Norman Mineta Becomes Society's Honorary Chairman

We are pleased to announce that the Board of Trustees has elected the Honorable Norman Y. Mineta as the Honorary Chairman of the Japan-America Society of Washington. Mr. Mineta has served as US Secretary of Commerce under President Clinton and Secretary of Transportation under President Bush, as well as a US Congressman for 20 years. He currently is Vice Chairman of Hill and Knowlton.

In December President Bush awarded Secretary Mineta the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian award. In doing so, the President said:

"Norman Mineta exemplifies the high ideals of service, integrity, and courage. Despite the injustice of living in an internment camp when he was a child, he later served his country in the U.S. Army and went on to become a mayor, Congressman, and Cabinet Secretary under two Presidents. The longest-serving Secretary of Transportation, he worked to improve the security of our transportation system and restore our confidence in air travel after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. The United States honors Norman Y. Mineta for a life of selfless and distinguished service to our Nation. "

To read more about our new Honorary Chairman, please see the latest issue of "Washington Flyer" magazine at http://washingtonflyer.com/article/2006/november_december/The%20Sky.

Senator Inouye to Address Annual Dinner

Senator Daniel K. Inouye of Hawaii, one of the nation's senior political leaders and the incoming Chairman of the US Senate Committee on Commerce, Technology, and Transportation, will be the guest speaker at the Society's 19th Annual Public Affairs Dinner, which will be held at the J W Marriott Hotel on Pennsylvania Avenue on Monday evening, January 22.

Mark your calendars now -- invitations will be mailed in the near future.

Also on the calendar that evening is the Society's Silent Auction. The Public Affairs Dinner and Silent Auction are a very important source of support for the Society's many educational, cultural, and public affairs programs.

President Ford and Japan

The Japan-America Society joins the nation in mourning the loss of President Gerald R. Ford.

President Ford set two "firsts" with respect to Japan.

Visits to Japan by American Presidents are now commonplace. But it is remarkable to know that Gerald Ford was the first incumbent American President to visit Japan, when he travelled to Tokyo in November 1974.

(Ulysses S. Grant was the only other US President to visit Japan, although his visit came two years after he left the Presidency.)

A year later, President Ford also welcomed the Emperor Showa (Emperor Hirohito) to Washington in October 1975. This was the first state visit by a Japanese Emperor to the United States.

As a US Navy officer in World War II, Ford had engaged in nine combat operations against Japanese forces in the Pacific. So the visit to the United States by Emperor Hirohito had a special meaning.

Emperor Weighs In on Japan's War Past

In a speech marking his 73rd birthday, Japan's Emperor Akihito said the practice of mourning Japan's war dead can help younger generations better understand the past. He said he hoped facts about World War II would be correctly conveyed so the suffering his generation experienced would never be repeated.

"Now that the number of those who were born after the war increases as years pass by, the practice of mourning the war dead will help them to understand what kind of world and society those in the previous generations lived in," Emperor Akihito said.

However, BBC reports, the Emperor did not touch on how people should honour those who died in World War II. He also made no mention of the Yasukuni shrine.

Toyota Poised to Become World's #1 Carmarker

After 75 years, the world automobile industry is about to get a new No. 1.

Toyota Motor Company of Japan has issued a 2007 forecast that would make it first in global sales, ahead of General Motors, which has been the world’s biggest auto company since 1931.

Toyota, which had not even built its first automobile back in 1931, expects to sell 9.34 million vehicles next year. That would exceed the 9.2 million vehicles that GM expects to sell worldwide.

Bush Signs Bill to Preserve Internment Camps

President George W. Bush has signed a law that will provide funding to preserve internment camps where Japanese-Americans were confined during World War II.

The program will allow the Department of Interior to grant funds for historical research and restoration work at 10 sites in Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Idaho, Utah and Wyoming.

The internment camps housed more than 120,000 U.S. citizens and residents of Japanese descent under an executive order by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1942, following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941.