Japanese American filmmaker Kerwin Berk plans to premiere his latest film “Kikan – the Homecoming†Aug. 18 in San Francisco’s Japantown. Set in the 1940s, Berk tells the story of Jimmy Ibata (Ryan Takemiya), a Japanese American soldier returning to America after fighting in Europe with the 442nd Regimental Combat Team. “Kikan†features a multi-generational cast of Japanese Americans directed by the director of “The Virtues of Corned Beef Hash†and “Infinity & Chashu Ramen,†two films predominantly set in the ethnic enclave. The Nichi Bei Weekly interviewed Berk, a Sansei, about his latest film.
‘Kikan — The Homecoming’ retraces a San Francisco Nikkei tale
August 15, 2019 by Leave a Comment
‘LIFE ITSELF IS OUR TREASURE’: Remembering the Battle of Okinawa
February 10, 2011 by 2 Comments
On April 1, 1945, 75,000 American troops landed at Hagushi Bay, on the west coast of Okinawa. Eighty-two days of fighting followed in what became known as the “Typhoon of Steel,†resulting in 200,000 deaths and a decimated island. The last major campaign of World War II, the Battle of Okinawa persists in the minds […]
RABBIT RAMBLINGS: Kiyoshi Okamoto, an unsung hero of the camp resistance movement
January 20, 2011 by 1 Comment
It was a solemn and moving ceremony in a Buddhist church last month, the funeral for Frank Emi. At 94, his time had come, and so a steadfast American patriot was honored and put to rest at Evergreen Cemetery in Los Angeles. When the light that was Frank’s spirit — which had burned so steadily […]
Making mochi in Sao Paulo
January 6, 2011 by Leave a Comment
On Dec. 31 in Sao Paulo, Brazil, preparations for the New Year are well under way. Speakers have been set up along the city’s main avenue for countdown festivities, and beachgoers have been clogging the freeways for days. In the Liberdade neighborhood, center of Sao Paulo’s Japanese community, another year-end tradition unfolds. Mochitsuki, or mochi […]
Dance master promotes Okinawan culture in the Bay Area
December 16, 2010 by Leave a Comment
Noriyoshi Arakaki has been going back to his birthplace of Okinawa almost every year for the last 32 years since he moved to Hayward, Calif., where he owns a gardening business. This time, his visit had a special meaning. “I saw a banner in the National Theater Okinawa in Naha†— Okinawa’s capital — “that […]
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