Historical Notes: 20 Years After

Through the lantern-lit streets of Los Angeles' Little Tokyo district, masqueraders, serpentine dancers with an ancient shrine on their shoulders, and kimono-clad maidens will parade this week. Kendo swordsmen polished their bamboo breastplates for a tournament, luncheon speakers rounded out their testimonial oratory and, at a glittering ball at the Ambassador Hotel, a porcelain princess will reign as Queen of the Nisei Week. Officially, Nisei week is a tribute to Southern California's Japanese-American community, the largest (90,000) in the continental U.S. Unofficially, it recalls an ugly footnote to American history: the...

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