Two hundred or so people gathered at the JCCNC in San Francisco on November 8 for a Topaz reunion organized by the Topaz Museum and Friends of Topaz. Among them were about 50 survivors. The reunion honored Jane Beckwith, who retired this year as the Executive Director of the museum, and welcomed her successor, Meg Hutchins.
As the Topaz Stories editor since 2018, I thought I knew a lot of survivors. So I was floored when I saw how many showed up for the reunion! Apologies for not being able to identify everyone in the photo below. If you spot any mistakes or can help us identify the missing names, please leave a comment below or contact us. Thank you!
Front row (seated, left to right): Joyce Yano Maggiora, Michiko Matano, Chizu Omori, x, x, Susan Yamaguchi, Bobby Hirano, x, Annie Matsumoto Inouye, May Saito Takashima, x, Kaz Oyamada Iwahashi, x, Setsuko Asano Ogami, Dr. Himeo Tsumori.
Middle row, left to right: Judy Takeda Furuichi, Ellen Hashiguchi, x, Kay Mochida Ikuma, Jo Takeda Takata, Jun Nakahara Dairiki, Lucy Hamai, Jane Beckwith, x, Gay Minamoto Kaplan, x, x, Shirley Yamasaki Shiromoto, x, x, Ruth Koide Ichinaga, x, Gerry Furuzawa.
Back row: George Furuichi, Jere Takahashi, x, x, x, Kazuko Hishida, Ned Isokawa, Roy Ikeda, Dan Hirano, Hiko Shimamoto, Bill Sugaya, Ken Yamashita, x, Pat Hayashi.
[Thank you to Chris Yamashiro, Kay Yatabe, Yae Kami Yedlosky, and Lucy Hamai for helping with the IDs!]