Opening Retreat

Hi, and welcome to the Nikkei Community Internship through my eyes!
I am one of the two interns stationed in San Jose Japan Town for Summer 2011. 

We kick-started the internship with a retreat in San Jose with the 14 other interns from SF and LA. 
After picking up some of the interns who flew in from LA at the airport, we all met up at the Akiyama Wellness Center.  Tamon Norimoto and Mike Nguyen (who worked for Mike Honda) presented to us what the NCI program was all about.  We were told that through learning about the unique JA culture in our respective Japan Towns and how the community functions, we should gain a sense of belonging and later in life come back to the Japan Town and give back to the community all that we've taken from it, whether it be through working on a board or simply volunteering. 

Tamon then gave us a walking tour of Little Tokyo, where we learned about each individual store, and of all the monuments throughout the community.  We learned how there are now many other ethnic stores (Polynesian, Korean, Chinese, etc.) that add the the diversity of San Jose Japan Town and also bring in a larger crowd of consumers. 

Once we got back to the Akiyama Wellness Center, Elly Matsumura led a workshop where we created a map that explained our journey of how we ended up becoming interested in the NCI program.  It was amazing seeing how each intern's story was so different, yet we all shared a common interest in JA culture and community which eventually led us to the NCI program.

Tamon then led a networking workshop, where we learned how to start, hold, and end a conversation with different businessmen and community leaders that we would interact with throughout the course of the internship.  I felt this workshop was extremely useful, especially since I know that networking is a vital part of the business world in real life.

For the remainder of the day, all the interns ate at Island Grill with the program leaders, and then we spent the rest of the day getting to know each other. 

The next day, we met at the Issei Memorial Building with Sophie Horiuchi Forrester and Roy Hirabayashi, where we learned about how to keep a nonprofit running.  They spoke of how there must be a passion in order to work in a nonprofit, and how fundraising is one of the key struggles that any nonprofit faces.

Finally, we arrived at the luncheon, the main attraction of the NCI retreat!  We introduced ourselves to many of the community leaders present at the luncheon, using all the techniques that Tamon taught us the day before.  Many of the leaders presented to everyone about the NCI program, how it got started and why it continues to today.  Jon Osaki explained to us that we (interns) were chosen to take part in this program, and how hopefully we will take what we learn and continue to support the Japan Town in the future.  The guest speaker of the event, Hiroshi Inomata (Consul General of Japan) told his story about how he tried to become a diplomat in Japan, and ended up as the consulate general.

Shortly after the event ended, all the interns parted ways and prepared for the next day... our first day of work!

Through this retreat, I felt that I gained so much more insight on not only what this internship is about, but what I want to get from the next 8 weeks of working.  I want to learn what makes San Jose Japan Town such a unique and close knit community, and hopefully feel like I am part of this community.  Meeting all the other interns was such a great experience, because we all share this common passion for JA culture, and learning more about the three remaining Japan Towns, and learning more about ourselves.