Nisei

The grant funding has been a “tremendous asset,” said Manuel Cunha Jr., president of the Nisei Farmers League, and the growers he represents are worried about what will happen once the money runs out.

Ten feet tall and made of black lacquered wood decorated with gold, the shrine was carried in the Nisei Week Festival parade in Little Tokyo in August 1960, The Times reported.

Some Little Tokyo businesses that served Issei and Nisei — Japanese immigrants and their American-born children — have closed or are struggling, while others have found a way to evolve and thrive.

“John wanted to write the great American novel. This is the great Japanese American novel, the great Nisei novel,” Abe said, referring to the term for Japanese Americans born in the U.S. to immigrant parents.

Nisei Veterans Committee, dedicated to preserving and honoring Japanese American legacies, has held a Memorial Day service since 1964.