WASHINGTON — During his official visit to Washington, D.C., Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida visited the National Japanese American Memorial to Patriotism During World War II on April 9.
Kishida was welcomed by community representatives, including Ken Inouye, son of the late Sen. Daniel K. Inouye (D-Hawaii), the first Japanese American to become a member of Congress; Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii); Rep. Jill Tokuda (D-Hawaii); and leaders of local Japanese Americans organizations, including youth.
Kishida laid a wreath at the memorial and paid respects to the achievements of Japanese Americans.
He also planted a young Someiyoshino cherry tree to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Inouye’s birth, in the hope that the history of Japanese Americans continues to be handed over to the next generations. A decorated veteran of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, Inouye was elected to Hawaii’s territorial House of Representatives in 1953 and territorial Senate in 1957. When Hawaii achieved statehood in 1959, he became its first member in the U.S. House of Representatives. Inouye was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1962 and continued to serve until his death in 2012 at the age of 88. As president pro tempore of the Senate, he was third in the presidential line of succession after the vice president and the speaker of the House.
Established in 2001 by the National Japanese American Memorial Foundation, a group of mainly Japanese American veterans, as a memorial to the more than 800 Japanese American soldiers killed in action while serving with the U.S. Army in World War II and the more 120,000 Japanese Americans who were held in concentration camps.
“Honored to mark the 100th birthday of late Hawaii Sen. Daniel K. Inouye with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, Ken Inouye, and friends in a cherry blossom tree planting ceremony,” Tokuda said on Instagram. “We remembered the legacy Sen. Inouye left behind and the barriers he broke for Japanese Americans everywhere.”
“It’s a momentous day for me and a momentous day for my family,” Ken Inouye told WWNY. “We’re really humbled by this.”
“For him [Kishida] to take the time to come here and acknowledge the meaningfulness of this memorial is important,” Hirono told WWNY.