Editor’s note: For the past two months in Los Angeles, Rafu Shimpo staff writers Nao Nakanishi and Mia Nakaji Monnier have been reporting on the planned sale of Keiro Senior HealthCare to a non-
Japanese business entity. The nonprofit Keiro owns four Japanese-focused eldercare facilities that provide various levels of care in the Los Angeles area. However, the purchase, which is scheduled to close early next year, has put Keiro’s leadership at odds with many in the Japanese American community.
Although this controversy is taking place in Los Angeles — home to one of the country’s oldest and largest Japanese American communities — any Nikkei community could find itself grappling with the same issues involved in the Keiro controversy: spiraling healthcare and health insurance costs, an ever-growing aging population, cultural sensitivity, a storied history and grassroots community investment, evolving generational realities, and even differences between Japanese Americans and Shin-Issei (newly arrived Japanese nationals).
The Herald thanks Nao Nakanishi and Mia Nakaji Monnier, Rafu photographer Mario G. Reyes and editor Gwen Muranaka for allowing us to republish these thought-provoking stories. The Rafu has published more than a dozen stories and commentaries on the controversy. However, the two published here provide the best overview of the issues facing the community in Los Angeles. To read the entire series, go to www.rafu.com.
