FOR THE COMMUNITY: Melody Takata’s three decades of teaching Japanese arts

Melody Takata has been drumming taiko for around four decades, starting in Los Angeles as a high school student with L.A. Matsuri Taiko before moving to Tokyo for a year during college to study with Oedo Sukeroku Taiko. After finishing her studies, she moved to San Francisco to work with artists in Northern California. She […]

PLAYING WITH CHIMU (Heart/Soul): Reclaiming cultural identity with the Okinawan sanshin

Chances are, if you hear Okinawan music in the Bay Area, there’s a good bet that Wesley Ueunten and his Berkeley Genyukai have something to do with it. Since 2000, Ueunten and Berkeley Genyukai have been omnipresent throughout the region, helping to showcase Okinawan music to a larger audience at various events, including the San […]

‘HIDDEN LEGACY’: Film showcases the preservation of Japanese arts in the wartime concentration camps

SAN JOSE — June 28 marked the premiere film screening of “Hidden Legacy: Japanese Traditional Performing Arts in the World War II Internment Camps” at San Jose’s Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library. The film explores the practice and preservation of Japanese cultural arts in the American concentration camps, and is the result of more […]

Shirley Muramoto’s ‘Hidden Legacy’ to explore arts in the wartime camps

Each year, more and more stories from the World War II American concentration camps are shared, broadening the public’s awareness about the long-term effects mass incarceration has had on the Japanese American community. Stories about people like Fred Korematsu, the Heart Mountain draft resisters and the “No-Nos” are esteemed within the community for their strong […]

Japanese cultural classes

Taiko San Francisco GenRyu Arts Location: Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California, 1840 Sutter St., S.F.’s Japantown Contact: (415) 420-3151, info@genryuarts.org, www.genryuarts.org Maikaze Daiko Location: Dance Mission Theater, 3316 24th St., S.F. Contact: (415) 513-7798, info@maikazedaiko.org, www.maikazedaiko.org San Francisco Taiko Dojo Classes: 212 Ryan Way South San Francisco, CA  94080 Contact: (415) 928-2456, […]