James Otsuka

Who was James Otsuka?

Katsuki James Otsuka was a Nisei Japanese American Quaker who was jailed as a conscientious objector during World War II, and later became a war tax resister.

During World War II, Otsuka was interned at the Tule Lake War Relocation Center. Otsuka was classified by the draft board as a conscientious objector subject to “noncombatant service in the armed forces”, but he was unwilling to participate in the armed forces in any capacity and argued, unsuccessfully, that he should have been classified as a conscientious objector subject to “civilian work of national importance.” Unable to change his classification, and unwilling to serve in the armed forces, he surrendered to the New York District Attorney and pled guilty to a violation of the draft law and sentenced to three years in prison.