LOS ANGELES — After a long period of stability, various nonprofit organizations in Little Tokyo have experienced significant leadership changes the past few years. Dean Matsubayashi took over at the Little Tokyo Service Center, Leslie Ito at the Japanese American Cultural and Community Center and Mitchell Maki at the Go For Broke National Educational Center. […]
Archives for 2017
An ‘immersion’ into Terminal Island Nikkei lives
January 1, 2017 by Leave a Comment
TERMINAL ISLAND: LOST COMMUNITIES OF LOS ANGELES HARBOR By Naomi Hirahara and Geraldine Knatz (Santa Monica, Calif.: Angel City Press, 2015, 288 pp., $35, paperback) As an oral historian, I have always been addicted to reading obituaries, especially those relating to the World War II Japanese American experience. For example, a recent transfixing obituary for […]
THE GREAT UNKNOWN AND THE UNKNOWN GREAT: Biracial MIS veteran Clarke Kawakami’s multifaceted legacy
January 1, 2017 by Leave a Comment
Clarke Hiroshi Kawakami, a man who made his mark in many different fields, was born in Momence, Ill. in 1909. His mother was Mildred Clarke, a white American, and his father was the well-known Issei author and journalist Kiyoshi Karl Kawakami. Kiyoshi Kawakami was born in Yonezawa, Japan in the 1870s (most early sources claim […]
A circle of kindness
January 1, 2017 by Leave a Comment
CARA’S KINDNESS By Kristi Yamaguchi; illustrated by John Lee (Naperville, Ill.: Sourcebooks Inc., 2016, 32 pp.; $16.99, hardcover) Our favorite Olympic ice skater, Kristi Yamaguchi, has recently released her third children’s book, “Cara’s Kindness.” Cara the Cat, an ice skater, is the shining light. She helps other animals and encourages them to “pass on the […]
THE HEART OF KANJI: First shrine or temple visit of the Japanese New Year
January 1, 2017 by Leave a Comment
初 (Hatsu) means “first” or “beginning.” The left side of this character represents clothes or kimono. The right side indicates a knife. To make a kimono, one must first cut the cloth. 詣 (Mode or mairu) means “to visit a shrine.” The left side of the character indicates talking. The top of the right side indicates people and the bottom of the right […]
ENTERTAINMENT RE-ORIENTED: #Thiswas2016
January 1, 2017 by Leave a Comment
“When the house is going up in flames, does what’s on the TV matter?” That’s the question I kept asking myself as I sat down to write this year-end column. In October, Michael Luo, then an editor for The New York Times, was accosted on the street by a woman yelling, “Go back to China!” […]
FANTASTIC VOYAGE: Looking back, looking forward: Traditions on the decline
January 1, 2017 by Leave a Comment
I’ve been teaching English in Japan for a long time, and around New Year’s, I always ask students if they eat osechi ryori. Out of the 50 or so elementary school students that I asked this year, about half said “no.” Given that it’s a very small sample size in a remote part of Japan, […]
RABBIT RAMBLINGS: A wake up call
January 1, 2017 by Leave a Comment
Uncertainty is an uncomfortable emotion and state of existing, and we’re living through such times, what with the outcome of the elections. But we have to go on living and going about our business in our usual ways. What were we thankful for at Thanksgiving time? The bountiful tables and cheery dinners were as good […]
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