Lest We Forget

Buddhists Who Fought for America

This is the roll-call, which will never be forgotten as long as there is Buddhism in America, of the Japanese-Americans who died fighting on the American side in WWII:

Amakawa, Nobuo		Kawata, Goro		Ogasawara, Yorio
Aragaki, Hideo  	Kaya, Satoshi		Ogata, Masaru
Arai, Tatsuo		Kimura, Matsuichi	Ogata, Tsugio
Asai, Yukio		Kinoshita, Kunito	Ogomori, Yoshio
Asami, Iwao		Kinoshita, Sadakazu	Okamoto, Mitsumi
Asaato, Shotaro		Kiyabu, Shigeo		Okamoto, Sueo
Chinen, Makoto		Kiyota, Yorio		Okimoto, Hisao
Choriki, Kiyoshi	Kobayashi, Mitsuo	Okimoto, Masao
Doi, Haruo		Kohara, Sadaichi	Okumura, Kataro
Eji, Kazuhiko		Komatsu, Kameo		Okumura, Toyokazu
Eki, Joji		Kondo, Harushi		Onaga, Takyesu
Fujii, Masao		Kono, Yasuyuki		Onishi, Mamoru
Fujikawa, Masaki	Kotsubo, Seichi		Otaguro, Nobuto
Fujiki, Hideo		Kouchi, Takashi		Otaguro, Tadashi
Fujinaka, Noboru	Kozuki, Masaru		Otake, Sadao,
Fuykamizu, Haruo`	Kubo, Yoshio		Ozaki, Ykio
Fukeda, Akira		Kuboyama, Mitsuharu	Sahara, Atsuo
Fukugawa, Masami	Kuraoka, Sadayoshi	Sakamoto, Isao
Fukuhara, Masuo		Kuroda, Ichiji		Sakamoto, Uichi
Fukumoto, Shizuo	Kuroda, Toshio		Sasaki, Yoshio
Fukumura, Itsuji	Kuwahara, Suneo		Sasaki, Yukio
Funai, Kazuto		Maeda, Kenji		Sasaoka, Goroku
Furakawa, Tsuyoshi	Mana, Seiso		Shikita, Katao
Furukido, Kenzo		Mashita, Masatomi	Shimabukuro, Tomoaki
Goda, Hiroshi		Matsumoto, Goro		Shimizu, Satoru
Hagihara, Yoshio	Matsumoto, Sadao	Shimizu, Takeo
Hamamoto, Seiichi	Matsumoto, Yoshio	Shimonoya. Toshio
Hanaoka, Shuzo		Matsunaga, Junichi	Shintani, Takeo
Harada, Kiyoshi		Matsuno, Shizuo		Sogi, Masaru
Hasemoto, Mikio		Mekata, Tzutomu		Sugawara, Senji
Hashimoto, Masato	Migita, Torao		Sugiyama, Itsuo
Hatanaka, Masao		Minatodani, Isamu	Suwa, Nobuyuki
Hayakawa, Minoru	Mito, Kazuo		Taira, Masaru
Hayakawa, Yoji		Miura, Eiso		Takafuji, Shigeo
Hayama, Makoto		Miura, Toshio		Takemoto, Haruo
Hayashi, Nobuaki	Miyabe, Masami		Takemoto, Seiichi
Hayashi, Shiro		Miyaguchi, Masayuki	Tamura, Toyoshi
Higa, Matsuo		Miyajima, Shizuo	Tanaka, Keiichi
Higashi, Kdenji		Miyamoto, Hideo		Tanimoto, Tadayuki
Hirahara, Tomomi	Miyamoto, Tokuyoshi	Tanimoto, Yukio
Hiramatsu, Kazuo	Miyata, Tamotsu		Tanonaka, Hiroshi
Hiramoto, Hirayuki	Miyata, Yukito		Tengan, Yowhio
Hiraoka, Genichi	Mizumoto, Tamotsu	Tenno, Yoshio
Hiraoka, Rin		Mochizuki, Terua	Terada, Mamoru
Hiratani, Himeo		Morisaki, Masao		Teramoto, Masato
Hisano, Masao		Morishige, Eiji		Togo, Shiro
Hiyane, Shigeo		Morishita, Takeo	Tokushima, Mitsuo
Horinouchi, Joji	Moriwaka, Kaoru		Tokuyama, Minoru
Ichimura, Kenichi	Motoishi, Hiroshi	Toma, Tsugiyasu
Ide, Yukio		Motokane, Masao		Tomita, Nobuaki
Iha, Masao		Motonaga, Susumu	Toyama, Kansei
Ikeda, Yoshio		Murakami, Isamu		Toyama, Shinsuke
Ikehara, Kikuichiro	Murata, Shigeru		Tozaki, Sadato
Imae, Hachiro		Murata, Yukio		Tsunematsu, Akira
Inakazu, Masaki		Myoga, Tsuyoshi		Tsuruoka, Noboyuki
Inouye, Minoru		Nagaji, Kazutomi	Ueda, MOriichi
Irie, Masaji		Nagami, Hiroshi		Uejo, Seiho
Ishida, Mitsuyoshi	Naito, Kaoru		Uemoto, Kazumi
Ishii, Masayuki		Nakamine, Shinei	Ujimori, Yukio
Ishii, Shichiro		Nakamura, Iwao		Uyeda, Torao
Ishikawa, Kiyomi	Nakamura, Morio		Uyeno, Toshiyuki
Ishiki, Shinichi	Nakamura, Toshio	Watanabe, Kiyotoshi
Ishimoto, Akira		Nakauye, Takashi	Watanabe, Mitsuo
Ishimoto, Sigeo		Niide, Shigeto		Yagi, Seiko
Ito, Hachiro		Nishi, Chikao		Yamada, Tsukasa
Ito, Tetsuo		Nishida, Ko		Yamaguchi, Mori
Iwahiro, Kumao		Nishimura, Katsuyuki	Yamamoto, Masaru
Izuo, Naruaki		Nishimura, Kazuo	Yamamoto, Takeo
Jitchaku, Munemasa	Nishimura, Keizo	Yamanaga, Isamu
Kagawa, Yasuo		Nishimura, Shigeki	Yamasaki, Shizuo
Kagihara, Junichi	Nishishita, Jun		Yamashita, Kazuo
Kameda, Yoshito		Nishitani, Chieto	Yamashita, Kazuo
Kanaya, Etsutoshi	Nishitani, Taro		Yamashita, Masaichi
Kashiwaeda, Goro	Nishiyama, Tetsuo	Yogi, Matsuichi
Kato, Minoru		Nozaki, Tadashi		Yokomichi, Misao
Kawamoto, Haruo		Nozaki, Yoshio		Yokotake, Katashi
Kawamoto, Toshio	Nozawa, Shizuo		Yoneda, Hajime
Kawamura, Masami	Numa, Toshio		Yoneshige, Itsuo
Kawano, Tetsuo		Oba, Masayoshi		Yoshida, Kanji
						Yoshida, Shoichi							Yoshimura, Minoru
						Yoshimura, Saburo

They were members of the “Fighting 442nd” (Infantry Battalion), the most decorated unit in the history of the Ameircan military. The members of this unit who did not die in war returned home to Hawai’i, to build the Hawaiian Democratic Party and the State of Hawaii, elevating their ethnic group to a prominence equal to, and in some ways superior to, that of the Haole.

I record these here not in admiration of the Japanese ancestor cult, which I despise, but in admiration of a group of Buddhists who demonstrated unequalled integrity, and who gave the lie, for all time, to the myth of gutless Buddhist pacifism.

Real Buddhists are not pacifist, they’re human. Some must die so that the rest can live lives that are worth living. Nothing sacred can exist on this planet if it’s not defended, and that includes a country worth living in.

The Buddha taught non-violence for monks, and the non-interference of monks in the political process. That is light-years away from pacifism. Pacifists are not Buddhists. They are futile Utopian idealists who just don’t know how anything works on this planet. Therefore, all pacifists, please go back to your planets of origin, and stop messing up this one. You just don’t listen, and you don’t learn from your experience, and we don’t need your profound and incorrigible stupidity here.

Namu Amida Butsu
Xing Ping