Ahead of the day when the presidential order that led to the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II was signed, a lecture was held in Western California to consider the history of baseball and Japanese Americans. Some of them later made contributions to the major leagues, and he appealed for their achievements to be recognized.
In 1942, during World War II, then-President Roosevelt signed an executive order that forced approximately 120,000 Japanese Americans and others who were considered "enemy aliens" into internment camps across the United States. was sent to.
Before the signature was signed on February 19th, a commemorative event was held in Fresno, Western California on the 10th, where Kelly Nakagawa works to document and disseminate the history of Japanese American baseball, which continued even in internment camps. gave a lecture.
In this article, he introduced that there was a time when Japanese Americans were not able to play on major league teams due to racial barriers.
He also said that there were Japanese American players with the ability to play in the major leagues in the camps at the time, saying, ``What if Nomo, Ichiro, and Otani could only play surrounded by barbed wire?'' ``How unfortunate is that?'' he said.
Nakagawa said, ``It has come to be recognized that first- and second-generation immigrants who were detained later became pioneers of baseball in Japan and the United States. I want people to know that I have many accomplishments."