JAMsj E-News
Japanese American Museum of San Jose
February 2014
In This Issue
Obaachan's Evolving Pantry
Ai Love Japan - Tohoku Update 2014
Hinamatsuri at JAMsj
Japan's Migration Story
Executive Order 9066 -- Memories and Artifacts
San Jose Day of Remembrance
Day of Remembrance -- De Anza College
Films of Remembrance -- San Francisco
Calendar of Events
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 Group Discussion
 
"Talk Story:  Obaachan's Evolving Pantry"

   

Saturday, February 8, 2014
12:00 p.m.

Japanese American Museum of San Jose  
  535 N. Fifth Street
San Jose, CA  95112
 

Spam musubi, sukiyaki, "weenie royale" (shoyu hot dogs), sashimi, tofu pork stew, kare (curry) rice, spaghetti sandwich, okayu . . . What do Japanese Americans eat at home, and how has this changed over time?

 
The bombing of Pearl Harbor, the signing of Executive Order 9066- to say that these events significantly changed the lives of Japanese Americans would be an understatement. But how did all this impact the eating habits of Japanese Americans (JAs)? What did JAs eat before, during, a
nd after WWII?

 

JAMsj invites you to join us for group discussion as the community 

shares memories and thoughts on the topic of what JAs eat and how it has changed over time. This moderated discussion by Tosh Tanaka and George Kiriyama will feature special guests from the Japanese American (JA) community including Jimi Yamaichi, Perry Dobashi, Marion Masada and Karl Matsushita with plenty of opportunities for audience participation.  Participants are invited to bring a favorite nostalgic dish to sample or come with just your fond memories. Either way, we hope you will join us for what promises to be a lively discussion, full of shared memories; personal stories; and friends, both old and new.   Read more....


Cost: Free with admission to the museum (nonmembers, $5; students and seniors over age 65, $3; JAMsj members and children under 12, free).


Please contact [email protected] or call (408) 294-3138 to reserve a spot.
 
Special Program
Ai Love Japan -- Tohoku Update 2014 

    

Saturday, February 22, 2014

5 p.m.    

 

Japanese American Museum of San Jose  
  535 N. Fifth Street
San Jose, CA  95112
 
With the third anniversary of the "Great East Japan Earthquake" just around the corner, many of you are wondering how the people are doing following the devastating 2011 earthquake and tsunami.  JAMsj is hosting "Ai Love Japan -- Tohoku Update 2014" to answer those questions and show you what's changed in the Tohoku area since. The February event will feature a pictorial and video update by Darrell Miho, who has been to Tohoku 12 times since 3/11. We will then have live 1:1 Skype video calls with people from the area giving participants the chance to interact with and hear directly from those who were most affected. To get you excited for the event Board member Michael Sera wrote about his experience in the Tohoku area... Read more...


Cost: Free with admission to the museum (nonmembers, $5; students and seniors over age 65, $3; JAMsj members and children under 12, free).   

Reserve your spot by contacting [email protected] or calling (408) 294-3138.   

 

Hina Matsuri at JAMsj
 
Hina Matsuri
(Japanese Doll Festival / Girls' Day)  

    

Sunday, March 2, 2014

11:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.    

 

Japanese American Museum of San Jose  
  535 N. Fifth Street
San Jose, CA  95112
 

 The Japanese Doll Festival (Hinamatsuri), or Girls' Day, is a festival celebrated by families who have girls, wishing their daughters good health and growth. Traditionally, beautiful dolls representing the emperor, empress, attendants, and musicians were handcrafted especially for the occasion. The custom of displaying dolls began during the Heian period, when people believed the dolls possessed the power to contain bad spirits.

   

Come, bring your children to this special Girl's Day celebration at JAMsj. There will be traditional Hina Matsuri dolls, as well as more unique doll exhibits, and wonderful craft projects for both boys and girls.


 Hina Matsuri dolls will be on display on Saturday and Sunday.

 

 

Cost: Entry is free with admission to the museum (non-members, $5; students and seniors over age 65, $3; JAMsj members and children under 12, free). An additional materials fee may apply.

  

 

 

Special Presentation
 
A NEW WORLD:  Japan's Migration Story  

    

Saturday, March 8, 2014

7:00 p.m.    

  

Japanese American Museum of San Jose  
  535 N. Fifth Street
San Jose, CA  95112
 

Where are you from?  Where are you REALLY from?

  

This is a question that many people hate to hear, but this question will have a different meaning after the presentation by Shigeru Kojima on March 8 at 7:00 p.m. at the Japanese American Museum of San Jose (JAMsj).  Kojima has devoted many years of study to this topic and is the curator and a research fellow of the JICA Yokohama Japanese Overseas Migration Museum (JOMM). The JOMM is the largest museum in Japan devoted to the study of Japanese overseas migration. 
   
Shigeru Kojima
For hundreds of years, Japan's 'closed door' policy led to isolation. In fact, it was not until the 1880s that Japanese were even allowed to leave. Why were Japanese from areas such as Kumamoto, Yamaguchi, Fukuoka and Hiroshima among the largest groups that left Japan? 

 

What were the conditions in Japan at that time to make leaving to an unknown future so attractive?  How many returned?  How was migration to areas such as South America different than to North America?  Finally, what is the current status of migration from Japan, and who is now returning to Japan?

Your appreciation of and curiosity about the Issei generation and other early pioneers will grow after learning how and why the first Japanese came to America through Kojima's research and exhibits at JOMM.


While there is no fee for this presentation, donations to JAMsj will be appreciated.

Please contact [email protected] or call (408) 294-3138 to reserve a spot.
 
New Exhibit
 
Executive Order 9066:  Memories and Artifacts  

    

Friday, March 14, 2014

6:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.    

  

Japanese American Museum of San Jose  
  535 N. Fifth Street
San Jose, CA  95112
 
In collaboration with the San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA), JAMsj will host "Executive Order 9066: Memories and Artifacts," an exhibit highlighting artifacts from our museum's permanent collection. This exhibit is part of a multi-venue presentation about the complex story of the Japanese American internment, which also includes The Tag Project (at SJ ICA) and Wendy Maruyama: Executive Order 9066 (at Art Object Gallery). 

JAMsj will also be hosting walking tours of Japantown San Jose in conjunction with this special collaboration. Walks will be offered to the public at 2:00 p.m. on March 29, April 19, and May 10. For more information on these and other walking tours available through JAMsj, contact [email protected] or call (408) 294-3138.
 
For more information on the multi-venue exhibits visit http://www.sjica.org
Community Events -- Day of Remembrance

34thAnnual San Jose Day of Remembrance

 

February 16, 2014

5:30 p.m - 7:30 p.m.

 

San Jose Buddhist Church Betsuin

640 N. Fifth Street

San Jose, CA 95112

 

9-year old Joe Yasutake carrying his belongings to the assembly center.

Joe Yasutake has been one of the key contributors in shaping the vision of the Japanese American Museum of San Jose (JAMsj) and San Jose Japantown. Although Joe and his family were incarcerated in Japanese American internment camps during WWII, only relatively recently has Joe become involved in telling his story, as well as the stories of other Japanese Americans.

"I don't ever remember talking about the camps," Joe recalled. "It never came up. When I left camp and returned to school, I didn't interact with the other Japanese American students who tried to recruit me into their Nisei clubs. Now looking back on it, I think subconsciously I was in denial."   Read more...  

 

 

The San Jose Day of Remembrance event will be held on Sunday, February 16, 2014 from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the San Jose Buddhist Church Betsuin, located at 640 N. Fifth Street, San Jose, California 95112 . For more information about the San Jose Day of Remembrance, visit www.sjnoc.org.

 

Community Events -- Day of Remembrance
 
12th Annual De Anza College Day of Remembrance  

    

Thursday, February 19, 2014

1:30 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.    

 

Hinson Campus Center   
  De Anza College
21250 Stevens Creek Blvd., Cupertino
 
Featuring poet/editor Brian Komei Dempster of "Topaz", co-authors Elaine Ellinson and Stan Yogi of "Wherever There's A Fight", Samina Faheen of American Muslim Voice, and former WWII inmates Tae Abramson and Kaz Ishida. A special recognition of donor Margaret Butcher for the Audrey Edna Butcher Civil Liberties Initiative will be presented by Tom Izu of the California History Center. 
Community Events -- Day of Remembrance
      

Sunday, February 23, 2014

2:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.    

 
New People Cinema 
  1746 Post Street
San Francisco, CA
 
A one-day film series held in conjunction with the Bay Area Day of Remembrance, commemorates the 72nd anniversary of the signing of Executive Order 9066, which set the wheels in motion to forcibly relocate some 120,000 persons of Japanese ancestry into American concentration camps during World War II.

Presented by the Nichi Bei Foundation. 
Co-sponsored by: National Japanese American Historical Society, San Francisco Japanese American Citizens League, Bay Area Day of Remembrance Consortium and Nichi Bei Weekly.

Admission: $24 for all films, $8 per film ($18/$6 Advance or Nichi Bei Fdn members)

2:00 pm - Searchlight Serenade: Big Band Music in WWII Japanese American Incarceration Camps
3:45 pm - Honor & Sacrifice: The Roy Matsumoto Story
5:00 pm - Story Art of Camp - Tule Lake, Hiro, and Searchlight Serenade (animation excerpt)
6:30 pm - The Untold Story: Internment of Japanese Americans in Hawai'i

For more info or tickets: www.nichibei.org/films-of-remembrance

Calendar of Events


February 8, 2014:  Talk Story:  Obaachan's Evolving Pantry
February 16, 2014:  San Jose Day of Remembrance
February 19, 2014:  De Anza College Day of Remembrance
February 22, 2014:  Ai Love Japan:  Tohoku Update 2014
February 23, 2014:  Films of Remembrance
March 2, 2014:  Hinamatsuri Event
March 8, 2014:  A New World: Japan's Migration Story
March 14, 2014:  Executive Order 9066:  Memories and Artifacts

For more information about our public programs, please contact [email protected]

  JAMsj logo

Japanese American Museum of San Jose (JAMsj)
535 N. Fifth Street
San Jose, CA 95112
Tel: (408) 294-3138
Email: [email protected]
www.jamsj.org