<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n\n1st American and Chinese World War II Memorial Monument at Monterey Park<\/h1>\nPosted on <\/span>November 23, 2010<\/time><\/a> by <\/span>robert<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<\/header>\n\nOn Nov 22,\u00a0 2010 at the unveiling ceremony ALPHA-LA\u00a0 former board member Judge Yosh Yamanaka as a guest speaker gave the following speech:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\nLadies and Gentlemen, Honored guests:<\/p>\nI\u2019d like to thank the Monterey Park City Council and the American and Chinese WW2 Memorial Monument Association for inviting me to this commemoration.<\/p>\nWe honor the American and Chinese armed forces and civilians who gave their lives to defend freedom and human rights against the aggressions of Japanese imperialism during WW2. This occasion provides us with an opportunity to reflect upon the causes and consequences of war.<\/p>\nMany historians have said that one of the root causes of Imperial Japan\u2019s militaristic expansion into Korea, Manchuria, Taiwan, and other parts of Asia was Japan\u2019s need for raw materials. That aggressive expansion was rationalized as the benevolence of Japan in creating a so-called \u201cGreater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere.\u201d Some feel that Japan\u2019s attack on the United States became inevitable when the United States prohibited the shipment of scrap iron to Japan.<\/p>\nOpportunistic nations will often go to extreme lengths to gain access to mineral resources and other raw materials located in foreign lands. War is the worst of these measures, because the destruction extends beyond the military to the civilians of the nation being attacked. Soldiers often fail to stop after vanquishing foreign armies and continue their aggressions by brutalizing the civilian population.<\/p>\nSuch crimes against civilians were perpetrated by the Japanese Imperial military. Among those crimes were the abduction, imprisonment, sexual enslavement and rape of Korean and other Asian women. Those girls and women were euphemistically called \u201cComfort Women.\u201d<\/p>\nThe government of Japan has never officially apologized to the so-called Comfort Women. Most of those women have now gone to their graves while bearing the agonizing shame and humiliation of having been raped countless times. Let us hope that Japan recognizes its moral obligation to apologize to those it has victimized. Otherwise, the last of the Comfort Women will have died, and with them, Japan\u2019s possibility for atonement.<\/p>\nIn 1995, the U.N. began discussions about expanding the Security Council to allow the seating of Japan, Germany, India, and Brazil as permanent members. Talk of Japan obtaining a permanent seat on the Security Council intensified in 2004. That year, as a member of ALPHA-LA, the Alliance to Preserve the History of World War 2 in Asia, I helped circulate a petition which opposed Japan\u2019s accession as a permanent member of an expanded Security Council. We insisted that Japan not be honored with a permanent seat until the government apologized and paid reparations to Comfort Women, victims of chemical and biological warfare, of slave labor, and of the Bataan Death March.<\/p>\nMore than one million signatures were collected in the Peoples Republic of China and many more signatures were collected elsewhere in the world. I was part of a delegation which presented those petitions to United Nations Secretary General Kofi Anan.<\/p>\nMy position today is the same as it was in 2004. I continue to feel that Japan should not be honored with a permanent seat on the Security Council until it atones for its victimization of innocent men and women during WW2.<\/p>\nJapan is the country of my birth, and some of my relatives have urged me not to publicly criticize Japan. However, as a free citizen of the world, my conscience requires me to speak out whenever massive crimes are perpetrated by a government, whether that government is that of Japan, the United States, Myanmar, Sudan, or the Peoples Republic of China.<\/p>\nIn closing, let me say that it is appropriate that we commemorate the American and Chinese soldiers and civilians who resisted Japan\u2019s imperialist aggression during WW2. Today\u2019s commemoration reminds us that there is a famous wall in Washington D.C. that commemorates American soldiers who gave their lives during our war against the Vietnamese people. And there are other memorials throughout the world dedicated to the memory of those who suffered or died because of war. My hope is that one day, it will be unnecessary to build war memorials, because war will have become an obsolete instrument of our barbaric past.<\/p>\nI believe that if everyone who shares this hope commits to this vision, we can achieve a world which does not choose war as a solution, but one in which all people enjoy a peaceful coexistence.<\/p>\nI wish to again thank the City Council, and the members of the American and Chinese WW2 Memorial Monument Association.<\/p>\nThank you.<\/p>\nEditor note: Yosh Yamanaka was born in Tokyo, Japan 10 months after VJ Day.\u00a0 He immigrated to the United States when he was 4 \u00bd years old and attended public schools in Los Angeles.\u00a0 He got his undergraduate degree at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.\u00a0 Yosh got his teaching credential and M.A. in Special Education and taught math, science and photography for 14 years.\u00a0 In the meantime, he took evening classes at Southwestern, passed the California Bar Exam, and practiced law for 8 years.<\/em><\/p>\nYosh was appointed to the bench and has been a workers\u2019 compensation administrative law judge for the past 16 years.\u00a0 He has served as an officer on numerous non-profit boards including Pacifica Foundation, L.A. Friends of Tibet, Captive Daughters, and the Alliance to Preserve the History of WWII in Asia.<\/em><\/p>\nYosh will be retiring from the bench next month to teach English in Laos and work on the unexploded ordnance problem in that country.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n
On Nov 22,\u00a0 2010 at the unveiling ceremony ALPHA-LA\u00a0 former board member Judge Yosh Yamanaka as a guest speaker gave the following speech:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\nLadies and Gentlemen, Honored guests:<\/p>\nI\u2019d like to thank the Monterey Park City Council and the American and Chinese WW2 Memorial Monument Association for inviting me to this commemoration.<\/p>\nWe honor the American and Chinese armed forces and civilians who gave their lives to defend freedom and human rights against the aggressions of Japanese imperialism during WW2. This occasion provides us with an opportunity to reflect upon the causes and consequences of war.<\/p>\nMany historians have said that one of the root causes of Imperial Japan\u2019s militaristic expansion into Korea, Manchuria, Taiwan, and other parts of Asia was Japan\u2019s need for raw materials. That aggressive expansion was rationalized as the benevolence of Japan in creating a so-called \u201cGreater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere.\u201d Some feel that Japan\u2019s attack on the United States became inevitable when the United States prohibited the shipment of scrap iron to Japan.<\/p>\nOpportunistic nations will often go to extreme lengths to gain access to mineral resources and other raw materials located in foreign lands. War is the worst of these measures, because the destruction extends beyond the military to the civilians of the nation being attacked. Soldiers often fail to stop after vanquishing foreign armies and continue their aggressions by brutalizing the civilian population.<\/p>\nSuch crimes against civilians were perpetrated by the Japanese Imperial military. Among those crimes were the abduction, imprisonment, sexual enslavement and rape of Korean and other Asian women. Those girls and women were euphemistically called \u201cComfort Women.\u201d<\/p>\nThe government of Japan has never officially apologized to the so-called Comfort Women. Most of those women have now gone to their graves while bearing the agonizing shame and humiliation of having been raped countless times. Let us hope that Japan recognizes its moral obligation to apologize to those it has victimized. Otherwise, the last of the Comfort Women will have died, and with them, Japan\u2019s possibility for atonement.<\/p>\nIn 1995, the U.N. began discussions about expanding the Security Council to allow the seating of Japan, Germany, India, and Brazil as permanent members. Talk of Japan obtaining a permanent seat on the Security Council intensified in 2004. That year, as a member of ALPHA-LA, the Alliance to Preserve the History of World War 2 in Asia, I helped circulate a petition which opposed Japan\u2019s accession as a permanent member of an expanded Security Council. We insisted that Japan not be honored with a permanent seat until the government apologized and paid reparations to Comfort Women, victims of chemical and biological warfare, of slave labor, and of the Bataan Death March.<\/p>\nMore than one million signatures were collected in the Peoples Republic of China and many more signatures were collected elsewhere in the world. I was part of a delegation which presented those petitions to United Nations Secretary General Kofi Anan.<\/p>\nMy position today is the same as it was in 2004. I continue to feel that Japan should not be honored with a permanent seat on the Security Council until it atones for its victimization of innocent men and women during WW2.<\/p>\nJapan is the country of my birth, and some of my relatives have urged me not to publicly criticize Japan. However, as a free citizen of the world, my conscience requires me to speak out whenever massive crimes are perpetrated by a government, whether that government is that of Japan, the United States, Myanmar, Sudan, or the Peoples Republic of China.<\/p>\nIn closing, let me say that it is appropriate that we commemorate the American and Chinese soldiers and civilians who resisted Japan\u2019s imperialist aggression during WW2. Today\u2019s commemoration reminds us that there is a famous wall in Washington D.C. that commemorates American soldiers who gave their lives during our war against the Vietnamese people. And there are other memorials throughout the world dedicated to the memory of those who suffered or died because of war. My hope is that one day, it will be unnecessary to build war memorials, because war will have become an obsolete instrument of our barbaric past.<\/p>\nI believe that if everyone who shares this hope commits to this vision, we can achieve a world which does not choose war as a solution, but one in which all people enjoy a peaceful coexistence.<\/p>\nI wish to again thank the City Council, and the members of the American and Chinese WW2 Memorial Monument Association.<\/p>\nThank you.<\/p>\nEditor note: Yosh Yamanaka was born in Tokyo, Japan 10 months after VJ Day.\u00a0 He immigrated to the United States when he was 4 \u00bd years old and attended public schools in Los Angeles.\u00a0 He got his undergraduate degree at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.\u00a0 Yosh got his teaching credential and M.A. in Special Education and taught math, science and photography for 14 years.\u00a0 In the meantime, he took evening classes at Southwestern, passed the California Bar Exam, and practiced law for 8 years.<\/em><\/p>\nYosh was appointed to the bench and has been a workers\u2019 compensation administrative law judge for the past 16 years.\u00a0 He has served as an officer on numerous non-profit boards including Pacifica Foundation, L.A. Friends of Tibet, Captive Daughters, and the Alliance to Preserve the History of WWII in Asia.<\/em><\/p>\nYosh will be retiring from the bench next month to teach English in Laos and work on the unexploded ordnance problem in that country.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Ladies and Gentlemen, Honored guests:<\/p>\n
I\u2019d like to thank the Monterey Park City Council and the American and Chinese WW2 Memorial Monument Association for inviting me to this commemoration.<\/p>\n
We honor the American and Chinese armed forces and civilians who gave their lives to defend freedom and human rights against the aggressions of Japanese imperialism during WW2. This occasion provides us with an opportunity to reflect upon the causes and consequences of war.<\/p>\n
Many historians have said that one of the root causes of Imperial Japan\u2019s militaristic expansion into Korea, Manchuria, Taiwan, and other parts of Asia was Japan\u2019s need for raw materials. That aggressive expansion was rationalized as the benevolence of Japan in creating a so-called \u201cGreater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere.\u201d Some feel that Japan\u2019s attack on the United States became inevitable when the United States prohibited the shipment of scrap iron to Japan.<\/p>\n
Opportunistic nations will often go to extreme lengths to gain access to mineral resources and other raw materials located in foreign lands. War is the worst of these measures, because the destruction extends beyond the military to the civilians of the nation being attacked. Soldiers often fail to stop after vanquishing foreign armies and continue their aggressions by brutalizing the civilian population.<\/p>\n
Such crimes against civilians were perpetrated by the Japanese Imperial military. Among those crimes were the abduction, imprisonment, sexual enslavement and rape of Korean and other Asian women. Those girls and women were euphemistically called \u201cComfort Women.\u201d<\/p>\n
The government of Japan has never officially apologized to the so-called Comfort Women. Most of those women have now gone to their graves while bearing the agonizing shame and humiliation of having been raped countless times. Let us hope that Japan recognizes its moral obligation to apologize to those it has victimized. Otherwise, the last of the Comfort Women will have died, and with them, Japan\u2019s possibility for atonement.<\/p>\n
In 1995, the U.N. began discussions about expanding the Security Council to allow the seating of Japan, Germany, India, and Brazil as permanent members. Talk of Japan obtaining a permanent seat on the Security Council intensified in 2004. That year, as a member of ALPHA-LA, the Alliance to Preserve the History of World War 2 in Asia, I helped circulate a petition which opposed Japan\u2019s accession as a permanent member of an expanded Security Council. We insisted that Japan not be honored with a permanent seat until the government apologized and paid reparations to Comfort Women, victims of chemical and biological warfare, of slave labor, and of the Bataan Death March.<\/p>\n
More than one million signatures were collected in the Peoples Republic of China and many more signatures were collected elsewhere in the world. I was part of a delegation which presented those petitions to United Nations Secretary General Kofi Anan.<\/p>\n
My position today is the same as it was in 2004. I continue to feel that Japan should not be honored with a permanent seat on the Security Council until it atones for its victimization of innocent men and women during WW2.<\/p>\n
Japan is the country of my birth, and some of my relatives have urged me not to publicly criticize Japan. However, as a free citizen of the world, my conscience requires me to speak out whenever massive crimes are perpetrated by a government, whether that government is that of Japan, the United States, Myanmar, Sudan, or the Peoples Republic of China.<\/p>\n
In closing, let me say that it is appropriate that we commemorate the American and Chinese soldiers and civilians who resisted Japan\u2019s imperialist aggression during WW2. Today\u2019s commemoration reminds us that there is a famous wall in Washington D.C. that commemorates American soldiers who gave their lives during our war against the Vietnamese people. And there are other memorials throughout the world dedicated to the memory of those who suffered or died because of war. My hope is that one day, it will be unnecessary to build war memorials, because war will have become an obsolete instrument of our barbaric past.<\/p>\n
I believe that if everyone who shares this hope commits to this vision, we can achieve a world which does not choose war as a solution, but one in which all people enjoy a peaceful coexistence.<\/p>\n
I wish to again thank the City Council, and the members of the American and Chinese WW2 Memorial Monument Association.<\/p>\n
Thank you.<\/p>\n
Editor note: Yosh Yamanaka was born in Tokyo, Japan 10 months after VJ Day.\u00a0 He immigrated to the United States when he was 4 \u00bd years old and attended public schools in Los Angeles.\u00a0 He got his undergraduate degree at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.\u00a0 Yosh got his teaching credential and M.A. in Special Education and taught math, science and photography for 14 years.\u00a0 In the meantime, he took evening classes at Southwestern, passed the California Bar Exam, and practiced law for 8 years.<\/em><\/p>\nYosh was appointed to the bench and has been a workers\u2019 compensation administrative law judge for the past 16 years.\u00a0 He has served as an officer on numerous non-profit boards including Pacifica Foundation, L.A. Friends of Tibet, Captive Daughters, and the Alliance to Preserve the History of WWII in Asia.<\/em><\/p>\nYosh will be retiring from the bench next month to teach English in Laos and work on the unexploded ordnance problem in that country.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Yosh was appointed to the bench and has been a workers\u2019 compensation administrative law judge for the past 16 years.\u00a0 He has served as an officer on numerous non-profit boards including Pacifica Foundation, L.A. Friends of Tibet, Captive Daughters, and the Alliance to Preserve the History of WWII in Asia.<\/em><\/p>\nYosh will be retiring from the bench next month to teach English in Laos and work on the unexploded ordnance problem in that country.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Yosh will be retiring from the bench next month to teach English in Laos and work on the unexploded ordnance problem in that country.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n