YUJI ICHIOKA MONUMENT PROPOSAL

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YUJI ICHIOKA

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BIOGRAPHY

Yuji Ichioka was born to two Japanese immigrants on June 23rd, 1936 in San Francisco, California. He was interned with his family at the Topaz War Relocation Center in Utah. His family returned to California after the Pacific War and their release from the camp.

After graduating from Berkeley High school, Ichioka served three years of military service. He then earned his undergraduate degree in history at UCLA in 1962.

The next year, he became a graduate student at Columbia University and studied East Asian history. He dropped out less than a year later and instead, went to work for a social service agency in New York, working with juvenile delinquent youth.

He later returned to school after a trip to Japan and received his master’s degree in East Asian Studies at UC Berkley.

To the right, Topaz War Relocation Center in Utah. https://en.wikipedia. org/wiki/Topaz_War_Relocation_ Center

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BIOGRAPHY

In 1969, Ichioka taught the first Asian American Studies course at UCLA and became the associate director of the university’s newly created Asian American Studies Center.

Ichioka and his wife of over 25 years, Emma Gee. https://time. com/5837805/asian-american-history/

He then served as a senior researcher at the UCLA Asian American Studies Center and as Adjunct Professor of History at UCLA from 1969 to 2002.

Ichioka died from cancer on September 1st, 2002. The Yuji Ichioka and Emma Gee Endowment in Social Justice and Immigration Studies was established in their name at the UCLA Asian American Studies center.

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LOCATION #1 GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY: OUTSIDE OF THE AQUIA BUILDING A good location for this monument is outside the Aquia Building. This is a good place because the Asian Studies minor is part of the Global Affairs program which is located in this building on campus.

Asian Studies was what Ichioka received his master’s degree in and I think it is important that I link this to our school and studies program.

Aquia Building, https://www.mbpce.com/project/ george-mason-university-aquia-data-center/

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“ASIAN AMERICAN” During his time at Berkeley, Ichioka was a student activist. He founded the Asian American Political Alliance in 1968, during time there, an organization to help unify different Asian ethnic groups. He coined the term “Asian American” for it, creating a new self-defining political term. Before this, the terms “Oriental” and “Asiatic” were still in use, and now they are frowned upon for being out-of-date and having negative connotations.

Asian American is now a common term used for Americans of Asian descent and millions of people refer to themselves with this term today.

Ichioka at an Asian Americans for Peace march and rally in L.A. on Jan. 17, 1970. https://newsroom.ucla.edu/magazine/ucla-asian-american-studies-center

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Yuji Ichioka at a rally. Pictured are signs with phrases such as “Yello https://asamnews.com/2014/08/31/voa-the-term-asian-american-is

ow Peril Supports Black Power” and “Chairman Mao Says Free.” s-a-double-edged-sword/

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LOCATION #2 UCLA: OUTSIDE OF THE ASIAN AMERICAN STUDIES CENTER A good alternative location for this monument would be outside the UCLA Asian American Studies Center.

Ichioka is an alumnus and taught at this university for over 20 years. He was also the associate director and a senior research at this building and it would be very meaningful to have his monument outside this building where he did most of his work and representing how much effort he put into the school.

The UCLA Asian American Studies Center was established as a result of faculty, students, alumni, and community, presenting the role of Asian Americans in society. http://www.aasc.ucla.edu/45th/45th_accomp01.aspx

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ICHIOKA’S PUBLICATIONS With his classmate from UCLA, Yasuo Sakata, Ichioka organized the Japanese American Research Project and published A Buried Past, the first bibliography of the collection. And he later published A Buried Past II: A Sequel to the Annotated Bibliography of the Japanese American Research Project Collection with Eiichiro Azuma in 1989, In 1988, he published his book, The Issei: The World of the First Generation Japanese Immigrant, 1885-1924, which won him the 1989 U.S. History Book Award of the National Association for Asian American Studies.

Ichioka has also written two articles: “Japanese Immigrant Nationalism: The Issei and the Sino-Japanese War, 1937-1941” for California History and “Beyond National Boundaries: The Complexity of Japanese-American History” for Amerasia Journal.

In 2006, after Ichioka’s death, a collection of his last essays was published, called Before Internment: Essays in Prewar Japanese American History. This was edited

by Gordon H. Chang and Eiichiro Azuma and is to be considered Ichioka’s final work.

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STATUE DESIGN

YUJI ICHIOKA 1936 - 2002 CLASS OF 1962

ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR & SENIOR RESEARCHER OF THE ASIAN AMERICAN STUDIES CENTER

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FLOWER MEANINGS CHERRY BLOSSOMS

Cherry blossoms are the national flower of Japan, where Ichioka’s family is from, and it is a beautiful and symbolic flower that represents spring, a time of renewal.

LOTUSES

The lotus flower, in eastern religions, is a symbol of purity, enlightment, self-regeneration, and rebirth. Even when its roots are the dirtiest water, it produces a beautiful flower.

PETUNIAS

Petunias symbolize many things. They may be considered to mean anger and resentment, but it can also represent the desire to never lose hope.

VIOLETS

Violets represent modesty, innocence, faithfulness, humility, and remembrance. Its spiritual meaning stimulates the imagination and high ideals.

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