Week 8: Closing

This Wednesday, we had a luncheon prepared for Alex and I on the third floor of Yu-Ai-Kai.  Many of the people who sat around the table had spent a large part of their last 8 weeks mentoring and working with Alex and I through our internship.  I was so grateful for how much everyone had become such a large part of my life over the past weeks. 

On Thursday, we departed for the closing retreat in SF.  Through the day, we worked to prepare for the closing luncheon the following day.  At night, we had a dinner with many of the NCI alumni, and it was great to get to interact with the past classes of NCI.  We stayed at the Kabuki Hotel in SF Jtown.  The following day, we woke up early to set up the gym at the JCCCNC for the luncheon.  Roy, Reiko, Tamon, and Jerry were all able to make it out, which made the luncheon much more meaningful with people from San Jose Japantown attending.  The luncheon was filled with speeches (one of them by Alex and I), gifts, and a Soran Bushi dance by the NCI interns.  All in all, it was a very emotional way to end the NCI program, with a profound knowledge of JA culture and community, and many supportive and compassionate friends.

Week 7: Media and Communications

Picture with Reiko Iwanaga

Day 1:
Today we met with Lloyd LaCuesta at Kubota's for lunch with Reiko.   He is a reporter and journalist for KTVU, and has been for 35 years now.  He explained his background, how he knew that he wanted to be a journalist since high school, and he later became a military journalist in Korea when he was drafted.  He explained how when he first came to KTVU, it was because of affirmative action, so many of his coworkers didn't help him out, and many resented him.  Because of this discrimination that he faced, he stressed the importance of being unbiased while reporting, because a good journalist can report well on any story.  However, he was also the president of the Asian American Journalist Association, which provides social support for Asian Americans in journalism, and also spreads awareness of Asian Americans in the media.  Lloyd explained how while it is important to have Asian American issues covered in the news, it is just as important to be unbiased while delivering the news.  He explained how it is important for communities to be accessible to news media if they want their story to be told.  Through talking with Lloyd, it was more clear of the role Asian Americans have in reporting and journalism, how they have to portray that they are American, while still ensuring that the minority issues are still exemplified in the media.

We then helped Reiko by putting up flyers for community events in various businesses in Japantown, then worked on the JCCsj website and our blogs

 Picture with Robert Handa

Day 2:

Today we met with Robert Handa at a KTVU Bureau.  He explained how he knew that he wanted to be in journalism since he was in high school, and he later became a reporter and segment producer for CH2.  He explains that the process for reporting is that they all meet in the morning to decide what stories to cover (Based on urgency and interest), and this is where he can try to get Japantown's stories heard.  Many of the stories he has reported on are the failing of Japantown, earthquake/tsunami effect, and MCing for Spirit of Japantown.  Unlike Lloyd who we met yesterday, Robert believed that it was important to be biased while picking stories, but you can't be biased while reporting.  He explained also that by traveling to and reporting on different communities (such as the Muslim community) he begins to feel a personal tie to this community. 

We then met with Ed Shikada, the deputy city manager of San Jose at City Hall.  This was by far one of the most interesting interviews we've had, because he asked questions of us, making it a more conversational interview.  Ed explained how he has interacted a lot through his work in the city, such as the corp yard project, Akiyama project, and utility/parking issues of Japantown.  He also is very involved in the Japantown community in his personal life, with his kids in the Betsuin and a leader of the boy scouts.  He explained how Japantown is able to maintain city funds because it presents itself as a cultural asset to the city by attracting visitors and constituents, rather than a JA asset.   Ed was able to clearly illustrate how Japantown interacts with the city, and he provided both a city perspective and community member perspective.

Day 3:
Today we met with Dennis Akizuki, the assistant city editor, at the Mercury News site in San Jose.  He showed us around the office area, and took us into the machine room where all the newspapers are printed and packaged.  We sat down with him in his office area, and asked him a few questions about how newspaper has changed over the years.  He explained that with newspaper ads no longer as relevant, the Mercury has lost a lot of funding.  To keep up with the times, an online aspect of the Mercury News was created, and we met with some of the members who work on the website page.  Dennis is also a one of the obon dance organizers for Japantown, and has long been a community member, so he explained to us the need to have diversity in the newsroom so the JA stories get told, as well as other ethnicities.

After meeting with Dennis, Alex and I worked on our website, and also prepared for the closing luncheon.

Day 4:
Today was our intern day, once again in San Francisco.  I was given the opportunity to practice taiko with Yuta Kato, so I joined the interns around 11:30.  Once in SF, we talked with Jon Osaki again about how to bring more youth involvement in the community, specifically college age.  Some simple things that we took away from the discussion was: having a community organization that our respective college organizations work with, or having a mentorship program with community leaders and college students.  We then met with two JACL members, who talked about hate crimes that have occurred against Asian Americans.  Afterwords, we walked over to Kimochi nursing home, and met with Steve Nakajo again.  He showed us around the building, then gave us a short tour of Japantown (and explained what everything used to be when he was growing up before redevelopment).  One of the most interesting parts was when he brought us into this building that he used to watch samurai movies with his friends.  Afterwords, all the interns prepared for closing luncheon!

 Picture with George Kiriyama

Day 5:

Today is my last full day on the San Jose NCI internship! We had two interviews today.  Our first was with George Kirayama at Minatos Restaurant.  George is a reporter at NBC on the 11 o clock news, and he grew up with his parents talking about news and he was always interested in english and history, so he knew he wanted to be a reporter early on.  He explained how some of the information he receives to report on is through social media, such as facebook and twitter.  He explained what happened when the earthquakes hit Japan.  He facebook chatted his journalist friends who were in Japan and used these chats in a news report. Within 36 hours, he got on a plane to Japan and reported through skype to NBC.  It was really interesting how useful social media sites are to his job, which I didn't hear about from previous people we had interviewed.  

We then met with Tim Yamamura, a playwright, actor, and Nichi Bei Board member.  He is currently completing his dissertation on how the nikkei is affected by the sea, through interactions between Japan and the US involving militarization of the sea during WWII.  He started out studying acting, but realized that he wanted to be the one to write the stories rather than act out what other people wrote, so he became a playwright.  He would write about JA issues, such as how Nikkei musicians couldn't get jobs after WWII, in order to spread awareness of the Asian American experience.  As a historian, he explained how important it is to read journals and newspapers printed by the Issei (which are in Japanese) because history was recorded since the Japanese first arrived.  He also created Japantown Underground, which is an institution for performing arts created to connect different JA communities and strengthen existing community organizations.  One interesting thing that he stated was that growing up in a JA community, by doing basketball and boyscouts, the history that needs to be passed on to future generations does not, because these institutions were created to assimilate the Japanese into American culture.  To conclude, he posed an interesting question: how do you gauge how successful an ethnic community is? People never get rich by helping out the community, but a strong network is created through successful collaboration within the community, which could be a solid measure of success. 

Week 6: Government and Advocacy

Picture with Tamon, Helen, and Jerry at the San Jose Museum of Art

Day 1:
Today, we started out by volunteering at Lotus Preschool, something that both Alex and I have wanted to do since we first talked with Lynne during week 3.  Because Tamon scheduled night meetings and a few day interviews, we were free to choose what to do with our time in the morning.  We helped by watching the kids, cleaning after them, and playing with them outside.

In the afternoon, we visited City Hall to meet with Fret Buzo, the council assistant under Councilmember Sam Liccardo who represents San Jose Japantown.   He explained how the Japantown community is effective because of its multiple community organizations, such as the Neighborhood Association and JBA, so more of the community is represented.  He also explained how, in the past, it was important to have representatives in an ethnic group present in government positions, but because many communities are multicultural it is not as important to have a specific ethnic group in office, because they can be represented by others who care just as much of the community.  His position on this was very interesting, and something I haven't heard from anyone else.

At night ,we sat in on the Asian Pacific Islander Justice Coalition meeting, a group created to advance social justice issues related to Asian Pacific Islanders.  The coalition provides way to have a quick response from the API community, and acts as a way to keep up with issues regarding other ethnic backgrounds.  Various topics were discussed during the meeting, including community service events and a transition of leadership within the coalition.

Day 2:
Today we worked again in the morning until night at Lotus Preschool.  It was great that a lot of the kids remember who we were from yesterday! Aside from helping with the daily activities of the preschool, we also helped prepare for the 25th annual Lotus Preschool event this Saturday.  It was nice that the other people who help out at the Preschool are our age, so it was much more enjoyable.

At night, we attended the JCCsj meeting at the IMB.  This meeting was very interesting, especially since many of the topics dealt with were issues we learned about through the last weeks of our internship.  These issues included dealing with the benches placed around Japantown, and working with the Mural Project of the corp yard.  Alex and I were also able to talk about the NCI program, what parts were good and what parts could be improved.  We brought up the website project as well, and the planning of the Thursday Intern Day in San Jose.  Overall, this meeting was very interesting, and I realized not only how various community organizations work together for common events/projects, but also how so many people care about the NCI program and want to give us the pest experience possible.

Day 3:
Today, we met with Anne Im, the director of community programs at AACI.  She explained how it is important to advocate that Asian Americans in our community are in need of services despite many stereotypes.  AACI is centered in Santa Clara county, and it has grown over the years to have a federally qualified health care clinic.  She explained how it is necessary to work with locally elected officials in the county government in order to get the organization's needs known.  Also, she outlined the policy making process in our state through her involvement with APIJC.  She explained that the coalition advocates through supporting or opposing bills, and acting as rapid response network and a faster means to get many Asian American organizations' support on a bill or issue.

We then drove to downtown San Jose and had lunch with Helen Hayashi at Cafe Too.  Jerry Hiura and Tamon Norimoto joined us as well, and the conversation got started about the business and political side of Japantown.  A redevelopment agency was issued by the state to improve the San Jose Japantown area by increasing property tax.  Japantown chose the route to become a BID (Business improvement district), by taxing themselves more to increase improvement.  Helen acts as the connection between Japantown and the city of San Jose.  As previously one of the staff members of Norman Mineta and currently on staff at the Downtown Association, she provides information on how City Hall works, and is able to advocate for Japantown.  Japantown has a very cooperative approach to advocacy, forming good bonds with politicians rather than protesting, which reflects a very Japanese approach to politics.  Through this conversation, I realized how important it is for a community to understand policy and be able to work with political leaders.

We finished up the day by volunteering at Lotus Preschool, helping out with the name tags for the Saturday event.

Day 4:
Today, we got to have our weekly intern day in San Jose!  We started out by visiting the NBC studios to see Mike Inouye, the morning traffic anchor.  We got to see him reporting live in the studios, and the rest of the crew explained how the displaying and programming of the news works.  Mike explained how his JA upbringing contradicted his personality, because he was taught to be polite and hold back, but to get where he is today he had to be assertive and be the one to create opportunities for himself.  NBC is known for the diversity on staff, so we met many others Asian Americans, including Lance Lew and Rob Mayeda. 

We then had lunch at the IMB with Roy, many others from San Jose Taiko, and their interns.  We got to mix and get to meet many of the other people while sharing a lunch that Roy and PJ prepared. 

We then walked over to Roy's Station and met with Tamiko Rast, the media designer of the Japantown banners and website.  She feels that it is important to take pride in her community, especially since she grew up around Japantown, and she puts priority on projects of members of the Japantown Community. 

After meeting with Tamiko, we took a short tour around Japantown.  We walked over to Jerry Hiura's office, volunteered a little at Lotus Preschool, and got shaved ice at one of the local stores.  We then walked back to the IMB and met with Margaret Abe Koga, the city council member of Mountain View and chair of VTA.  She eplained how it was important being a woman and asian in politics in order to bring her perspective to the decisions that are made for the city, and also educate others of the needs of her community.  She advised us to get involved in various commissions (such as the planning commission) of whatever city we end up living in so we can make a difference in our community.

We then attended the Bay Area Asian Pacific American Legislative Staffers Mixer in the backyard of the IMB, where we met many elected officials and nonprofit leaders, and many of their interns working in their offices. 

Day 5:
Today we worked again at Lotus preschool.  As today is the day before the 25th anniversary celebration, we did a lot of moving of supplies and working with the name tags of the attendants.  Alex and I are both going to volunteer at the Lotus Preschool anniversary celebration tomorrow.  At noon, we went over to Yu-Ai-Kai to work at the Meals-on_Wheels program.  I drove in a van with Stanley, who had been working at Yu-Ai-Kai for 5 years now.  We went all the way out to Berryessa delivering hot lunches and frozen meals to various senior's houses.  It was a great experience getting to see how many of the seniors live, and how often times they have other people caring for them during the day.  Once I got back, Alex and I finished up our day at Lotus Preschool.

Week 5: Arts, Culture and Spirituality

Day 1:
Today met up with Reiko Iwanaga for the first time! As our "guide" for the week, she first took us to the Wesley Methodist Church, and we met with Reverend Keith.  He talked to us about the church's history and programs, how at one point the church was the center of all activity in the community, but now it is involved in just a portion of that.  The program that is going on this week is called "Panda Mania," and is used to keep kids active in the summer and involved in church, and also older highschool/college kids come back and help out with the program.  Reverend explained that the church is important for maintaining a sense of community, and this is done by having various services for all age groups, to ensure that all ages stay active throughout growing up.

We then met with Jon Santos, a local Aikido Sensei.  He explained how Aikido is not just for self defense, but also for self discipline and application of principles in daily life.  Aikido involves taking your opponents energy, and either reflecting it or deflecting it.  This prepares one for inevitable transitions in life, and is in its own way, an art.  After talking with Jon about his profession, I realized that there is a large sense of spirituality in Jon's style of teaching, because he stresses the fulfillment of people's life mission, and also the acceptance and celebration of people's different cultures.  He also has a medical practice called Regenesis, which uses acupressure as a healing technique.  In both ways, Jon is very in-tune to the spiritual aspect of this week's theme, and he was able to explain his perspective on the community of Jtown, especially since he is often regarded as an "outsider" because he is not JA.  His Aikido-influenced approach to this is to accept people's different opinions, yet still remain involved in the community that he lives in(such as Aikido demos at Spirit of Japantown). 

Finally, we chatted with Reiko about her involvement in the community.  She is in charge of the CATS organization, which present's Asian art forms to an American audience, such as through "Asian comedy night." She is also involved in Obon dance teaching, and she uses this to bring the JA community together with the broader community by mixing religions songs and secular songs, Japanese songs and pop songs.  She also used to teach Odori, and she emphasized it as a way to pass down Japanese culture and the ideals that are carried with this, such as etiquette and body language.  Through her involvement in the arts, she stresses the importance of a community effort, and acceptance of all cultures.

Picture with Reverend Ken Fujimoto

Day 2:
Today we met with Reverend Ken Fujimoto at the Buddhist Temple.  He explained the history and culture of Jodo Shinshu Buddhism (Shin Buddhism), how the temple is tied to a larger temple in Japan, yet in America it became a place for social gathering, and was renamed as a "church" so JA would feel more American.  The purpose of Shin Buddhism is not to attain enlightenment, but to realize that you are ignorant and appreciate what others do for you.

During lunch, Reiko's brother Kenji further explained Shin Buddhism as a focus on saying "thank you" rather than "please."  This means that rather than focusing on what you want, appreciating what you have will lead to a happier and more satisfied life.  Shin Buddhism is focused on a way of living rather than a diety, so many people adopt Buddhism because it is most applicable to everyday life.  What was interesting, as both Kenji and Ken talked about, was that there were few conflicts in history between Buddhism and other religions, because Buddhism does not reach out to attract followers.  Many Buddhist ideals are apparent in JA culture and community, such as respect toward others and a sense of restraining personal passion.

We also met with Kika Shibata, an Ikebana (flower arrangement) master at Ikebana Arts.  She took traditional ikebana and made her art more contemporary, by including recycled goods, and many other parts of flowers and shaped vases.  She teaches workshops across the country to many different ethnicity in order to educate people and spread more knowledge about Japan.  Her way of teaching is through a textbook, to ensure that the people who want to teach ikebana actually know what they are talking about.  Through Ikebana, Shibata is able to teach what she loves while maintaining Japanese culture through the arts.

Picture with Kika Shibata at Ikebana Arts

Day 3:
Today we drove over to the Mexican Heritage Plaza to meet with Tamara Alvarado, the Multicultural Arts Leadership Initiative Program director, and one of the leading roles in the School of Arts and Culture at the plaza.  She explained how the school teaches Mexican dance, geography, folklore, and contemporary Mexican art, and more.  The main problem that she faces is changing the public's perception of the facility, because historically the plaza was not successful, and it is also in a community that outsiders would not want to travel to.  She also stressed having a connection with other communities, such as the JA community, through a relationship with San Jose Taiko and other performing groups.  It is interesting to see how the school will grow, because the opportunities that arise through such a great facility can change not just the children who attend, but the surrounding community as well.  

After we drove back to Japantown, we helped Reiko a little in her office, then we then went to Kubota's to have lunch with Jerry Hiura and Sophie.  We a little with Jerry about his history with the arts and his transition between dentistry and the arts world. Then the conversation steered more toward how to improve the NCI program in San Jose, and Alex and I gave input on what we felt could increase our experience and involvement in the community.

Day 4:
Today was our intern day again, so we met up at JCCCNC with Erika in the morning.  Our first visit was to Kimochi to see Steve Nakajo.  He talked with us a bit about his past experiences growing up in both Japan and America, and we shared our experience at the JACL convention.  He then talked about the changing leadership within the JA community, from the older generation to the new, and how this was a large discussion 30 years ago as well.  He sees it important for dynamic young adults to step up and take iniciative in the community, just as he had done many years ago.

We then went back to JCCCNC and met with the staff, who Rachel and Lisa worked under.  They talked a little bit about their organization, and how its programs are catered to keep the JA community strong.

Afterwords, all the interns planned for the Closing Luncheon for a little bit, organizing and distributing the work.

Picture with Wisa Uemura at San Jose Taiko dojo

Day 5:
Today we started out by meeting with Wisa Uemura, the artistic director of SJ Taiko.  She explained how the the group stresses performance, education of the art/history, and the community.  The group educates trhoguh adult rec classes, and a children's group, and the performance group has many school outreach performances spread the knowledge of taiko and JA culture.  All members of the performance group are required to participate and volunteer in the community, in order to uphold the core values of the founding of SJ Taiko: empowerment of the community and equality.   Many Japanese traditions such as bowing and meditation are upheld in order to keep a group dynamic upheld, and ground the values that SJ Taiko was built upon.  Just recently, there was a transition from the older generation (with Roy Hirabayashi) and the newer (Wisa and Franco).  This illustrates how passing on from one generation to another takes place in the arts as well, and SJ taiko was able to adapt to this change very smoothly.

We then met with Yosh Uchida, who was the Judo coach for many Olympic contenders.  He opened chemical laboratories at the time when there was great discrimination against Asian Americans, and he explained the difficulties he had with getting his job.  In 1953, Yosh was able to officially create Judo as a sport in America, and he explained how Judo is a defensive art, and is a road to develop character and help others.  We found through our interview that he was successful in many areas other than sports, as he sponsored the HP Pavillion and Uchida Hall in San Jose State.  We were able to go to his workspace at Uchida Enterprise, and he showed us pictures of when he brought the knowledge of Sumo to America through a huge competition held at San Jose State. 

Finally, we drove back to the museum, and met with Dean Adachi, a museum docent, and is studying JA christian History in his masters program.  He explained how important the Wesley church and Betsuin is to the community, because it provides a connection to the community (through Judo classes or Boyscouts).  He also explained how it is important for JA to meet other JA, because we can relate to each other and realize that our sense of identity does not make us different from every one else. 

Each of the people who we talked to this week exemplified the fact that arts and culture not only provide a connection to the rest of the community in Japantown, but also provides an outlet for each member to later give back to the community.

Picture with Yosh Uchida at Kubota Restaurant

Week 4: Business and Economic Development

Roy's Station

Day 1:
Today started at 9AM meeting with Kathy Sakamoto at the Japantown Business Association.  We helped her clean up trash off the streets from the aftermath of the Obon over the weekend, then we went to Roy's and talked a little about the education system in America, and its ineffectiveness.  Peter Delevett (Mercury News reporter) came around 11AM with his wife, and we interviewed both of them about the Japantown businesses, and which businesses would cause Japantown to flourish, as they are both Japantown residents.  While some shops such as SJ Tofu and Roy's Station are maintained to preserve the culture of Japantown, other shops (Hawaiian, Korean, etc.) bring a vibrancy to the community by attracting broader interests to Japantown.  Peter explained that it is very important to maintain this spirit of Japantown and the culture of earlier generations while catering to the new generation of the community. This is and will be a major problem in the business aspect of San Francisco Japantown.   Roy's station is a good example of a balance, by renovating into a coffee shop while maintaining the name, gas pump, coke machine, and building structure.  In addition, it is important for many businesses to start using online functions such as yelp, groupon, facebook, and twitter.  Many new stores use these outlets to promote their store and bring in a younger crowd.

Lotus Preschool building front

After we met with Peter, we walked over to Lotus preschool to finish up our education week by speaking with Lynne Yamaichi, the executive director of the school.  She explained how Lotus preschool is different from a regular preschool.  Lotus stresses Japanese America culture and community by Buddhist temple visits, walking to Yu-Ai-Kai and Fuji Towers to share Japanese snacks and art projects with the seniors, using Japanese phrases, celebrating Boy's and Girl's Day, and practicing Japanese song and dance.  25 years ago, the preschool was created, and it became the first step for both the parents and the children into the Japantown community.  By enrolling in the preschool, the kids would later enroll in programs at Suzume no Gakko and the Buddhist or Methodist church, so it is a way for the parents to stay connected as well.  This illustrates the importance of early education in the community building that is apparent in San Jose Japantown.

We then stopped by the the Buddhist temple to talk with Reverend Sakamoto (Kathy's husband) about the history and details of the Buddhist temple.  He explained the historical figures behind the creation of the temple, and how many of the parts of the temple reflect their decisions (such as the gold plating of the figures were done in Japan).

Day 2:
Today, we started out by helping Kathy with business at her JBA office. We helped pay bills, fill out forms for the upcoming Yosakoi Festival in September, and do other small things around her office.  We started on putting inserts into the Japantown brochures, which took forever because there were over 7000 pamphlets!  Alex and I went to eat with Sami (last year's intern) where we also met Jerry, the dentist practicing in Japantown.  We introduced ourselves to him, and we found out that his family does quite a bit to help out the community.

Back at the JBA office, Kathy talked to us about marketing in Japantown.  She explained that in order for the community to be successful, it must first know what Japantown's core purpose and ideals are, then figure out how to use these to get people to come.  One of the most important aspects of bringing people in is choosing which businesses start up in the community.  We brainstormed the purpose of Japantown, how the preservation of history and culture is important, but having a reputation of being a friendly community is also important (such as how Disney advertizes).  Choosing the right business to not only bring in people, but maintain the culture and community of Japantown is one of the most difficult aspects of sustaining Japantown.

Picture of Brett Yasukawa (not taken by me)

Day 3:
Today we started out by interviewing Brett Yasukawa, who grew up in Japantown in the Dobashi's family, and later came back and opened up a restaurant named Yasu for two years.  His goal for Yasu's was to push Japantown and evolve it, mixing traditional techniques with a modern setting. Yasu's concept was an idea that people would come in with shorts or with a suit and feel comfortable either way.  He wanted conversation of the unique food that he created, which was in many ways different than all the other businesses at the time.  He wanted to bring more energy to Japantown by changing both Dobashi's and Yasu's, which is exactly what we talked about with Kathy the previous day.  Japantown needs an energy of progressiveness while maintaining Japanese culture in the community, which Brett's restaurant had, but for various reasons he closed it two years after opening.  The reason why many businesses choose Japantown to open a small business is because there is a "quaint" feel to the community, and there is a lot of space to create and expand.  Brett explained that the Japantown community is very tight, and many don't see the changes that can occur in Japantown, but with all the new Hawaiian and street art stores, Japantown is already changing.  What he feels will truly make Japantown successful is building a business complex where the parking lot is, which will first attract progressive and new businesses, which will then attract many people to come and revitalize Japantown.  Maybe then, Brett will come back and reopen his own restaurant in the community!

After talking with Brett, we walked around Japantown with both him and Kathy, and we walked into many of the stores such as Cukui and Nikkei Traditions, and we talked with the store owners.

We then went back to JBA and helped out around her business, including advertizing for upcoming Japantown events.  We also met with her new intern, Kento who is an ESL student from Japan!

Day 4:
Today was intern day, so we met up with all the other interns in SF early in the morning.  We first met with Kenji Taguma at the Nichi Bei Weekly, the widely distributed JA nonprofit newspaper.  He explained how the newspaper was originally founded to reconnecdt the JA's after WWII, and then later was used to bridge Japan and America through the news.  Today, it has become a nonprofit (which was a very difficult transition after the original Nichi Bei business was going to stop printing), and is used as a media device for community empowerment.  I think it is a great thing that Nichi Bei is doing, and looking through their newspaper, it is obvious how it is able to bring knowledge of the JA community to all its readers, from articles to the different upcoming Obons.

We then went on a walking tour with NJAHS, led by two of our interns: Ken and Alison.  It was very informative, because this was my second time coming to SF Japantown, and I knew very little about the area.  It was also a lot of fun because we got to see what our other interns were learning about through the past 4 weeks!

We then drove over to the Federal Building, where we met with one of the staff working under Nancy Pelosi.  She talked a lot about public policy, and how she worked with international relations in Japan and other Asian countries.  Although I am not planning on working in politics as my career, she illustrated that there are so many ways for other jobs to get connected with a government job. 

We finally took BART back home after a long day with lots of walking, but also lots of learning!

Day 5:
Today I spent the majority of today working on the website for San Jose Japantown JCCsj.  Alex and I stuck around in Kathy's office working on various tasks as well, such as learning about grants, and REDOING the flyer inserts for the Japantown brochures.

If you want to check it out, the link to the website is:

http://japantownsanjose.wordpress.com/

[As of right now, it isn't finished yet]

MidSession Retreat

For the midsummer retreat, we flew down to LA.  All the norcal interns met at SFO at 5:50 AM, and flew Southwest Airlines to LAX.  We then drove to the JACCC building in Little Tokyo, where we had a variety of workshops. 

The first was a time management workshop, where we were told how to manage our time using a planner, and how to use specific parts of a planner. Our next workshop was a Little Tokyo Video scavenger hunt, where we ran around Little Tokyo for an hour with a video camera, capturing various parts of Little Tokyo on film.  The next workshop was a personality test, in which we each determined our personality and then act out a scenario in which we pretend to be the opposite personality type.  Our final workshop was a team building workshop, where we had to silently copy a lego structure with our team without talking. 

For dinner, we had an alumni potluck, in which over 15 alumni from as far as 6 years back came and ate dinner with us.  It was interesting to see how so many of them had become so involved in various organizations, and many times their experience started with the NCI program.

We then drove over to the Renaissance Hotel in Hollywood, and got to meet high school students in a community program from JACLPSW. We did various icebreakers, then got together in groups and talked about our different programs that we are in, and how we plan to support the community through our efforts.

The next day, we went to the JACL National Conference, which brought together about 400 members of JACL from across the country.  NCI acted as notetakers and runners for each workshop, and we also participated in different workshops throughout the day.  The event schedule included opening plenary, two workshops, lunch, and closing plenary.  Various members of the JA community spoke and encouraged dialogue between the various JACL chapters concerning the problems in the JA community.  The two workshops I attended were Civic Engagement and Leadership Development, and Community Investments.  The Leadership Development workshop was led by Craig Ishii and Jon Osaki, where we split into groups and came up with ideas on how to get youth involvement in leadership positions of JACL and other JA organizations, and how many chapters of JACL have to change their mindset to allow these younger adults to take active leadership roles.  The Community Investments workshop was led by Tim Otani, and was a presentation on how raise funds for a nonprofit organization. 

Overall, this retreat was a great experience for me, not only because of the participation in the conference, but also because I was able to meet so many different community leaders, each with their own perspective on the future of the JA community.  It was rather inspiring to see how important this community is to so many people, and the role that I would be playing as an intern and as a member of the future JA community became more apparent through this weekend.  Overall, this retreat has become one of the most memorable parts of this internship, not to mention how fun it was to spend time with the 14 other interns in the program!

Week 3: Education

Picture with Mary Katayama at Suzume no Gakko

Day 1:
Today we started out by asset tagging at the Akiyama Wellness Center.  We put numbered stickers on all the furniture and recorded them in a excel spreadsheet.

At 11, we walked over to the Suzume no Gakko summer program and met with Mary Katagama, who worked on staff at the school.  The Suzume no Gakko program is a three week summer program which spreads awareness of Japanese culture, Japanese-American culture, and the community in San Jose Japantown. She showed us around the small school, and explained how the staff meets year round to prepare for this summer program, and the program itself is run by volunteers and parent participation (which is required by the student's parents). The program was started 35 years ago because of the need to educate the youth about JA culture, which was absent in many families' upbringings.  The school accommodates 1st to 6th grade, and each grade has a focus, for example 1st grade focuses on rice and 5th grade on internment.  In each grade, the Nikkei heritage and culture is passed down to the youth through field trips to the tofu or monju shop, learning an odori dance for the SJ Obon festival, interviewing an internee or even cooking meals such as spam musubi.  Also, Japanese culture is passed down through the making of garden sculpture, ikebana, and learning simple Japanese phrases.  Also, a sense of community is stressed through making gifts for the seniors at Yu-Ai-Kai, taking a tour around Japantown and working in the kitchen of the monju shop, and getting to watch and play with San Jose Taiko.  In addition, the values of the JA community, such as appreciation of elders (Yu-Ai-Kai) and having a thank you gift when you meet people are stressed throughout the program.

Through talking with Mary, it was obvious how much this program tied in with our week on education.  This program was specifically created to educate the youth about their culture, the culture of Japantown, and how they fit into this community.  It was also interesting hearing that many of the parents whose kids are in the program had gone to the school many years before. 

What was even more interesting, was that Mary was one of the people who started the first Culture Night at UCLA! She explained how the Culture Night was originally created to educate UCLA of the fight for redress and reparations through a play.  It was really amazing seeing one of the people who started Culture Night, because I performed in during my freshman school year, and the idea of the show being a way to illustrate a social problem within the JA community still remained true over 25 years!

Afterwords, Alex and I ate with Sami (one of the past interns) at Sushimaru, then we made our way back to Akiyama to continue asset tagging.

We then walked over to the Issei Memorial Building to talk with Roy Hirabayashi, the newly elected president of Japantown Community Congress, and one of the founders of San Jose Taiko.  He talked about how San Jose Taiko was a way to educate the art of Taiko to kids who would otherwise not have the opportunity to.  They often go to surrounding schools to put on an assembly to educate the youth, and there is a Junior Taiko program for kids who want to get more involved.  Roy said that through taiko, he tries to pass on not only the culture and history of the drum, but also leadership and equality to future generations.  Because San Jose Taiko performs kumidaiko (group playing), working together and equality of all parts is an important part of playing, which are life lessons that can be applied to the community as well.  Roy explained his past, about how he went to Japan to train with Kodo, where he endured harsh training and was taught how important seniority was to the taiko group.  When he created San Jose Taiko, he wanted to include traditional aspects of Japanese Taiko, but make it more contemporary with musical styles from Jazz and R&B.  Also, because the culture in America is much less based on seniority (for example noone would join the group if they had to spend years serving tea and listening to the elders), he made taiko accessible to all age and skill levels.

Through talking to Roy, the passing down of the education of arts from one generation to the next became more clear.  While the culture is still preserved through the art of Taiko, many of the values and traditions are changed to fit modern day time and keep the youth interested.

 California History Center at De Anza

Day 2:

Today we met with Mae Lee and Tom Izu (one of the coordinators of our NCI program) at De Anza College.  She explained to us the history of Asian American Studies.  Coming into the interview, I had the preconception that she would explain how Asian American Studies (AAS) was a way to pass on the history of Asian cultures, however I learned so much more by talking with Mae.  She explained how the AAS explores what it means to be Asian in America, and it began in 1968 with the civil rights movement in SF state by second generation Asian American activists.  The discipline was originally created to teach students how to serve the community and solve community issues involving Asian American influence in politics.  Through studying AAS today, most students gain a sense of identity and learn why past experiences have occurred (such as arguments with parents involving grades).  Most students who major in AAS then go into teaching and public engagement by going back to serve the community.  Mae explained the distinction of AAS at the university level versus the community college level.  While AAS professors in universities are focused on researching on Asian Americans, AAS professors at community colleges are there specifically to teach students about contemporary issues, history, and literature of Asian Americans. In terms of Japanese Americans specifically, AAS focuses on internment and the reparations movement.  AAS explores beyond simply studying JA culture, but also the struggles that are experienced in America adn how it fits in with the struggles of other immigrants (such as how Heinlenville became Japantown).

After the interview, we participated in the APALI program (Asian Pacific American Leadership Institute), a course that stresses personal leadership skills in helping the community in order to give Asian Americans a voice in the community.  We got into groups and went around the Cupertino area and had white pedestrians fill out a survey on their view of Asian Americans.  It was a lot of fun and I got to meet a really interesting people! 

Picture with Mae Lee and Tom Izu

Day 3:

Alex and I went to the Issei Memorial Building to paint the front railing.  We cleaned and repainted most of the banister, which took most of the afternoon.  We then went inside and helped San Jose Taiko by making fans with their two interns.  Today was mainly to help out the Issei Memorial Building for Roy Hirabayashi and Leon Kimura, because they both helped out a lot with the NCI program!

Painted Rails