highly decorated volunteer units, so that the contributions (and heavy price paid) of the Japanese Americans would be known nationwide. After World War II, Masaoka argued for reparations to Japanese Americans for wartime losses, naturalization and immigration privileges, and for halting deportations to Japan. His lobbying on behalf of the JACL helped pave the way for passage of the Japanese-American Claims Act of 1948. Near the end of his life, Masaoka strongly implied (without directly stating) that the government had pressured him to make statements and "suggestions" to go along with their policies. In a PBS interview, he said "it was a kind of a shibai . . .We were pretty desperate." Shibai (芝居) is Japanese for performance or show. Later career Masaoka served as technical consultant for the 1951 film Go For Broke! which not only portrayed the heroics of the 442nd RCT and 100th Battalion, but also starred several veterans of the 442nd. In 1950, Masaoka was involved in successfully lobbying for the rights of the Issei (Japanese immigrants) to naturalize as citizens. In 1952 he worked with the ACLU to bring a case in his mother's name, Masaoka vs. the State of California, to the California State Supreme Court that was one of the two cases that overturned the Alien Land Law (Masaoka v. People, 39 Cal.2d 883). In 1950, Masaoka represented the JACL as a founding member of the Leadership Council on Civil Rights, and joined Dr. Martin Luther King's 1963 March on Washington. In 1968, Masaoka received Japan's Order of the Rising Sun award. With his own consulting firm, Mike Masaoka Associates, Masaoka lobbied on behalf of American and Japanese commercial interests. In 1972 he left JACL to become a full‑time lobbyist. His autobiography, They Call Me Moses Masaoka, written with Bill Hosokawa, was published in 1987. Associates considered the title a sign of his ego, though the title was originally bestowed derisively by political opponents during the 1940s. Masaoka noted with ironic humor that, unlike Moses, he led his people on a journey from the promised land of California to desert internment camps. Personal life and death Masaoka was married to Etsu Mineta Masaoka, the elder sister of Secretary of Transportation and Congressman Norman Mineta. Masaoka died in Washington, DC in 1991. References External links Densho Encyclopedia article by Shiho Imai 1915 births 1991 deaths Latter Day Saints from Utah American military personnel of