JAMsj E-News
Japanese American Museum of San Jose

February 2015
In This Issue
Scholar Presentation: Fighting for the Emperor
Twice Heroes Exhibitor's Tour and Book Signing
Book Club: The Two Worlds of Jim Yoshida
Workshop: Finding Your Japanese Roots in the U.S. and Japan
Hinamatsuri
Tohoku Update
Day of Remembrace
Calendar of Events
Join Our Mailing List!
Quick Links

Scholar Presentation and Panel Discussion
  
Fighting for the Emperor:
Nisei Soldiers in the Imperial Armed Forces  

Saturday, February 7, 2015
1:00 p.m.

  

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

While more than 110,000 Japanese and Japanese Americans in the United States endured mass incarceration during WWII, the war also altered the lives of thousands of Japanese Americans who were stranded in Japan. For many Nisei strandees in Japan, the war blurred the boundaries of their citizenship, as they found themselves in situations where they had little room to negotiate their national allegiance. As the battles in the Pacific theater dragged on, the Japanese government drafted a significant number of Nisei men in Japan to serve in the military and take arms against the United States.
 

Peter Sano
Jimmie Matsuda 

The Nisei soldiers and sailors in the Japanese armed forces who survived the war learned that they had been stripped of their U.S. citizenship as a result of their service to the Japanese emperor. Although these veterans of the Japanese military could recover their U.S. citizenship after the war, the onus was on them to convince the U.S. government that they had been forced to serve the Japanese emperor.

Dr. Michael Jin,
Texas A&M 

 

Dr. Michael Jin of Texas A&M University will be at the Japanese American Museum of San Jose (JAMsj) to discuss his research in a presentation entitled "The War and Its Aftermath: Nisei Draftees in the Imperial Armed Forces." His presentation will be followed by a special discussion featuring two Japanese Americans who found themselves serving in the Japanese military during WWII: Peter Sano and Jimmie Matsuda.

 

Read more about our featured guests at www.jamsj.org.

 

 

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

Contact [email protected] to reserve a spot.   

  

 Meet the Artist
Exhibitor's Tour and Book Signing

Sunday, February 15, 2015 
1:00 -- 4:00 p.m. (Drop in anytime)

Japanese American Museum of San Jose

535 N. Fifth Street

 

San Jose, CA 95112 
 
Tom Graves, award winning author and photographer, will be on hand at the Japanese American Museum of San Jose (JAMsj) to talk about his portraits of WWII and Korean War veterans in his "Twice Heroes and More" exhibition, currently on display in our gallery, and the stories he chose to highlight in this special exhibition.

Copies of Graves' Twice Heroes book, which includes fourteen of the portraits on display, are available for purchase at the museum store. Buy a copy and have it autographed by the artist.


Cost: Free with admission to the museum (non-members, $5; students and seniors over age 65, $3; JAMsj members and children under 12, free).
No RSVP required.

  

Book Club
   
The Two Worlds of Jim Yoshida 
   
Saturday, February 21, 2015  
1:00 p.m.

   

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

The next meeting of the Japanese American Museum of San Jose's (JAMsj) book club will not be held at the usual time due to event conflicts. Please note that on February 21, we will be discussing Jim Yoshida's book, The Two Worlds of Jim Yoshida.

 

Jim Yoshida's father died when he was in high school. His mother took him and his sisters to Japan to deliver the father's ashes to the family burial plot when WWII broke out and trapped them in Japan.

Jim was forced to serve in the Imperial Japanese Army in China. Upon returning to Japan, he learned that he had lost his U.S. citizenship and to prove his loyalty to America, served illegally throughout the Korean War as an unpaid volunteer. Jim describes the two wars and how he regained the admiration of his fellow Americans.

 

Amazon carries the book. Books will be available soon at the JAMsj museum store.

 

The book club usually meets at 1:00 p.m. the first Saturday of every other month at the Japanese American Museum of San Jose (JAMsj). Meetings are open to the general public, and books are available for purchase at the museum store. Questions? Contact Aggie Idemoto at (408) 294-3138 or at [email protected].

 

 

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

No RSVP required.

  

Workshop
  
Finding Your Japanese Roots in the U.S. and in Japan
with Linda Harms Okazaki 

Okazaki family photos

Sunday, February 22, 2015  
1:00 p.m. -- 4:00 p.m. 

  

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

Learn how to get started researching your unique family history by taking this workshop. At the end of our session, you will be ready to begin your own research. Topics to be covered include the following:

  • Finding vital records: land, census, and immigration
  • Ordering internment camp records
  • Finding picture-bride case files, alien files, and naturalization records
  • Looking for clues in documents
  • Taking that information to find records in Japan
  • Looking for records available in Japan, versus looking for records available at the Family History Library
  • Finding your Koseki (family registry in Japan)
  • Understanding Ohaka (grave site) and Kakocho (death registry)
    Genealogist Linda Harms Okazaki
  • Visiting relatives, cemeteries, and temples
LINDA HARMS OKAZAKI is a fourth-generation San Franciscan with a background in education. An active member of the genealogical community in California and beyond, she is passionate about teaching Nikkei how to to research, document, and share their personal family histories. Okazaki is a member of several genealogical associations, including the Association of Professional Genealogists, the California Genealogical Society, and the Nikkei Genealogical Society.

 

Cost: $35 class fee plus admission to the museum (nonmembers, $5; students and seniors over age 65, $3; JAMsj members and children under 12, free). Active JAMsj volunteers receive a $15 discount.

Must be 17 or older. The class is currently full. Please contact [email protected] to be placed on the waitlist or if you would like information on future public programs 

  

Kids Cultural Event
  
Hina Matsuri 
New Kimekomi set. Photo courtesy of May Matsuzaki. 
Sunday, March 1, 2015 
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 (Hina Matsuri), 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: Free with admission to the museum (nonmembers, $5; students and seniors over age 65, $3; JAMsj members and children under 12, free). An additional materials fee may apply.

  

Special Program
  
Tohoku Update 2015:  The Next Generation

 

Saturday, March 7, 2015
5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. 

  

Japanese American Museum of San Jose
535 N. Fifth Street
San Jose, CA  95112 
Minamisanriku & Los Gatos High School 

 

The Japanese American Museum of San Jose (JAMsj) is hosting "Tohoku Update 2015: The Next Generation" to share what three groups of high school students in Tohoku have been doing to help their hometowns recover from the devastation of the 2011 disaster. With help from high school students in California, the Tohoku students have been working on projects to bring back tourism to the Tohoku region.

 

Sendai & Wesley UMC 
The projects have involved an exchange in history, culture, and language between the Japanese and American students. The
Ishinomaki & Harker School 
three different groups will each share their message in a short presentation.We will then have live, one-on-one Skype video calls with the students from the Tohoku region, followed by a Q&A session. This will give participants a chance to interact with and hear what the Tohoku students are doing to make a difference in their hometowns.

 

 

There is no cost for this event.

By invitation. For more information, contact [email protected] 

  

Community Events
  
35th Annual San Jose Day of Remembrance: 
Stories from the Past, Lessons for Today

  

Sunday, February 15, 2015
5:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. 

  

San Jose Buddhist Church Betsuin
640 N. Fifth Street
San Jose, CA  95112

 

The 2015 San Jose Day of Remembrance that will take place on February 15, 2015, commemorates the signing of Executive Order 9066, which occurred on February 19, 1942. This executive order led to the incarceration of more than 100,000 Japanese Americans during WWII.

Former JAMsj board member, Terry Terakawa.

The theme for the 35th San Jose Day of Remembrance event is "Stories from the Past, Lessons for Today." During the program, personal stories about the Japanese American incarceration will be told by descendants of those whose lives were deeply affected by Executive Order 9066.

JAMsj docent, Kent Carson, stands before a portrait of his grandfather, Terry Terakawa in the new JAMsj exhibit, "Twice Heroes."  Carson will present his grandfather's story at the 2015 San Jose Day of Remembrance event. 

 

Kent Carson, a volunteer docent with the Japanese American Museum of San Jose (JAMsj), will be one of our speakers. He will recount the story of his grandfather, Terry Terakawa, who is also an active volunteer and a former board member of JAMsj.

 

Read more...

 

  

Please note the location of this event is the San Jose Buddhist Church Betsuin.

 

 

  

Calendar of Events


February 4, 2015:   Book Talk: San Jose Japantown -- A Journey
February 7, 2015:   Scholar Presentation:  Fighting for the Emperor
February 15, 2015: Day of Remembrance
February 15, 2015: Twice Heroes and More Exhibitor's Tour and Book Signing
February 21, 2015: Book Club: The Two Worlds of Jim Yoshida 
February 22, 2015: Genealogy Workshop with Linda Harms Okazaki
March 1, 2015:       Hinamatsuri
March 7, 2015:       Tohoku Update 2015 -- The Next Generation

For more information about our public programs, please contact [email protected] or call (408) 294-3138.

  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