SACRAMENTO — Assembly-member Al Muratsuchi (D-Torrance) posthumously honored Dr. Kanji Sahara of Torrance at the California Legislature’s Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month ceremony on May 12 at the State Capitol.
“Kanji was the driving force behind the World War II Camp Memorial being built in Torrance to remember the over 120,000 Japanese Americans who were wrongfully incarcerated in internment camps during the war,” said Muratsuchi, who secured state funding for the wall, which will be located in Torrance’s Columbia Park.
Sahara, who died on Feb. 15 at the age of 90, was incarcerated with his family at the Jerome and Rohwer camps in Arkansas. In addition to the World War II Camp Wall, he was active with the Japanese American National Museum, JACL, Tuna Canyon Detention Station Coalition, and Historic Wintersburg Preservation Task Force.
He was represented at the Capitol ceremony by his daughter Judy Tang and her husband Ben, and his granddaughters Kaitlyn, Kristen and Nicole Tang. Kristen and Kaitlyn are the treasurer and secretary, respectively, of the World War II Camp Wall.