In this year of elections and expected or unexpected changes in the worldwide political landscapes, we are delighted to invite as a speaker to our Seminar a young Japanese American politician who is running for the California State Assembly seat.

(The Seminar will be held in Little Tokyo. )

DATE:

March 18（Sun) 2:00PM　Door opens, 2:30PM　Start of Seminar

SPEAKER:

Mr. Al Muratsuchi

SUBJECT:

“Young Japanese American Politician speaks of his view on the outlook of the U.S. politics,,,,,. Importance of participation by the Japanese and Japanese Americans.”

:

WeChina's rapid emergence is remarkable in recent years as an enormous economic and political power with the continuing military build-up.
Japan's presence in the U.S. has been getting smaller on the other hand.

Japanese Americans with its immigration history over 100 years have been active as good citizens in diversified fields in the American society.
The number, however, of JA politicians is very few at the national, state and city levels nowadays. More active advancement of young Japanese Americans into the political world is awaited.

Now, Mr. Al Muratsuchi has announced his decision to run for the State Assembly seat from the South Bay district. He emerges as a very promising Japanese American politician candidate, with qualification of outstanding, sincere, passionate, and very likable person. We wish him much success.

He will talk on various elections in the U.S. this year centering around the Presidential Election, apart from his own campaign. We will hear his view about why it is necessary for the JA to step into the political world, with the backdrop of the history of the wartime Japanese incarceration into the concentration camps and later compensation by the U.S. government, importance of involvement of the new Issei and Nikkei in the politics, how
he was raised, grew up and awakened as Nikkei, his thought and sentiment toward the Japanese and Japanese American community, what motivated him to go into the political world, what he wants to realize in the state and city level, and his personal belief and idea.

Pasadena Seminar hopes that this occasion will help illuminate Al's ideas and views with the Japanese community, regardless of audience's possession of voting right in the U.S. We look forward to your participation in this seminar as a good networking opportunity too.

Al Muratsuchi has served as a Torrance Unified School District Board Member for the past six years. He was first elected to the Torrance School Board in 2005 with over 12,000 votes, and was reelected in 2009 as the top vote-getter in a field of seven candidates. He served as President of the Torrance School Board in 2009. During Al’s tenure on the school board, Torrance Unified has maintained its status as a high-achieving schooldistrict despite state budget cuts, consistently delivered a balanced budget of up to $200 million, and embarked on the largest school repair and modernization program in the district’s history. Al also represents Torrance Unified as a Board Member of the Southern California Regional Occupation Center, a joint career technical education program provided by seven South Bay school districts, including Manhattan Beach, Palos Verdes Peninsula, Redondo Beach, and Torrance.

Al is a Deputy Attorney General and a prosecutor with the California Department of Justice Prior to joining the Department of Justice in 2001, Al was a prosecutor with the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office and the Santa Ana City Attorney’s Office.

Al has been active in Torrance for many years. He has served as Chairman of the Torrance Planning Commission and a member of the Torrance Environmental Quality and Energy Conservation Commission. He has also served as President of the Torrance Sister City Association and on the board of directors of the League of Women Voters of Torrance.

Al is a Sansei who was born and raised on U.S. military bases overseas. He has been active in the Japanese American community for almost 25 years. He began as a student volunteer with the Japanese American redress movement in the 1980s, and worked as an intern with the Asian Law Caucus. Al then went to law school at UCLA to become a public interest lawyer. Following law school, Al served as the Pacific Southwest Regional Director of the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL). For his work with the JACL, Al received the John Anson Ford Award from the Los Angeles County Human Relations Commission in 1998. He has served on the board of directors of the Little Tokyo Service Center and the Japanese American Bar Association. Al participated in the Japanese American Leadership Delegation Program in 2007, and he is a member of the U.S.-Japan Council.

Al is married with one daughter. He is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley and the UCLA School of Law, and an alumnus of the Coro Foundation Public Affairs Fellows Program.

amuratsuchi@gmail.com

Place:

JACCC Meeting Rooms A, B&C (2nd Floor)
244 S. San Pedro St.. Los Angeles, CA 90012 (East side on San Pedro St. between 2nd. &3rd. St.)

Admission:

$10 (Students: $5) at Front Table (Refreshment)

Contact：

Toshio "Terry" Handa
Tel 626-795-1636, Fax 626-795-2596 (Emergency Cell. 626-2333-443)

Pasadena Pasadena Seminar has been engaged in the seminar activities as an NPO. It ended up with a net revenue of $265 in 2011 from gross receipts minus expenses such as rent for venue. The whole amount was donated to the Nikkei Helpline ("Inochi no Denwa") service in the Little Tokyo Service Center.

It is our pleasure to report that we could return to our community the whole revenue made from your participation fees.