Japantown Business Association Week

Japantown Business Association Newsletter

    

The theme for week 4 is Japantown Business Association (JBA) and we will be working with Kathy Sakamoto, the Executive Director of JBA. On Monday we helped Mrs. Sakamoto expand Japantown’s social media presence by showing her Instagram and helping her with the Japantown San Jose Facebook. Feel free to follow “Japantownsj” on Instagram! We’re hoping that JBA can continue to expand their presence on other social media platforms by posting pictures and gaining followers and ‘likes’!  Tuesday, we helped Mrs. Sakamoto print out the JBA Newsletters and assemble them.

   

Thursday was our second intern day in San Francisco.  We first met Ryan Kimura, the Director of Programs and Community Affairs at the JCCCNC.  He gave us a workshop that made us think about ourselves and why we are the way we are.  We were given paper and markers and we had to draw ourselves.  We also had to write down our leadership style, our fears, and our challenges.  He then gave us 3 seconds to write something about each intern on the back of their drawing.  The interns presented the drawings to each other and spoke about our leadership styles and what has shaped us throughout our lives that have made us lead the way we do.

Paul Osaki and the NorCal NCI
Interns

Next we met with Paul Osaki, the Executive Director of the JCCCNC.  He told us the history of the Nikkei Community Internship and how the California Japanese American Community Leadership Council (CJACLC) were formed.  He also told us the history of San Francisco’s Japantown and how the Japanese American built it back up after being sent away to relocation camps.  

    

San Francisco Japantown Monument

NJAHS

The interns went to the National Japanese American Historical Society (NJAHS).  We were given a tour by our fellow intern John David and a couple of high school interns as well.  They informed us about the history of San Francisco Japantown and the significance of the community.  They gave us a very nice walking tour around Japantown starting in the Peace

Plaza and ending at the Nihonmachi

Little Friends Preschool.

To end the day, we went to the Japantown Neighborhood Association meeting.  They had a police office speak and answer questions about things that affect the community like the increasing rate of graffiti and gangs. We also were able to inform the attendees about the upcoming town hall meeting on disaster preparedness that we are organizing.  It is nice to know that the neighborhood is really involved in the safety of the community and we hope that they were be able to come to our town hall meeting in two weeks!

Japantown Neighborhood Association