A book event for “The Bridges Yuri Built” was held at Gardena Valley Japanese Cultural Institute in March 2025 with many members of Yuri Kochiyama’s family in attendance. Front row, from left: Audee Kochiyama-Holman, Kai Naima Williams (author), Tamlyn Tomita (moderator), Jimmy Kochiyama. Second row, from left: Aliya Kochiyama, Alison Kochiyama. Back row, from left: Kahlil Kochiyama, Erika Kodama, Kalea Holman, Jennifer Holman, Lily Holman, Herb Holman, Crew Kochyama, Ryan Kochiyama, Lisa Kochiyama, Reagan Kochiyama, Danny Yabuno, Pamela Wu, Niko Lee, Brian Lee, Maya Lee.
By ROBERT M. HORSTING
Regardless of your nation of origin, how you define your community, or those you consider to be the heroes and social contributors deserving of being remembered and heralded, the challenge we all face is how to convey their stories in a way that will engage and inspire the young people we’ll rely on to carry these legacies forward.
Author Kai Naima Williams met that challenge in creating her children’s book, “The Bridges Yuri Built,” about her great-grandmother, social activist Yuri Kochiyama. This effort was a family affair, as she was joined by her cousin Anastasia M. Williams, who shared her skills as an illustrator to complement Kai’s storytelling.
In March 2025, the Japanese American National Museum hosted a book-signing event at the Democracy Center. This featured both Kai Williams and moderator Lisa Ling, known both as an accomplished actor and journalist. A poet and adult fiction writer, Kai shared how she was approached to write her first book, which was intended to resonate with children. This was initiated by her social media post noting Yuri’s birthday and her background as an activist.
For those of you not already familiar with Yuri Kochiyama, I like to think of her as the inspiration for the fictional movie character Forrest Gump. She evokes this image for me due to her presence and participation in many historical events, as well as her interaction with many notable people and organizations. If this sounds like too big a claim, consider the following:
1) After the Japanese naval attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, Yuri (then known as Mary Yuriko Nakahara) and her family were shocked by the FBI coming into their home and arresting her father.
2) President Roosevelt’s Executive Order 9066 would result in the incarceration of Yuri’s family, along with the 120,000-plus Japanese/Japanese Americans held in the ten War Relocation Authority (WRA) camps throughout WWII.
3) With the formation of the segregated Japanese American 442nd Regimental Combat Team, she initiated a letter-writing campaign to provide “pen pals” for the soldiers training at Camp Shelby, Mississippi, who then shipped out to fight in Europe. Known as The Crusaders, their efforts were adopted by young people in the other nine camps.
4) Yuri went to Camp Shelby and worked as a hostess at the USO set up for the 442nd soldiers.
5) Married to 442nd veteran Bill Kochiyama, the two moved to Harlem, New York City.
6) Becoming an activist and protest organizer for worker rights, she drew the attention of visiting activists from other nations.
7) Befriended by Malcolm X, she was present when she lost her friend to assassins.
8) Protesting on behalf of civil rights issues, she worked with the Black Panthers.
9) Participated in the successful redress campaign to provide an official letter of apology and a $20K check to Japanese American survivors of the WWII WRA/Dept. of Justice (DOJ) camp incarceration. Pos- 9/11, she publicly defended the rights of Muslims and those of Middle Eastern heritage by referencing the anti-Japanese hysteria following the WWII attack on Pearl Harbor.
10) Protested against the executions conducted at San Quentin Federal Prison.
Your personal politics aside, anyone might be impressed by her history and commitment to activism. The key concept Kai’s book conveys is that of bringing people together through communication, sharing thoughts, and finding common grounds for understanding and compassion, “Bridges.”
Kai Naima Williams (left) discusses her book with Lisa Ling at JANM’s Democracy Center.
Prompted by Ling asking Kai, “When did the breadth of her persona and all that she was involved in, when did that really sink in for you?” she reflected on her youth as a 6th-grade student, learning about the Civil Rights Movement of the ‘60s, while also reading a memoir of her great-grandmother.
Kai responded, “I started to understand that she was this revolutionary figure…” As one coming to grips with the reality that the Civil Rights Movement she was reading about wasn’t just a chapter of American history, but actually that of her family, she further shared, “I’m understanding that she was a part of it, and I’m reading it kind (of) in her words.”
Both Lisa Ling and Kai Williams spoke to the grassroots, blue-collar nature of Yuri’s activism. She would listen to understand people’s viewpoints before sharing her thoughts in a plan of action. Sharing the collective impression by people whom Lisa had interviewed, regarding their contact with Yuri, Ling said that “she always remembered them, that she received them with kindness, respect and genuine interest.”
This sense of warmth and her ability to recall names conveyed her commitment to understand and help the people she partnered with in their common struggles. Living and working in Harlem, Yuri and Bill saw and experienced the inequality of available public services.
Kai spoke about the impact of the small apartment where Yuri and Bill were raising their family, which was fondly referred to as Grand Central Station by the many visitors they welcomed. The flow of visitors included fellow veterans, anyone in need of a temporary nest to land on, local, national, and international activists, and artists. Their apartment became the go-to venue, hosting weekly Saturday night gatherings.
One visitor who stood out for those in attendance was Malcolm X, whom Yuri had invited to come and speak with some visiting Hiroshima Maidens, who were in New York receiving medical treatment for the scars resulting from the A-bomb detonated over Hiroshima. He also spoke about local concerns and the pending conflict in Vietnam. Kai said that “it was such an exciting and incredible moment for the neighborhood and for their building.”
This visit by Malcolm X opened their line of communication through correspondence, even during his pilgrimage to Mecca, which Spike Lee’s film depicted as a transformative revelation, having met people of all races from all over the world who joined to study and share in the teachings of the Koran. Excited to hear Malcolm speak about this journey, Yuri attended a planned speaking engagement, but he was assassinated on that day. Her sadness, love, and respect for Malcolm were captured in a photo of her on the floor, cradling his head in her lap.
While her initial activism was in support of the Black American community in Harlem, her skills and knowledge would prove beneficial to the Japanese American community during the movement to gain acknowledgement for the injustice they were subjected to during WWII. Their collective effort resulted in the passing of the Civil Liberties Act, which included a letter of apology and a $20,000 reparation check in 1988.
Keeping in mind that this occurred 43 years after the war ended, the apology and check were only provided to the surviving persons who were actually incarcerated. Punctuating the point that the official apology on White House stationery was of greater value, some survivors framed the check or donated it to charities or nonprofit organizations.
Before bringing the audience into the dialogue, Ling wanted to have Williams address one more issue, stating, “I would be remiss if I didn’t ask you if you could give us your thoughts on what you think your great-grandmother would have thought about these times in which we are living.”
Kai responded, “I think I know she would be horrified at the political climate, what feels like regression, and also a perpetuation of the forces that she fought against her entire life.”
The first comment in the Q&A session came from a woman who had been incarcerated at Camp Jerome in Arkansas, along with Yuri and thousands of others of Japanese heritage. She said, “I think we, as Japanese Americans, we sit in silence too much right now. There’s such a strong parallel between the Alien Enemies Act (used during WWII) and how this current administration is applying that.”
Audee, Yuri’s daughter, was asked to share her memory of meeting Malcolm X. Then 16 years old, she was the only one of the Kochiyama children in attendance. Stating, “I knew how much our whole family admired him.” She added, “You know, he wasn’t about himself, and he was trying to listen.”
Other people shared stories of brief encounters with Yuri, all feeling her warmth, interest, and, for some, the added intimacy of her recalling them by name.
I too had the honor of meeting Yuri in 2005, when she and her son Eddie attended a reunion of the 442nd RCT, K Co. veterans (Bill’s company) in Los Angeles. Yuri was the keynote speaker at the banquet following the screening of the film “Citizen Tanouye,” honoring Medal of Honor recipient T/Sgt. Ted Tanouye.
Having scheduled an interview with her on two occasions, neither occurred, as she was recovering from cataract surgery for one, then had a temporary illness the next time. I will always cherish our email exchanges and the occasional phone conversation, which invariably included a bit of laughter.
I hope that “The Bridges That Yuri Built: How Yuri Kochiyama Marched Across Movements” will reach the minds of many young people and their parents. It’s also my hope that as they mature and realize the weight of the historic times she lived through, and the impact she made through her activism, they too will be inspired to speak up for the people who are marginalized, unrepresented, or unseen.
Yuri’s ability to make each person feel that they mattered, had a voice, and were heard is a gift we should all aspire to. In that way, we can make America great again.
©2026 Robert M. Horsting