ruler of the Himeji
castle until 1868 when full power was returned to the Emperor. With the
modernization of Japan,
the Sakai
family like all samurai had to seek other occupations. Since this was an era
of peace, the samurai warrior’s skills were no longer needed. A family
history rich in honor and military prowess had to change almost overnight to
survive. The samurai had to find other occupations. They became
bureaucrats, writers, merchants, or farmers.
Not too far away, the Sakai’s of Miyazu were
retainers of a local daimyo clan, the Honjo.
The Honjo governed from the Miyazu castle from 1758 to 1868. Two young brothers from the Sakai family watched
the samurai way of life end. They set out like many before them to a new
world. They set out to America.
Komasu Sakai and his younger
brother Tamemasu Kamiya traveled
half way across the world to Florida,
to start a new beginning. They poetically named their grand experiment
“Yamato” or “the beginning”. This web page is in part dedicated to that
story about their experiences and struggle for survival according to family
legend as ...
Florida samurai.
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Henry Tamemasu Kamiya kept a
detailed journal from 1914 to 1941. In
the 20’s when Yamato’s founder, his brother died, he took the reins of the
colony and helped many of the colonists in their struggle to start a new
life.
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The
Morikami Museum
and Japanese Gardens
is a center for Japanese arts in culture in South
Florida.
The
Yamato-kan, modeled after a Japanese villa chronicles the history of the Yamato
Colony, the Japanese farming community founded in 1905.
www.morikami.org
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“The
history of the Nisei World War II veterans – the 100th Infantry Battalion,
442nd Regimental Combat Team, Military Intelligence Service and others –
deserves to be told and passed on to future generations.”
www.goforbroke.org
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“The mission of the Japanese American
National Museum
is to promote understanding and appreciation of America’s ethnic and cultural
diversity by sharing the Japanese American experience. “
www.janm.org
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