founder of the Jodo Shinshu Buddhist tradition in Japan.

Elsie and Shag are second and third from left; Helen is second from right.They share one quality that stands out and may be the key to their longevity.

After lunch and cake at Elsies party.Life-long friends Shigeko Shag Morishita and Elsie Uyematsu (Osajima) both hit 100 in July.Shag had a large gathering taking up all of Leonard Kims Cherrystones in Gardena.

Elsie Uyematsu and her sister Helen Matsunaga — the Morita sisters — at Elsies 100th birthday party.how can you fall asleep at your own birthday party!?! Elsie made a brief acknowledgment to Shag.

Shag and Elsie show us the resilience that over 90 years of friendship can bring.

remarked how the two of them used to sit and talk for hours apart from everybody else at Japanese school.The NPCA organized similar events at Manzanar and other National Park Service sites that day to protest the Trump Administrations efforts to stop the national parks.

But what weve got to remember is that … we have our power.were inextricably intertwined.

I started thinking not just of Japanese American history.We have to defy it for our rights and the rights of others.