Monday - August 30
Okaeri Sponsored Nikkei LGBTQ + Allies Group Discussion
zoom small group discussion
(past)
Justin Kawaguchi of Okaeri led a discussion group for LGBTQ + Allies in the Nikkei Community.
The Wakamatsu Tea and Silk Farm Colony at a Place Called Wakamatsu Farm
Courtesy of American River Conservancy | 9min
Explore the history of the first Japanese immigrant settlement in America established during 1869 in Placerville, CA. Some say the “Plymouth Rock” of the Japanese American immigration story is Wakamatsu Farm, now owned and operated as a destination farm by American River Conservancy.
Heart Mountain Graves at Crown Hill Cemetery
Courtesy of Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation | 5 min
Not everyone brought to the Heart Mountain camp left it again. Visit the Crown Hill Cemetery with Executive Director Dakota Russell and hear the story of the Heart Mountain graveyard and the three Issei men buried there.
Tuesday - August 31
two nails that stick up: Alden Hayashi & Shirley Ann Higuchi
Authors Alden Hayashi and Shirley Ann Higuchi converse about their experiences writing & publishing their first books, the Japanese American Sansei Effect and more. Hayashi's novel Two Nails: One Love is described as literary historical fiction. Higuchi's non-fiction Setsuko's Secret: Heart Mountain and the Legacy of the Japanese American Incarceration is driven by an auto-biographical personal narrative. Alden and Shirley are completely different authors with very different stories but they both have some striking revelations to share with you. This video was the kick-off for Hayashi's writing sessions which were held throughout Tadaima 2021.
The First Japanese Colonists at a Place Called Wakamatsu Farm
Courtesy of American River Conservancy | 11 min
Who were the original “Issei” in America? Daring Japanese immigrants who arrived on June 8, 1869 established their tea and silk farm in Placerville, California. Briefly learn about their history at the landmark heritage site now owned by American River Conservancy.
A Taste of Home (Part I): Building the Flavors of Japanese America
Courtesy of Japanese American National Museum and Consulate General of Japan | 1 hr 38 min
On November 15, 2020, we heard from foodways scholar Valerie Matsumoto who dove into JANM’s collection, early Japanese American food history, and how these food trends continue to the present day. JANM Director of Collections Management and Access, Kristen Hayashi, shared some items from the archives that highlight Japanese American resilience in the kitchen. Then, we learned how to make two kinds of musubi/onigiri with cookbook author and designer, Azusa Oda, in an easy cooking demo and tutorial. First, she demonstrates how to make an umeboshi (pickled plum) musubi with a special twist, and then a takigomi gohan musubi (with carrots, aburaage, shimeji mushrooms, and ginger). She also provides instructions on how best to prepare rice. The program concluded with a Q&A with Valerie Matsumoto and Kristen Hayashi.
wednesday - september 1
Reflections on WakamatsuFest150
Courtesy of American River Conservancy | 5 min
This video provides an overview of WakamatsuFest, a four day festival held at Wakamatusu Farm. Wakamatsu Farm was the first Japanese colony in North America and the festival raised awareness of the importance of protecting the heritage of the farm. Attendees enjoyed the cultural events and gained an appreciation for how Wakamatsu Farm creates a space of peace and friendship for all.
Untold Stories of Nikkei New York
Courtesy of Densho | 1 hr 5 min
In his new book, "The Unsung Great: Stories of Extraordinary Japanese Americans," scholar and journalist Greg Robinson showcases the lives and achievements of relatively unknown but remarkable people in Nikkei history. Drawn primarily from Robinson’s popular writings in the San Francisco newspaper Nichi Bei Weekly and community website Discover Nikkei, "The Unsung Great" offers entertaining and compelling stories that challenge one-dimensional views of Japanese Americans. This collection breaks new ground by devoting attention to Nikkei beyond the West Coast—including the vibrant communities of New York and Chicago, as well as the little-known history of Japanese Americans in the US South. In this book launch event on January 21, 2021, Robinson—a native New Yorker—explores the unknown aspects of the diverse and artistically vibrant Nikkei community in prewar and wartime New York. He is joined by artists Tomie Arai and Sheila Hamanaka in a conversation moderated by Brian Niiya, Densho Content Director. This event is co-presented by Densho, Japanese American Association, NYC DOR Committee, JACL-NY, University of Washington Press, and Elliott Bay Book Company.
A Taste of Home (Part II): Recipes for Celebration
Courtesy of Japanese American National Museum and Consulate General of Japan | 1 hr 41 min
For many holidays, both distinctly “American” and traditionally Japanese, Japanese American families share meals specifically prepared for the occasion. From Oshogatsu (New Years) to Christmas, these flavors are closely tied to memories, festivities, and cultural practices. Even while incarcerated during WWII, Japanese Americans held on to their traditions and celebrations, highlighting their perseverance and the importance of joyful gathering even in difficult times.
THURSDAY - september 2
A Conversation with G Yamazawa
Join Tadaima film festival curator Rob Buscher in conversation with hip hop artist and spoken-word poet G Yamazawa. Buscher and G Yamazawa discuss several of Yamazawa’s music videos which explore his myriad identity as a Shin-Nisei Japanese American born and raised in Durham North Carolina.
Durham vs Everybody
North Cack
Sound Right
Buri Buri
Yao Ming
Dining Room
Rich Chigga Freestyle
A Taste of Home (Part III): Dining Out in Japanese America
Courtesy of Japanese American National Museum and Consulate General of Japan | 1 hr 35 min
Japanese immigrants have worked in, owned, and sustained restaurants in the U.S. for over a century and Japanese restaurants continue to be as integral a part of Japanese America as home cooking. In this third and final part of A Taste of Home, we examined the past, present, and future of Japanese American restaurants and dining through a conversation with Chef Akira Hirose and Jo Ann Maehara (Azay Little Tokyo) and Chef Niki Nakayama (n/naka) moderated by Professor Samuel H. Yamashita. We also heard from graphic novelist Sam Nakahira on her new book on 1970s California cuisine and local food movements through the story of Bill Fujimoto and explored the legacy of Japanese cuisine and restaurants with a presentation of items from JANM’s collection with Kristen Hayashi, Director of Collections Management and Access at JANM.
Untold Stories of Nikkei california
Courtesy of Densho | 1 hr 4 min
A panel of leading experts of Japanese American history will share little known stories of Nikkei life in California, before, during, and after WWII incarceration. Learn about the Burbank trailer camp where Japanese Americans lived after WWII; about Chiye Mori, the leftist editor of the Manzanar Free Press who went on to become a notable activist and artist; about experiments in rubber production at Manzanar; and so much more. Panelists Brian Niiya, Kristen Hayashi, Jonathan van Harmelen, and Patricia Wakida have all contributed new articles on the California Nikkei experience to the Densho Encyclopedia. They will share highlights from their research—and talk about why they feel passionately about bringing these stories to the public. This program was funded, in part, by a grant from the California Civil Liberties Public Education Program.
Friday - september 3
shin nikkei: going to all the camps
Tadaima 2020 featured artist Setsuko Winchester and photographer Haruka Sakaguchi share their experiences of being Japanese American artists and about creating their respective works.
Say Hello to the Bad Guys: japanese Masculinity and Stereotypes with Yuji Okumoto & Peter Shinkoda
Moderated by Tadaima film festival curator Rob Buscher, this panel features Japanese American actor Yuji Okumoto (The Karate Kid II) and Japanese Canadian actor Peter Shinkoda (Daredevil). The topic of this intimate discussion is about Japanese masculinity and the negative stereotyping within Hollywood, which often relegated Japanese men to the role of villain.
COMMUNITY COOKBOOKS: "Sharing Family Recipes Through the Generations"
Courtesy of Japanese American Museum of San Jose & Yu-Ai Kai | 1 hr 17 min
Presented by YU-AI KAI Lecture Series and the Japanese American Museum San Jose (JAMsj) this virtual event featured Nina F. Ichikawa, Executive Director of the Berkeley Food Institute sharing her article “Community Cookbooks: Asian American Food Selfies” as well as Yu-Ai Kai volunteers dishing up their favorite family recipes
American peril
Courtesy of Rob Buscher | 37 min
Join Tadaima film festival curator Rob Buscher for a curator talk on the American Peril exhibit of anti-Asian propaganda. Debuting in 2018, the American Peril exhibit spans nearly 150 years of anti-Asian racism and violence in the United States. The exhibit showcases original printed materials and other artifacts from popular culture and entertainment that have contributed to the negative stereotyping and racial othering of Asian Americans, Pacific Islanders, and persons of Middle Eastern descent. The second phase of the exhibit expands on the shared experiences among Japanese American and Muslim and Arab American communities. The second phase features a series of portrait photographs depicting members of each community posing with exhibit artifacts. These portraits humanize the impact of racist propaganda.
saturday - september 4
Grace, Grit & Gaman Webinar
Courtesy of Japanese American Museum of Oregon | 1 hr 5 min
Grace, Grit, and Gaman: Generations of Japanese American Women is an exhibit featured at the Japanese American Museum of Oregon. This webinar features Dorothy Sato, Julianne Sato-Parker, and Vicki Nakashima and was moderated by Dr. Linda Tamura, a curator at the museum. Dorothy, Julianne, and Vicki share their stories of grace, grit and gaman (perseverance) in the unique challenges they faced in their own ways, on their own terms, and in their own time.
What Led to December 7, 1941
Courtesy of Smithsonian Air and Space Museum & Pacific Historic Parks | 1 hr
You are undoubtedly familiar with the events of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. But have you ever given any thought to why those Japanese planes were in the sky over Hawaii on that date? Dr. Burke will discuss the larger issues that led to the opening of hostilities between the United States and Imperial Japan in 1941 and the ways in which the Pearl Harbor attack both was and was not a surprise to the United States. Provided by Smithsonian's Air and Space Museum.
Oregon’s History of African American and Japanese Timber Workers
Courtesy of Beyond Toxics | 1 hr 30 min
This webinar was hosted by Beyond Toxics on March 25th as part of the Beyond Toxics/NAACP/and the Environmental Justice Pathways Summit. This event gave an introduction to the story of African American and Japanese timber workers throughout Oregon's history. Here we focused on bringing forth some of the stories and pictures that reveal Oregon’s multicultural timber industry and the communities that helped build it.
Unexpected Sites of WWII Incarceration
Courtesy of Densho | 1 hr 1 min
Many of us are familiar with the ten major concentration camps where Japanese Americans were incarcerated during WWII, and maybe even some of the dozens of other Department of Justice-run camps that cropped up across the country. But little is known about the everyday buildings that were repurposed to serve as sites of incarceration. Join us as we travel back to a private mansion in Chicago, a tuberculosis sanitarium, upscale hotels in North Carolina, and other sites where Japanese American confinement was hidden in plain sight. Scholars Takako Day, Courtney Sato, and Heidi Kim present original research and join Densho content director Brian Niiya in conversation.