Category: Education

Thank you for joining us in Seattle!

Allyson Nakamoto Leave a comment

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Thank you to the over 500 people who joined us at our fourth National Conference, Speaking Up! Democracy, Justice, Dignity, held July 4–7 in Seattle, Washington.

Participants came from around the nation, as well as from Canada and Japan to participate in a jam-packed program commemorating the 25th anniversary of the signing of the Civil Liberties Act.  [See below for a video of Secretary Norman Mineta’s keynote address at the dinner banquet on July 6.]

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We are now going through the photos, video footage, and audio recordings of the conference so that we can make them available on the Web. But for now, because we are so excited about all of the media, wanted to preview just a few of the photos and to say THANK YOU for helping make the conference unforgettable!  And a special THANK YOU to the folks in Seattle for sharing the history of their wonderful city with us.

(Photos by Tracy Kumono)

 

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Hapa Hoops: Hapas Can Jump Too

JANM Interns Leave a comment

Hello there! My name is Kelly Gates and I am working in the Watase Media Arts Center here at the Japanese American Nation Museum as one of the 2013 Getty Multicultural Undergraduate Interns. I recently graduated from UC Santa Cruz majoring in Film and Digital Media. I have moved back home  for just the summer (hopefully). Now that I have been thrown into what people call the “real world” as I try to figure out what I want to do with my life. On to the real reason you’re reading this article…

 

“It was funny they were talking about nicknames and mine was ‘haole’ and mine was ‘big eyes’.” —Rex Walters

This past Saturday (June 22, 2013) the museum held the event “Hapa Hoops: Japanese American Basketball and Community with Rex Walters”. The event screened JANM’s own film Crossover (2000) followed by a conversation with former JA league player turned NBA player turned coach, Rex Walters and co-curator for the Visible & Invisible: A Hapa Japanese American History exhibition, Dr. Lily Anne Yumi Welty. Crossover is a short documentary on the ever growing and changing of the Japanese-American basketball community and leagues. The film was directed by a previous JANM employee and director of the four most recent The Fast & The Furious films, Justin Lin. The film address the history of the JA leagues by looking at how and why they started and goes all the way to the present day (well, 2000) structure of the leagues.

“When she [mom] got really mad at me or really mad about something she would call me a banana, ‘Oh you’re yellow on the outside but you’re white on the inside. You’re not really Japanese.” But it was all in good fun.” —Rex Walters

When it came time to have the conversation with Rex Walters and Dr. Lily Anne Welty, I could not help but feel like we were all in group huddle during halftime of a game. I played basketball on my high school team and he made me flash back to those memories. It was funny how Mr. Walters mentioned a past coach always giving motivational speeches and now here he was doing the exact same thing. I personally found Mr. Walters to be quite inspirational. He enjoyed playing for the San Jose Zebras and mentioned he liked the JA basketball league experience better than his high school basketball experience. Mr. Walters even admitted he was not the best player on the team and spent some time warming the bench, but look at how far he got. He played in the NBA and helped his team get into the Final Four and now he is the head coach at the University of San Francisco. Listening to his story, I regretted not playing basketball my senior year in high school and not trying to play in college. It was especially nice to see a fellow hapa person there, talking about his experience and his (what I would still call) a successful career.

“Basketball is just like anything else. It’s a way of bonding and teams just naturally bond. Whether you’re really good, really bad you kind of have to stick together, you have to come together.”

Visible & Invisible: A Hapa Japanese American History is on view through August 25, 2013. For more info about the exhibition >>

Early Bird Registration Ends 1/31/13!

Allyson Nakamoto Leave a comment
Scene from JANM’s 2008 National Conference in Denver. Photo by Tracy Kumono.

We are so excited that it is finally 2013… because our fourth national conference is just 6 months away! We hope that you and your family will join us.

Register before January 31 to receive the early bird rate for JANM’s 2013 National Conference, “Speaking Up! Democracy, Justice, and Dignity.” If you register now, you will not only save money, but there are still spaces available for the trips to Bainbridge Island (bus tour) and/or the International District (bus tour and/or walking tour).

Here are some handy links:

– On-line registration

– Schedule of events and speakers

– Booking a room at the Sheraton Seattle at the lower, JANM rate

And a special shout out to our partners: Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Washington and University of Washington, Department of American Ethnic Studies. We couldn’t do any of this without them.

See you and your family in Seattle in July!

 

Giant Robot Artists’ Entourage

Lynn Yamasaki Leave a comment

Giant Robot Biennale 3 closed this past Sunday but not without some cool happenings.  As part of what we called Giant Robot Artists’ Entourage, some of the GRB3 artists came to teach their techniques and share a bit about their art making process.

Eric Nakamura, Albert Reyes, Saelee Oh, and Rob Sato, were super-generous with their creativity and led several great art making workshops and discussions.  On Saturday we concluded the GR Entourage program with a watercolor workshop by Rob Sato.

Rob Sato demonstrating a watercolor masking technique

 

In addition to the public workshops, a major part of Giant Robot Artists’ Entourage was a series of workshops for high school students.  The result was a display of work that was produced during the workshops AND as an added bonus, last Friday a group of students from our neighbors at Mendez Learning Center came by for a visit!  This great group of people included two of the Entourage participants who helped lead their teachers and fellow students through the GRB3 exhibition and the display of their work.  It was the perfect way to continue the learning and conversation.

Big thanks to all the artists who shared with us and to the students and teachers from Mendez Learning Center and The Los Angeles School of Global Studies.  We had a great time with you all!

Support for the Giant Robot Entourage program is provided by the National Endowment of the Arts.

Eric Nakamura and students viewing the custom figures in the Project Remix show
After going through the galleries with Eric, students had a chance to customize their own Big Boss Robot.

 

Looking at Saelee Oh's work in the galleries with Saelee
Saelee Oh demonstrating her cutout process

 

Albert Reyes teaching an image transfer technique

 

Students in the galleries discuss Ako Castuera's work.

 

Display of student artwork created during workshops with Eric Nakamura, Saelee Oh, and Albert Reyes.

Many thanks to Richard Murakami and Gary Ono for taking photographs to document the workshops!

 

 

‘Tis the season to come on down to JANM for our last Target Free Family Saturday of 2012!

Lynn Yamasaki Leave a comment

Phew!  It’s been a busy year full of family fun and we’re ending 2012 with festive holiday performances and activities this Saturday, December 8th.  Hope you’re ready to join us.

For our craft activities we’ll be making garland, wintery scenes, and of course our friend Ruthie will be ready to fold origami with you all.

There will be cookies, a photo booth, storytelling, and more!  Take a look at the full program for the day here.

As I get materials ready for Saturday, I look at the shelves of our supply closet and see traces of all the various activities we’ve done over the past few years.  Besides realizing that it’s probably time to do a big clean-up job in here (yikes!), I am also reminded of all the fantastic creativity we’ve seen from JANM’s family day visitors.  Pieces of cardboard, bits of yarn, and piles of wiggly eyes have been transformed into some amazing and unique robots, masks, puppets, bags… the list goes on and on!

You are all wonderful and you keep us inspired and excited about what we do here at JANM!  Thank you to all who have joined us for Target Free Family Saturdays.  We hope to see you this coming Saturday and next year for Oshogatsu and another year of family day fun!

(More) Reasons to Be Excited about JANM’s 2013 National Conference in Seattle

Allyson Nakamoto Leave a comment

We are hosting a national conference next year in Seattle, Washington! It will be from July 4-7, 2013 at the Sheraton Seattle and the theme is “Speaking Up! Democracy, Justice, Dignity.” Go on-line for the latest information about the program of events, our speaker line-up, and to register.

But in case you need even more reasons to gather your family to join us in Seattle at the conference, how about these…

Seattle was the setting of the TBS Japanese drama, 99 Years of Love (2010) and John Okada’s book, No-No Boy (1979). Readers of No-No Boy will recognize this sign:

Some of the best food I’ve ever eaten has been at the vegetarian & vegan Plum Bistro in Capitol Hill. And if it’s raining, you can slurp down a hot bowl of nabeyaki udon at Hiroshi’s Restaurant in Eastlake. Meanwhile near the International District, the Cheeky Cafe serves up eclectic food in these very generous portions.

(Bonus: sharing a meal at the Cheeky Cafe with JANM Board of Governor, Tom Ikeda of Densho.)

And what says more about a city than its independent book store? Elliott Bay Book Company will be coming to our conference with lots of books!

The early bird registration closes on January 31! Click here for more info about JANM’s National Conference.

Join us at the 2013 National Conference

Allyson Nakamoto Leave a comment

Join us…

July 4-7, 2013 at the Seattle Sheraton Hotel Speaking Up! Democracy, Justice, Dignity Our expanded Web site has launched and we’re so excited! Check out the sessions and activities being planned for JANM’s fourth national conference. A multigenerational, multicultural audience of over 1,000 attendees is expected for this not-to-be-missed community gathering. And, save time and money with our NEW online registration—JANM members save up to 35% with our Early Bird registration. Be sure to share the newswith your family and friends. See you in Seattle!

Participants at our 2008 conference in Denver.

Seattle 2013: Save the Date!

Allyson Nakamoto Leave a comment

Join us for another exciting National Conference…

July 4-7, 2013 at the Sheraton Seattle

Speaking Up! Democracy, Justice, and Dignity

Don’t miss another life-changing experience for you and your family at JANM’s fourth national conference! Attendees of all ages will hear from a mixture of first-person and scholarly voices, learn more about the 25th anniversary of the signing of the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, make new friends, and catch-up with old ones. We have been busy planning the conference with organizations such as the University of Washington, Department of American Ethnic Studies and the Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Washington. Plus, the Wing Luke Asian Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience, Bainbridge Island Japanese American Community, and the Bainbridge Island Japanese American Exclusion Memorial are helping organize exciting field trips and tours!

Registration details will be available in September 2012, but starting immediately you can reserve your room at Sheraton Seattle at the preferred room rates. (The conference rates are quite a deal!)

We’ll post updates on our conference Web site, so please stay tuned.

P.S. Check out the speaker bios, panel descriptions, and photos from our 2008 National Conference in Denver to get a sense of what’s in store for Seattle.

Girl Scout Patch Program — new date added!

Allyson Nakamoto Leave a comment

Due to an overwhelming demand, we are adding one more date to our Girl Scout Patch Program. We hope you can join us…

Date: Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Time: 1 pm – 3 pm (registration will begin at 12:45 pm)

What you will do:

– Guided visit of our exhibition Common Ground: The Heart of Community

– Self-guided visit of Folding Paper: The Infinite Possibilities of Origami

– Hands-on origami making session

– Receive a special JANM patch

Price: $10/person (for each scouts, for each adult, for each sibling)

RSVP: education@janm.org. In your rsvp, please be sure to include (a) the name of each scout; (b) the age of each scout; (c) the name of each sibling; (d) the name of each adult. Space is limited and advance registration is required.

This is a great chance for Scouts to see the Folding Paper exhibition before it closes on August 26.

Photos by Richard Watanabe and Richard M. Murakami

Play ball!

Allyson Nakamoto Leave a comment
Mori Shimada Collection (92.10.2Z)

 

I was going through JANM’s on-line collections and came across this image of baseball in camp. Look closely and you can see the iconic Heart Mountain looming in the background, behind the barracks. And in the foreground, did you notice the hats worn by the spectators? With this photo, I can just about hear, smell, and feel summer…

You can browse through the Mori Shimada Collection to see other pictures of life in Heart Mountain. And, in case you haven’t heard, if you want a chance to “feel” summer, there will be a multi-generational pilgrimage to Heart Mountain this August 10-11. Check Heart Mountain’s Web site for details!