Tag: identity

Nikkei Names 2 artwork featuring nametags, name badges, and kokeshi

Share the Story of Your Name with Discover Nikkei

Discover Nikkei Leave a comment

Discover Nikkei is thrilled to announce the thirteenth edition of Nikkei Chronicles, our annual, themed open call for writings. Discover Nikkei, a project of JANM, is a community website highlighting Nikkei identity, culture, and history. Every year, we call on the global Japanese diaspora to share personal stories around a specific theme. This year’s theme is Nikkei Names 2: Grace, Graça, Graciela, Megumi? 

Do you have a Japanese name? How did your parents choose your name? Have you ever changed your name? We invite you to share stories, essays, and vignettes about how Nikkei names connect families, reflect cultural identity, embody struggles, and more. We welcome diverse approaches to our theme. Submissions might include historical essays on naming people and places, the origins of names, how names become cross-cultural, or writing about names other than your own. For inspiration, check out some of the wonderful stories we received during our first Nikkei Names series ten years ago.

All submissions that meet the series guidelines and criteria will be published online in the Discover Nikkei Journal. Nikkei Names 2 stories will also be eligible for selection as the community favorite. Readers can vote for their favorites by logging in and giving them a “star”—the earlier you submit, the more time your story can earn stars! And, our editorial committee will select one favorite each in English, Japanese, Spanish, and Portuguese. The five favorite stories will be announced in December 2024.

All submissions must be sent by email and formatted using Microsoft Word or Google Docs. Submissions must include a short author biography, a headshot, and at least one image to accompany the piece. Multiple submissions and submissions written by multiple authors are welcome. For the full submission guidelines and writing prompts, please visit 5dn.org/names2.

We can’t wait to read your stories! 

Thanks to our Nikkei Names 2 Community Partners!

JANM in Buenos Aires, Argentina!

Esther Shin Leave a comment

COPANI 2013 is held in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
COPANI 2013 was held in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

The Convention of Pan-American Nikkei  (COPANI) is the most important Pan-American Nikkei event. First held in 1981, it is a biannual meeting point for Nikkei from the Americas and Japan where they can exchange experiences, learn from each other, and above all, create friendship bonds beyond frontiers.

This year, the 17th COPANI was held in Buenos Aires, Argentina on September 12-14 2013. It was organized by the Centro Nikkei Argentino and a youth staff of approximately 80 young Argentinian Nikkei.

Approximately 500 people attended, including JANM’s very own Discover Nikkei Project Manager, Yoko Nishimura.

Chef Takehiro Ohno's presentation is one of the highlights of the convention.
Chef Takehiro Ohno’s presentation was one of the highlights of the convention. Photo Credit: COPANI 2013

This is not the first year Discover Nikkei, an international project of JANM, has been a part of COPANI. In 2005, former President/CEO of JANM, Akemi Kikumura Yano presented at COPANI 2005 in Canada. Since then, Yoko Nishimura has participated in every COPANI, starting from COPANI 2007 in Brazil, COPANI 2009 in Uruguay, COPANI 2011 in Mexico, and this year’s COPANI in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Carlos Kasuga, Director General of Yakult S.A de C.V., is asked what "Nikkei" means to him.
Carlos Kasuga, Director General of Yakult S.A de C.V., was asked what “Nikkei” means to him.

This year, in collaboration with COPANI, Discover Nikkei, organized a photo activity asking the question, “What does ‘Nikkei’ mean to you?” There was a wide range of participants from 13 different countries, and from ages 15-84. Check out the diverse pool of statements, mostly recorded in Spanish, on Discover Nikkei’s website: 5dn.org/copani2013

*****

The Convention of Pan-American Nikkei (COPANI) is an international biennial convention that is coordinated by the Pan American Nikkei Association, a multi-national, non-governmental organization with members from 14 countries. The host country of each convention is selected from members’ countries. Learn more about COPANI and the Pan American Nikkei Association at www.webapn.org.

What is Nikkei

Discover Nikkei is a community website about Nikkei identity, history, and experiences. The goal of this project is to provide an inviting space for the community to share, explore, and connect with each other through diverse Nikkei perspectives, culture, and history. The DiscoverNikkei.org site is a project of the Japanese American National Museum, with major funding by The Nippon Foundation. Visit Discover Nikkei at: DiscoverNikkei.org

 

 

Girl Scouts Return to JANM

Emily Leventhal Leave a comment

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JANM School Programs Developer Lynn Yamasaki explains more about the treatment of Hapa children born in Japan after WWII.

 

We loved having local Girl Scouts come out again for our second annual Girl Scout Patch Program! This year’s program was all about identity, both on the individual and community level. We began the day with a tour of our exhibition Visible & Invisible: A Hapa Japanese American History (closing August 25th!). Lead by our School Programs Developer Lynn Yamasaki, the tour touched on the history of—and challenges faced by—mixed-race and mixed-roots Japanese Americans.

The tour was followed by a great discussion of some of the exhibition themes, like what it means to be Japanese in a rapidly evolving community. In the end, being Japanese  is about more than pure race, the scouts decided. Instead, Japanese American identity today  encompasses widespread cultural elements such as the ability to use chopsticks, a taste for sashimi (admittedly up for debate), and involvement in the community. On a more personal level, the girls discussed the many factors—from geography to heritage—that make up their backgrounds and shape their attitudes and behavior.

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Lynn leads a roundtable discussion with the scouts on what it means to be Japanese American today.

 

After the discussion, we moved on to expressing our identities in a more hands-on way—with the help of some paper doll templates and a vast array of supplies from the education closet! Each girl made a reflection of herself (and one mom joined in with a lovely family portrait), carefully selecting the portrait’s attributes and making each unique, from style of dress to life mottos.

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The scouts present their identity self-portraits…in paper doll form!

 

Photos by Richard Murakami

“kip fulbeck: part asian, 100% hapa” travels to Houston, TX

Vicky Murakami-Tsuda Leave a comment

Our kip fulbeck: part asian, 100% hapa exhibition is now on view at the Asia Society Texas Center in Houston, TX through April 14, 2013.

Organized by the Museum with award-winning filmmaker and artist Kip Fulbeck, the exhibition features portraits of part Asian individuals taken by Kip, along with their handwritten statements in response to the frequently asked question, “What are you?”

The popular exhibition was on display here at JANM from June 8 through October 29, 2006 and has since traveled to New York, NY (2008); Chapel Hill, NC (2009); Chicago, IL (2010); and Portland, OR (2011).

For more information about the Houston presentation, visit Asia Society Texas’ website >>

We’re very excited that it’s going to Houston where it will be on display paired with the Smithsonian’s Portraiture Now: Asian American Portraits of Encounter exhibition which will be coming to JANM in May.