News and Announcements

Annual General Meeting Nov. 5, 2025

SVJACL's annual general meeting for members took place Wed. 11/5/25 at 4:30PM in the conference room of Higashi Farms, 6 Quail Run Circle, Salinas. Members were invited to attend in-person or via Zoom. Here is the meeting agenda which includes a summary of  our chapter activities for 2025. 

Save the Date! Veterans Day Program Honoring Nisei Veterans

Join Watsonville-Santa Cruz JACL on Veterans Day at the Mello Center for the Performing Arts in Watsonville for a special program honoring the Nisei Veterans of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team and Military Intelligence Service (MIS) who bravely served during World War II.

The featured speaker is Tom Graves, author of Twice Heroes: America’s Nisei Veterans of WWII and Korea and member of the Watsonville–Santa Cruz JACL, will share powerful stories from over a decade of photographing and interviewing Nisei Veterans and their families.

Please arrive before 10:30 a.m. to witness the 11 a.m. ceremonial bell ringing, led by Lt. Col. (Ret.) Harry Wiggins, commemorating the WWI Armistice.

This event is presented by Lt. Col. Wiggins, the Veterans of Foreign Wars Freedom Post 1716, and the American Legion Watsonville Post 121, with the support of the W–SC JACL.

Kagoshima Immigrants Honored at 70th Anniversary Ceremony 

On Saturday, September 6, 2025, the Kagoshima Association of Northern California (KANC), held a “70th Anniversary Commemorative Ceremony of Kagoshima Immigrants in Northern California” at Stanford University to honor the contributions of those who immigrated from Kagoshima Prefecture to California after 1955 under the Refugee Relief Act. 

The event began with a shortened viewing of the "Gambatte Kimashita", the documentary film about the Kagoshima immigrant flower growers of Salinas, produced by SVJACL, followed by a video greeting from the governor of Kagoshima. Chief Consul Ishihara from the Consulate General of Japan in SF and Takuma MIyaji, Vice Foreign MInister of Japan also spoke. Gifts and certificates were presented to those immigrants 88 years and older who had established businesses in the United States. 

The program included remarks by Janet Nagamine and Jimmy Eitoku (photo below right), who represented the second generation of the Kagoshima immigrants, as well as messages by three young  students from Kagoshima and a karaoke rendition of “Furusato” by those attendees. The program concluded with a video about Kagoshima native Kanae Nagasawa, the first U.S. permanent resident from Japan, who arrived in California in 1875, where he became known as the “Wine King of California”. An outdoor reception was held following the ceremony.