My mom doesn't cook as much as she used to. She used to cook everything -- mostly Japanese food of course. She even used to make her own tofu. After my dad passed away in the early '90s she cooked for herself for years, making large portions of dishes to freeze and re-heat as meals for days. But lately she...
It's such a cliche to point out that Japan is a contrast of old and new traditional and modern, but the comparison keeps coming up because it's true, and is a part of the country's cultural DNA. It would be a surprise not to see some people -- women, men, old, young, children -- dressed in traditional kimono at...
Here are complete day-by-day photo albums of our trip to Japan on Facebook (you don't need a Facebook account to see them, but you'll need to log in to Facebook to share or post a comment). Many of the photos (like the food shots, for instance) will be included in individual blog posts. DAY 1 - Flight to Japan, arrive in...
I recently returned from a fantastic trip to Japan, with my wife Erin Yoshimura and my mom. We flew first to Sapporo in the northern island of Hokkaido, where one of my uncles lives, and then traveled to Nemuro, my mom's hometown on the easternmost tip of Hokkaido, where another uncle lives. Then we flew down to Tokyo for a...
It’s not often that Denver receives visitors at the highest levels of the foreign diplomatic corps, but the 25th anniversary of the start of the Colorado-Yamagata Sister State relationship brought Ichiro Fujisaki, the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan to the United State of America, to the Brown Palace on August 6. Fujisaki gave a keynote speech during a luncheon hosted...
One of the heartwarming positive ripple effects of the tragic disaster in Japan has been the worldwide outpouring of support for the country and the earthquake and tsunami's victims. That's true locally in Colorado, where a handful of benefit events have already been held, and not just by Japanese or Japanese Americans.
A couple of weeks ago Colorado's taiko groups got together to perform an evening of Japanese drumming to raise money for earthquake relief. On Saturday April 16, the Asian Pacific Development Center and 16 -- count 'em, 16 -- other local Asian community organizations who've signed on as partners are hosting "The Power of Solidarity," a pan-Asian event of epic proportions. (Click the flier for full size.)
The event, which will be held from 5-8 pm at Abraham Lincoln High School, 2285 S. Federal Blvd. (Federal and Evans) in southeast Denver, will feature some of the area's best talent, starting with Mirai Daiko, the popular all-women taiko group, along with award-winning singer-songwriter Wendy Woo, killer guitarist and songwriter Jack Hadley, Chinese dance group Christina Yeh Dance Studio, Indian troupe Mudra Dance Studio, Indonesian ensemble Catur Eka Santi, the Filipino American Community of Colorado, Korean youth drumming group Dudrim, renowned classical guitarist Masakazu Ito and the United States Vietnamese Veterans Alliance. Phew, that's a very diverse lineup gathered together for one good cause.
Three local taiko drum groups, Denver Taiko, Mirai Daiko and Taiko with Toni, are hosting "Heartbeat for Japan: A Taiko Benefit," a concert to raise funds for relief efforts in Japan, on Sat March 26, 7 pm at Colorado Heights University (formerly Loretto Heights) Auditorium at 3001 S. Federal Blvd. Admission is free but donations will be accepted. This should be a terrific evening of thundering drums for a great cause.
I was shocked, saddened and depressed when I learned that there are people in the United States who think that the Tohoku Kanto Earthquake and subsequent tsunami, which has caused enormous damage and casualties that will surely top 10,000, is some sort of karmic payback for Japan's bombing of Pearl Harbor. Really? Seriously?
Yes, unfortunately. Here's just a sampling of some updates and comments from Facebook that rant about Pearl Harbor and the tsunami, and how the U.S shouldn't send any aid to Japan:
Who bombed Pearl Harbor? Karmas a bitch. Do I feel bad for japan? Two words....pearl harbor Dear Japan, it's not nice to be snuck up on by something you can't do anything about, is it? Sincerely, Pearl Harbor. screw japan they got what they dederve. any remember pearl horbor I do .they killed thousands of anericans and would do it again. kill em all let god sort emm out. Now the people in japan know how we felt during pearl harbor when they made are man abd women float in the ocean... Its god way of sayng theres too many chinese here imma take u out lol If they didn't bomb pearl harbor this wouldn't have happened. Gods way of tell japanese people there gay all yall remember pearl harbor when yall give money to japan OMG!!! Im so sick of people "praying for Japan" :we should help" i don't know wha happened in yall brain but they're the same people that bombed Pearl Harbor! get it together mane, I have no sympathy for em, Tragic stuff happen every single day!! Obama To Offer Assistance To Earthquake.. We have starving people in this country, people with housing /medical needs and other life substaining essentials yet USA runs to the rescue, who's going to rescue us the overinflated porices does any 1 remember "PEARL HARBOR"??? AGAIN TAX PAYERS WILL END UP PAYING AT THE END OF THE DAYI'm all for free speech and these people have a right to say what they think, even if it's ignorant, misinformed and downright hateful. But these thoughts are worrisome because they seem so cavalier, so easy for these people to express.
