Gil Asakawa's Nikkei View | asian american
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June 22, 2011

TaikoProject brings its "Rhythmic Relations" show to LA's Little Tokyo Another reason I wish we lived in LA: TaikoProject, the acclaimed genre-expanding taiko group based in LA, brings its talents home to perform its "Rhythmic Relations 2011" show this weekend outdoors at Noguchi Plaza in front of the Japanese American Cultural & Community Center in Little Tokyo, 244 S. San Pedro St., Los Angeles. There will be two performances, at 2 and 7:30 pm; tickets are $30 - $35 + service charges. Tickets are available online at www.jaccc.org or by phone (213) 680-3700. The group will be joined by Bombu Taiko, Kitsune Taiko and Loma Pacific Taiko, and the show will feature special guest Ryutaro Kaneko (former Artistic Director for the superstar Japanese taiko group Kodo). You may have caught TaikoProject this week on "The Voice," the terrific NBC singing competition show (we're cheering for Dia Frampton, and not just because she's Asian American -- hapa Korean). You may have also seen TaikoProject way back in 2006, playing on a Mistubishi car commercial (I remember at the time, thought it was totally cool to see a taiko group on a commercial). Here's how TaikoProject describes itself:
June 21, 2011

It looks easy -- lining up and following the movements of the little old ladies who have been doing it all their lives. But it's hard work, and I work up a sweat almost immediately during Obon practice at the Denver Buddhist Temple gym. I didn't grow up dancing Obon every summer like many Japanese Americans. Wherever you find JA communities, you'll find summertime festivals where people gather to dance to old-style Japanese folksongs in circular formations, where they watch a group of master dancers in the small circle in the middle, and mimic every move. My wife Erin, who grew up with Obon every year during Denver's Sakura Matsuri, or Cherry Blossom Festival, describes it perfectly as "Japanese line dancing -- in a circle." The dancing will take over Lawrence Street during the 40th Annual Cherry Blossom Festival this weekend on Saturday night at Sakura Square. The Obon -- or Bon Odori, which is the actual term for the dances -- follows a full day of performances and demonstrations, vendors and food served up by the Buddhist Temple (Erin and her mom and I volunteer each year to sell manju, or Japanese pastries, inside the gym). The dancing is festive and fun, but the purpose is serious: Obon is a traditional Buddhist custom that pays tribute to the deceased -- especially to one's ancestors.
June 16, 2011

Too many people don't know who Vincent Chin was. He's the young Chinese American man who was brutally killed in 1982 in a hate crime by out-of-work Detroit autoworkers who blamed the Japanese auto industry for their woes. After getting into a fight with Chin, who was celebrating his upcoming wedding, in a strip club, two men beat him with a baseball bat on June 15. He died four days later of his injuries. His last words before slipping into a coma were, "It's not fair." That sad and terrible attack in a very real sense was the spark that led to the modern Asian American Pacific Islander movement.
June 14, 2011

Drama in the Delta screen shot Japanese Americans know about internment. My wife Erin's parents, grandparents and great-grandparents on both sides were rounded up from Sacramento County, Calif. and eventually imprisoned at Rohwer, one of two concentration camps in Arkansas built during World War II to house Japanese Americans out of fear and racial hysteria. There were 10 in all, including Camp Amache in desolate southeastern Colorado. (Note: There's been a gradual move towards the use of the term "concentration camps" because that's the term the U.S. government used for them when they weren't using euphemisms like "assembly center" or "relocation center.") For many older Japanese Americans, the first thing they ask of each other when they meet other JAs is, "what camp was your family in?" and they're not talking about summer camp.
June 14, 2011

KevJumba is one of the biggest stars onYouTube, with more than 1,631,596 subscribers who've clicked an incredible 173,609,339 times on his funny videos about life as, well, as KevJumba. Along with his pal and often co-star Ryan Higa, KevJumba (that's his YouTube username; his real name is Kevin Kai-Wen Wu) has managed to invented a new form of superstardom, using...

June 13, 2011

PacificCitizen.org I was honored to give a presentation and moderate a panel discussion in April at the Japanese American National Museum, “From Newsprint to New Media: The Evolving Role of Nikkei Newspapers” about the history of newspapers in the Japanese American community. During the event, I was reminded of the impact the Pacific Citizen newspaper -- which is sent bi-monthly to every JACL member as well as subscribers -- has had over the decades, and the role it has played as a lifeline of news and information not just to JACL members but to anyone interested in news about Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. (JACL, the Japanese American Citizens League, is the oldest Asian civil rights organization in the U.S.) The first reflection of the PC’s impact were the panelists: Gwen Muranaka, English editor of the Rafu Shimpo in LA, Kenji Taguma, editor of the Nichi Bei Weekly in San Francisco, Shigeharu Higashi who runs the Cultural News website and monthly newspaper in LA, and George Johnston, a Rafu columnist who has launched a news website called Nikkei Nation. Of these four, Muranaka and Johnston both worked for the Pacific Citizen. Harry Honda, the walking encyclopedia of Japanese America, JACL and the PC, was in the audience. Many of the audience members have been reading the PC all their lives. The PC is, after all – especially for people who live away from the West Coast and don’t have easy access to the Rafu, Nichei Bei or other papers – the only national news source about us. For members, it’s often the most visible connection to JACL and a regular reminder of our support for this important organization.
May 27, 2011

The first reader to comment on this blog post will win a pair of tickets to Kollaboration Acoustic 5, a competition of the best young acoustic Asian American talent. The show is Friday June 17 at the Ford Theater in Los Angeles. The competitors include Alexa Yoshimoto, Chrizle, Ensemble Memo, Jason Yano, Lindsey Yung, The Mood Junkies, Nessa Rica, Teesa...

May 23, 2011

Nikkei Nation Logo I have to hand it to George Johnston, a Japanese American journalist and entrepreneur who is a veteran of news media. After he got laid off from the Hollywood Reporter, where he'd been web editor, he launched Nikkei Nation, a site that features news about Japan and Japanese Americans, in categories from Arts & Entertainment, Sports, Events and Science & Technology to Japan & Asia, Community, Obits and Obon Schedules. He has a partner Susan Yokoyama handling the business and marketing side as Associate Publisher, but this is a one-man band, editorially speaking. Johnston serves up the news several ways: Original reporting (he's a fine straight-ahead reporter as well as a seasoned columnist), repurposing of press releases and aggregated links to many other sites with headlines and brief descriptions, such as these for yesterday:
Obama, Kan to meet on Thursday (Sun., May 22, 2011) U.S. President Barack Obama will hold talks with Prime Minister Naoto Kan on May 26, the first of a two-day Group of Eight summit meeting in the French resort town of Deauville, the White House says. (Japan Times) Hawaii’s Rep. Mazie Hirono announces U.S. Senate bid (Sun., May 22, 2011) HONOLULU — The democratic field to replace retiring Sen. Dan Akaka doubles as Rep. Mazie Hirono announces her candidacy for the U.S. Senate. (KHON2.com) Budokan lease approved, fundraising is next for Little Tokyo sports complex (Sun., May 22, 2011) The Budokan of Los Angeles gets final approval to move forward after the Los Angeles City Council voted to grant a long-term ground lease to build the $22 million sports and activity center in Little Tokyo. (Downtown News) Obama’s appeals court pick Gordon Liu blocked (Sun., May 22, 2011) WASHINGTON — President Obama lost his first vote on a judicial nominee, as Senate Republicans derailed the nomination of a liberal professor who leveled acerbic attacks against two conservative Supreme Court nominees — both now justices. (Boston.com)
I included George during my panel last month, "From Newsprint to New Media: The Evolving Role of Nikkei Newspapers," because he's diving headfirst into an online-only business model. This month he took the bold step of announcing the free email subscriptions many of us have been receiving for months with daily roundups of all his news headlines will end, and if we want his news, we'll have to pay for it.