Acknowledgements
The original Ad Hoc Committee for Japanese Canadian Redress: The Toronto Story consisted of the following volunteer members: Bill Kobayashi (chairperson), Yukiharu Mizuyabu (vice-chairperson), Stan Hiraki, Van Hori, Blanche Hyodo, Matt Matsui, Jesse Nishihata, Roger Obata, Shirley Yamada and Harry Yonekura. Towards the later stages of the book writing process, the committee was narrowed down to just five members who were deeply involved in the Redress movement: Bill Kobayashi, Blanche Hyodo, Yuki Mizuyabu, Roger Obata and Harry Yonekura.
Others who contributed as writers, editors and technical support during the earlier stages include Irene Uchida, Donna Takayesu, John Flanders, Jennifer Hashimoto, Addie Kobayashi—and the late Roy Ito. We owe a great deal to Roy for the time and energy that he put into researching various sections of this book, even when his health was failing. We are also grateful to Sandy Usami for her impressive book cover design and to Xenofon Sugiman-Marangos, a yonsei high school student who was responsible for the layout and design of all the pages of illustrations and text. And we are indebted to Chris Kurata, Terry Watada and Joy Kogawa who provided invaluable advice along the way. Despite the unexpected setbacks that we encountered throughout this book project, the unstinting encouragement and support of Joy Kogawa was instrumental in guiding the book to completion.
We are also thankful to all those who contributed by participating in the audio taping sessions. Their recollections of the past were invaluable.
The final substantive editing of this book was a formidable task given the group authorship format and the unwieldy size of the original manuscript. The difficult job of sifting through the pages, restructuring, condensing and rewriting the final draft was completed with great patience and understanding by sansei Momoye Sugiman.
Finally, the committee would like to express its gratitude to the Japanese Canadian Redress Foundation and the Toronto Chapter of the NAJC for their generous financial support.
We are grateful for the various kinds of assistance provided by many others along the way. Since it was virtually impossible to recall each and every contributor to this Redress story, any omissions are unintentional.
Ad Hoc Committee for
Japanese Canadian Redress: The Toronto Story