Watch the 80th Anniversary Video

View the Ceremony hosted at the Bainbridge Island Japanese American Exclusion Memorial on March 30, 2022 Watch the 80th Anniversary presentation in its entirety, featuring Frances Ikegami, survivor of the forced removal, four student leaders from Woodward Middle School, the declaration from the City of Bainbridge Island, speakers from BIJAC,

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Happy Birthday, Akio!

An eagle-eyed BIJAC member, Karen Matsumoto, recently snapped a photo of a farm-style tribute to Akio Suyematsu, local legend and last Japanese American farmer on Bainbridge Island. Outlined in pumpkins on a large plot recently devoted to a pumpkin patch, are the words “Happy 100 Akio.” Akio Suyematsu would have

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Reader Fires Off on Inaccurate Listing

From the 2006 Congressional testimony of Fumiko Hayashida, to the “Leaving Our Island” curriculum at Bainbridge Island School District, to guided tours at the Exclusion Memorial, the Bainbridge Island Japanese American Community has made it its mission to help educate others about Executive Order 9066 and the resulting incarceration of

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BIJAC Response to Anti-Asian Racism

The Bainbridge Island Japanese American Community deplores the alarming rise of anti-Asian racism, hate and violence, and we share in the Asian community’s collective grief of the horrific killings of Asian women in Atlanta. Ever since the former president uttered – and continues to use this day – the racist

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Kay Sakai Nakao, Bainbridge survivor of WWII internment camp, dies at 100

KING5 News reports Kay Sakai Nakao, who was active in Bainbridge Island’s Japanese American community and was interned during World War II, has died. https://www.king5.com/article/news/local/kay-sakai-nakao-obituary/281-8a45ea27-43ec-42c7-82ea-9a7a49e81032

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