Oshogatsu kicked off with dance performances by the Nippon Minyo Kenkyukai, Hoshun Kai, an all-volunteer Japanese folk dance group in Los Angeles’s Little Tokyo that preserves the traditions of Japanese folk dance while introducing contemporary interpretations of those same dances. Their performances were dedicated to the late Hashimoto Hoshunbi Sensei and included folk dances about entertainment, fishing, and coal mining. The “Tanko-bushi” or coal miners’ song was especially interesting because the dancers explained that the dance steps symbolize digging for the coal, shoveling it over your shoulder, looking back to check the mine, and pushing the mine cart forward.
Cold Tofu, the nation’s longest-running Asian American improv and sketch comedy group, regaled the crowd with four improvised skits based on the audiences’ suggestions. In Standing, Sitting, Squatting, Leaning, four comics created different scenes with the theme of birthdays while assuming one of the four postures. In Pillars, two young volunteers helped three comics ad-lib a story set at the Parthenon using their suggestions, and in Pop-Up Storybook, four comics improvised a story called “The Velvety Dragon.”
“That book will be available in the JANM lobby at the end of our show,” joked the emcee, Mike Palma.
Longtime volunteer Hal Keimi led a beginner taiko lesson with children and adults of all ages. From children under seven years old to adults in their sixties and seventies, everyone had fun following Keimi’s lead on the drums. Guests also enjoyed Kodama Taiko’s unique mochitsuki demonstrations. The best part? Learning to make freshly made mochi!
Thank you for celebrating the new year with us! We hope that we will see you at our next family festival. Sign up for our email list or follow us on social media to learn about upcoming family festivals.
Photo captions and credits: Guests explore Aki’s Market and The Bias Inside Us, watch Cold Tofu and Shan the Candyman, go on a scavenger hunt, and make paper crafts. Photos by Joe Akira, Kazz Morohashi, Doug Mukai, and Richard Watanabe.
Hal Keimi leads a taiko lesson for all ages. Photos by Kazz Morohashi and Mike Palma.
Nippon Minyo Kenkyukai embellish their dances with fans, sashes, and castanets, and lead a Tanko-bushi dance lesson. Photos by Joe Akira, Ben Furuta, and Tsuneo Takasugi.
Kodama Taiko performs their traditional and unique mochitsuki (Japanese rice pounding ritual) for a cheering crowd. Photos by Doug Mukai and Mike Palma.
Don’t Fence Me In: Coming of Age in America’s Concentration Camps. Photo by Paloma Dooley.
What was it like to grow up behind barbed wire? JANM’s exhibition, Don’t Fence Me In: Coming of Age in America’s Concentration Camps, explores the experiences of Japanese American youth confronting the injustice of being imprisoned in World War II concentration camps while embarking on the universal journey of adolescence. Preteens, teenagers, and young adults danced with one another, listened to jazz and big band music, and formed musical groups of their own that performed regularly in camp.
Swing dance, which developed alongside jazz music, was started by African American dancers at the Savoy Ballroom in Harlem, New York. Musicians such as Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzy Gillespie, and Chick Webb all performed at the ballroom. The ballroom’s anti-discrimination policy created a unique environment for diversity and creativity. The Savoy Ballroom and swing dancing was also featured at the 1939 New York World’s Fair. From there, swing dance and music spread across the country throughout the 1930s, including in Los Angeles.
Swing dancing was so popular among youth that a group of young dancers interrupted Los Angeles City Hall council members to invite them to a swing dance contest at the Gilmore Stadium on September 11, 1938. The following year, the Palomar Ballroom hosted the Jitterbug Championships and the finalists (from twenty states and six countries) danced for cash prizes to live music from the Artie Shaw and Ken Baker Orchestras in front of thousands of people at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum as part of the International Jitterbug Championships on June 18, 1939.
The final dance at the Jerome concentration camp before it closed in 1944. Photo taken by Francis Leroy Stewart on June 14, 1944, National Archives and Records Administration.
One of the farewell dances at the Jerome concentration camp before it closed in 1944. Photo taken by Francis Leroy Stewart on June 14, 1944, National Archives and Records Administration.
Henry Ushijima, a sound engineer in Hollywood, plays dance records at a dance given by the Girl’s Recreation Committee in the Manzanar concentration camp. Photo taken by Francis Leroy Stewart on May 29, 1942, National Archives and Records Administration.
During World War II, young Nisei like George Yoshida who enjoyed big band music continued to do so when they were forcibly removed from their homes. According to his book, Reminiscing in Swingtime, incarcerees created big bands such as the Densoneers or D-Elevens, Down Beats, Jive Bombers, Jivesters, Music Makers, Pomonans, Poston Camp #2 Band, Rhythm Kings, Rhythmaires, Savoy Four, Stardusters, and Starlight Serenaders in the temporary detention centers and concentration camps.
Nisei like sisters Yuri Long and Sumiko Hughes were a part of social clubs that would also participate in swing dancing. Long and Hughes, who are both featured in the Don’t Fence Me In audio tour on Bloomberg Connects, talked about how much they enjoyed swing dancing as part of their social club, Just Us Girls (the JUGs), in the Manzanar concentration camp. The JUGs were made up of the youngest girls, followed by the Forget-Me-Nots and the Moderneers.
“They call us wild because at the dances, the JUGs were always very popular, and the guys would come and ask them to dance. And they jitterbug. They were on the dance floor all the time. And some of the other club girls were sort of off on the side. They didn’t get asked as much. And they didn’t jitterbug. And they used to jitterbug wild. They would throw them under their legs,” recalled Hughes.
Yuri Long
Sumi Hughes
Bob Wada
JANM’s digital guide on Bloomberg Connects
Bob Wada, who was also featured in the Don’t Fence Me In audio tour, recalled knowing where all of the dances were at the Poston incarceration camp because the blocks within camp kept a running log.
“A lot of the blocks had their own dances. So we had our own. They weren’t, like, out of control dances, they were good. People didn’t crash dances. Our block had a dance and they invited a few friends that would come. That’s about the only thing we did socially,” he said.
Some incarcerees even had their own musical equipment made in camp. Two Nisei, one of which may have been Sadaichi Tanioka, made a turntable for Henry Nomura so that he could play music for his own enjoyment and for others in the firebreaks and at block dances at the Manzanar concentration camp.
Henry Nomura’s turntable. Photo by Paloma Dooley.
Dance bids from Karen Nagao that were collected by her mother-in-law, Ruth (née Higa) Nagao. Photo by Paloma Dooley.
Handmade dance bids—paper booklets featuring an illustration of the event on the cover—were popular, complete with blank lines for dance partners to sign their name. Many of the dance bids in Don’t Fence Me In were donated by Karen Nagao. Her mother-in-law, Ruth (née Higa) Nagao, was incarcerated in the Pomona temporary detention center and the Heart Mountain concentration camp. While working as a crop picker and nurse’s aide at Heart Mountain, Nagao participated in many events including plays and dances. Her collection of dance bids commemorated block dances and special events like, a New Year’s Eve Dance, a Valentine’s Dance, and a Coronation Ball.
To celebrate big band music, JANM created a Don’t Fence Me In playlist of popular songs from the 1940s and hosted a two-part public program, From Barbed Wire to Boogie Woogie, on June 17, 2023.
From Barbed Wire to Boogie Woogie kicked off with a conversation between dance preservationist Rusty Frank and Rohwer concentration camp survivors, artists, and performers, June Aochi Berk and Takayo Tsubouchi Fischer. Berk and Fischer met at the Rohwer when they were ten years old and have been friends ever since. While incarcerated at Rohwer, they were too young to attend the dances but they were attuned to the fashion of the times and taught themselves how to dance.
Rusty Frank, June Berk, and Takayo Fischer talk about dancing in camp. Courtesy of the Japanese American National Museum.
“I used to love looking at the Sears Roebuck and Montgomery Ward catalogs,” said Fischer.
“I made my mother buy me white majorette boots, a skirt, and a top. And my brother had to have pachuco pants so he could be in style in camp,” recalled Berk. “We would stand around and watch the big kids dance and we’d go home and copy them. That’s how we learned to dance. My brother always wore his pachuco hat all the time and I would look to see who was dancing with him.”
From Barbed Wire to Boogie Woogie then transitioned to the All Camps Swing Dance with live music from the Fabulous Esquires Big Band and custom dance bids for guests. After Frank led a beginner swing dance lesson for all ages, the Fabulous Esquires played popular tunes from the 1940s like “Don’t Fence Me In,” “Moonlight Serenade,” and “Chattanooga Choo Choo” (which Berk sang in Japanese). Together, the conversation and dance offered all generations the opportunity to connect through music, movement, and immersive history.
Don’t Fence Me Inis now on view through October 1, 2023. Swing by JANM to see it for yourself this summer and shop the exhibition’s collection at the JANM Store!
This year the Nisei Week Grand Parade took place on Sunday, August 11th. Dances, songs, and performers traveled throughout Downtown Los Angeles in the Little Tokyo District, filling the streets with Japanese and Japanese American culture and tradition. Once again, the Japanese American National Museum was proud to be a part of this year’s Grand Parade, and also proud to be a part of the Ondo & Closing Ceremony on Sunday, August 18th.
Here are some photos from the Japanese American National Museums’ participation in both the Grand Parade and the Ondo & Closing Ceremony! A big “thank you” to the National Museums’ staff members, volunteers, and friends for being a part of the Grand Parade, and for your hours of practice in preparation for the Ondo & Closing Ceremony!
Click on the photos to see the full images.
Nisei Week banner, marking the start of the Grand Parade.
Welcoming the Japanese American World War II Veterans
Honoring Japanese American WWII Veterans
Hitoshi Sameshima served with the Military Intelligence Service during WWII. He now proudly serves as a volunteer docent at JANM!
Proudly carrying the Japanese American National Museum’s banner!
JANM President & CEO Dr. Kimura and his family cruise through the streets of Little Tokyo
Bombu Taiko drum their way through the streets of Little Tokyo
Will, Louis, and Mike, pose in front of the National Museums’ Historic Building while waiting for the Ondo to begin.
Volunteers Barbara Keimi, Marge Wada, Sadako Sogioka, and Ondo dance teacher, Teri Kishimoto, are excited to perform Ondo dances after weeks of practice.
JANM’s Assistant Collections Manager, Tomi Yoshikawa, dances along the streets of Downtown Los Angeles.
WWII Nisei Veteran, Hitoshi Sameshima, dances alongside an Ondo dancer.
The National Museums’ Director of Community Affairs, Nancy Araki, dances along fellow staff members and volunteers.
“We’re all in this together!” JANM staff and volunteers dance in unison.
A long line of JANM staff and volunteers dancing through the streets with their purple JANM happi coats.
JANM staff and volunteers enthusiastically high-five Aki the Akita, the Nisei Week mascot
Ondo Dance teacher, Teri Kishimoto, concentrates on her posture and footwork.
Showing off JANM’s happi coats while dancing to the Ondo rhythm.
Thank you to all of JANM’s staff, volunteers, and friends for your time and participation in the Grand Parade and the Ondo & Closing Ceremony!
