Yu-Ai Kai

For Yu-Ai Kai week, I got to work with Sophie Horiuchi, the director of Yu-Ai Kai. I had already seen her at the San Jose mid-session retreat, but this week I actually got to work with her.

On Monday, I was first given a tour of Yu-Ai Kai, plus a tour of the Akiyama Wellness Center. Since Yu-Ai Kai hosts seniors from age 55 to over 100, they have to have a wide range of activities for the seniors to do. This included crafts, iPad classes, and dance classes. They also serve Asian food that they make onsite, and deliver to those who can't come into the center. 

Fun facts: I already knew two of the people who worked there, Randy Ando and Mary Bryant, my uncle and aunt. Also, I knew the intern working there, Jen Adachi, as we were in Jr. YBA (Young Buddhist Association) together.

After lunch, Jen and I went to help with the Senior Day Service. We talked to the seniors who were there for the afternoon and helped them create a birdcage to put a paper parrot inside of. We also helped them complete puzzles before they got picked up to go home.

Working with the senior center provides an interesting reflection, for the baby boomers are older and thus, a higher percentage of the population are becoming seniors. As the baby boom generation has grown up, services have been provided extra for the bump of people. The problem for the bump in seniors is that more people have to take care of them instead of them working, which will put a stress on an already stressed senior health system. I believe this means some people, especially those with poor English speaking skills and those without family to take care of them, may become invisible and not have their needs taken care of.

On Tuesday, I got to work with Tom Izu again. He works at the California History Center at De Anza College. He has been working on a project to talk about civil liberties issues, with a focus on Japanese American incarceration, and relating it to current issues, including with Muslim Americans after 9/11.

The California History Center at De Anza College

Tom said that his motive being this project is because he feels that people acknowledge internment was bad, but that's it. We didn't learn from it, as witnessed via the Patriot Act and deportation of people from the Middle East without a reason. I think the JA community is doing a good job of enlightening people about internment, but I think America as a whole needs to do a better job at learning from its own mistakes. Ignorance is not bliss; it can affect many lives and has constantly resulted in the loss of civil liberties.



For Wednesday, it was back to Yu-Ai Kai. I worked with Frank Amarillo, who picks up some seniors and delivers lunches. I was allowed to ride along with him as he drove around the community. It is so great that Yu-Ai Kai can provide meals for seniors even if they can't get to the senior center. For seniors  who don't get around as much, they probably don't get to see people often. Thus, being delivered food personally, though it is a small thing, could mean a lot.

After this, I met with Richard Konda of the Asian Law Alliance. I got a similar feel from ALA as I did from AACI. They both specialize in helping immigrants, it's just that AACI focuses on health services while ALA focuses on legal services. Considering the history of people in positions of power who have not followed all the laws of our country, especially with the rights of minorities, having organizations to defend them is vital. Also, many immigrants who come over to this country will not know all of our laws and customs, so having ALA there to help them out just to find a place to fit into America is important.

On Thursday I went back to SF for another intern day. First, we met with Rosalyn Tonai of the National Japanese American Historical Society, or NJAHS for short (pronounced ninjas). She spoke a little bit about their MIS (Military Intelligence Service) building that opened up recently, dedicated to bilingual JAs who were in the MIS during World War II in the Pacific Theater. We also met Bob Hamaguchi of the Japantown Task Force. The job of the task force is to preserve the SF Japantown and keep it as a place that people would like to visit. For instance, they had a hand in the Ramen/J-Pop festival in SF Japantown last week, plus the cleanup afterwards since it was left trashed.

After lunch, we had a workshop with Aya Ino of the JCCCNC. She had us take a personality test, and then showed us the pros and cons of the four teamwork abilities and how to work with other personalities. Of driver, expressive, amiable, and analytical, I am an amiable, but was also one of the more well-rounded of the group.

We ended Thursday by visiting Harriet Ishimoto, who works in Nancy Pelosi's office. This trip to the Federal Building was quite the experience, although Nancy Pelosi was out of town. Harriet focuses on immigration issues, though she held back on politics in this meeting and focused more on showing us that we can do a great deal in our lives. She never expected to work in the legislative sector of the government, but she does that now.

Friday was quite busy, but it was a great way to end the week. First I met with Bob Nakano, who used to work at the Willow Glen Funeral Home. He kept saying, so you are dead, do you have someone to take care of the service? Do you want to be buried, cremated, or scattered? Since I met with Hospice of the Valley last week, I already have had to think some about these details which can cause problems for the family if they do not know. People tend not to be great at thinking about the consequences of their actions. Same goes for dying. When someone dies, that means other people will have to take care of the body, the service, etc. It makes it easier on them if they know what their loved one wanted to have happen to them after they passed, and prevent arguments.

After this, I helped out at a Suzume no Gakko performance at Yu-Ai Kai. Suzume no Gakko is a summer program for kids to learn more about JA culture. I worked with Jen and Julie Hubbard, and was in charge of the music (CDs) for the kids as they performed taiko, songs, Obon dances, and plays for the seniors.

After this finished, I helped Jen and some other Yu-Ai Kai workers clean up the room. Then, Jen and I went to the storage room to help organize some of the materials. Yu-Ai Kai receives a lot of donations of random things jumbled up, but now it is (hopefully) more organized and easier to find items.

Finally, I went to visit T.C. Nguyen at On Lok. On Lok is similar to Yu-Ai Kai in that it services a niche population of seniors, as it focuses on Medical seniors in the community that are doing okay health-wise. I think it is important to have programs that focus on lower class populations, as they are more likely to be invisible in the eyes of the government, as are some seniors.

This was a very busy, yet very fun and enlightening week. It was great working with Sophie and learning more in the field of Public Health!

Health and Human Services

Since I am a Public Health major, I was really looking forward to what I could learn during Health and Human Services week. I got to work with Darcie Kiyan, who has been involved with the JCCsj and various health organizations, and Wes Mukoyama, who used to be the Executive Director of Yu-Ai Kai.

This week involved meeting with many different people from different places who work in different sectors of Health and Human Services. First, I met with Grace Melanio of Community Health Partnership to hear more about the public policy and advocacy side of public health. I saw some demographics of Santa Clara County and what issues, health wise, we face in the community.

I want to back up a little here. Public Health is a very broad field, ranging from public policy and working with government, to infectious diseases like AIDS and Malaria, to biostatistics, to social services, and several other areas of study. To compare Public Health to Med focused organizations, Med is focused on treating people after they get sick or hurt, whereas Public Health tries to focus on preventing people from getting sick or hurt in the first place.

I also met with Jeanne Wun, of Hospice of the Valley. Hospice care is there in order to allow people without much time left to live to be able to get their last wishes in order and die how they want to. Jeanne also talked to me about making others aware of one's last wishes. For instance, if someone is pronounced brain dead, they could have already stated that they don't want to live off of life support if there is no way they are coming back. In other words, make it easier for friends and family at the time of passing.

A quilt of pictures made by children who had parents in hospice care.

Next, I spoke with Vanessa Merlano at the Santa Clara County Public Health Department. Vanessa's work focuses on violence and injury prevention with seniors, so especially injury prevention. This involves helping to prevent falls, keeping seniors active, preventing them from feeling alone, and fighting diseases like Alzheimer's.

Finally, I also met with Michele Lew of Asian Americans for Community Involvement, or AACI for short. AACI started out as an advocacy group for Asian and Pacific Islander immigrants, many of whom did not know English or English was not their first language. Now, they provide both services and some advocacy to help anyone in the community, regardless of race, and especially immigrants. It was interesting to see how AACI was so thoughtful for its patients, and attempted to fight problems with bilingual workers, mental health workers, and a HIV office made to help people afraid of the stigma that comes with the disease.

Thursday was intern day in SF again. First, we met with Steve Nakajo of Kimochi. He showed us a video of Fillmore Street and its history. This included its popularity after the 1906 Earthquake and the incarceration of Japanese Americans being sent to camp, allowing for African Americans to move in as jobs surged in World War II. He then spoke to us about Kimochi and how it is giving back to the elders of the community. After lunch, we met with David Oda, a former NCI and Berkeley alum. He currently works with Linked In, so he talked about Linked In and how it is a good tool to look for jobs. He also talked about leadership skills and had us take a self-quiz to see our strengths and weaknesses in leadership positions.

I really enjoyed Health and Human Services week, especially since I am a Public Health major, as I got to talk to people in careers that I might be interested in. Plus, Darcie and Wes had many connections within the community. I look forward to working with Yu-Ai Kai next week and learning more in the field of Public Health!

Cultural Week and San Jose Mid-Session Retreat

Cultural Week involved a lot of planning for Mid-Session Retreat in San Jose. This year, the retreat coincides not only with San Jose Obon, but also the JACL Convention, which is in San Jose this year. This included going with Andrew Knaack to Costco to get some food supplies for all the NCI interns coming to San Jose from LA and San Francisco. I also helped to plan some of the activities and finalized parts of the schedule, which I will talk about in a bit.

On Wednesday, I volunteered at a JACL play reading. The play being read was "Valley of the Heart" by Luis Valdez. It was a love story set during World War II between a Mexican American family and a Japanese American family. During this event, I helped get food for the cast and crew, usher in the JACL delegates, and help the play reading go smoothly. I also got to watch the play reading, which was a moving tale about the two families dealing with the war and incarceration.

Before I knew it, I had to go to pick up some of the LA interns at San Jose Mineta Airport on Friday morning. We commenced to go do some morning workshops at the JACL Convention at the Doubletree Hotel. We had a choice of several workshops, including talks about the model minority myth, diversity in Japanese American culture, genealogy, and Japanese nationals in America. For lunch, we drove to Yu-Ai Kai, and ate with some of the seniors there. I also got a sneak peak of my workplace for next week with Sophie!

After lunch, it was back to the Doubletree so we could attend a Youth Plenary session. For this, they showed some comedy pieces dealing with race in the media, and asked us whether or not we felt it offensive or not. Personally, I saw it as an eye-opening experience for us to be more aware of things that we say or do that could be harmful to others. There is a fine line between an acceptable joke that involves race, and having a racist joke.

We then went to Japantown, where the interns received a tour of the Japanese American Museum of San Jose led by Rich Saito, Joe Yasutake, and Jimi Yamaichi. As always, it was enlightening to visit JAMsj, and I even got to see a picture of my grandfather, Sumito Horio (top right), as he was on the San Jose Asahi baseball team. We drove to the hotel we would stay at, the San Jose Airport Hotel next to 4th Street Bowl.

For dinner, we were invited to the taiko potluck, hosted by San Jose Taiko. The collegiate taiko groups from UC Berkeley, UCSD, UC Davis, and UC Irvine also went. We got to socialize with each other, eat good food, and at the end we all joined in on learning Ei Ja Nai Ka, an Obon odori dance that San Jose Taiko performs the song for.

On Sunday, first we went to the Issei Memorial Building for breakfast. I then proceeded to teach the Obon odori dance for Jan Ken Ondo. This is probably the hardest dance at San Jose Obon, so hopefully people who stayed the whole time were able to perform it better. Erika Tamura, the San Francisco NCI supervisor, then came in and talked to us a little about the closing retreat that will take place in SF. We then visited the Nikkei New Generation Fund, an organization to encourage youth to donate to the community since the Nisei currently donate the most, and they are getting older.

Finally, we were free to go have fun at San Jose Obon! This included lots of good food, games, but sadly, no bingo this year. After a couple taiko performances, it was time to say goodbye to the LA people and several of the SF people. However, a few other people did stay and dance!

I know that last year there was no mid-season retreat in San Jose, but I am so glad they managed to have it again this year. Going to the JACL Convention and San Jose Obon with a bunch of friends made this weekend one to remember.

Spirituality

For the third week of the Nikkei Community Internship, the theme was spirituality. Seeing as there is the San Jose Buddhist Church and the Wesley Methodist Church in Japantown, there was a lot to learn this week. First, I would like to thank Janice Doi for being in charge of this week.

I spent an entire day with the Lotus Preschool, working with Lynn Yamaichi. It was fun working with the kids, as I helped prepare snacks, projects, and their naptime beds (little cots that they could put sheets and blankets on, much fancier than the plain floor I had for naptime). Their projects included decorating a star with patriotic colors and making a shirt with red and blue paint with stars. To be honest, the shirts turned out very nice; I would wear one in my size! As a person who has a dad who is a college teacher, a sister who is trying to be an elementary school teacher, and who is personally a former 4th Grade Dharma School teacher, being able to work with preschoolers was a fun and enjoyable learning experience.

At the Wesley Methodist Church, I met with Reverend Keith Inouye and talked about what Wesley does. This included Japan trips, summer camps, fundraising for natural disaster relief, and the list goes on. I got a tour of the church, including the classrooms and areas that the church may want to buy. Also, I found out that Wesley is more liberal than what the Methodist Church overall says to be.

My day at the Buddhist Church was a little bit different. Since I had been a part of the San Jose Buddhist Church since I was a little kid, I didn't need a tour or anything. I had lunch with some of their office staff and helped stuff some envelopes for the Buddhist Women's Association. I then spent time with the Archives Committee a little and got to watch them interview Yosh Uchida, who was a judo teacher at San Jose State University. I thus got to learn a little bit about his prewar life and trials after incarceration.

Thursday was my second intern day in San Francisco. This time we got to meet the staff of the JCCCNC. We got a tour of the center before meeting with Lori Matoba, the director. She talked about the history of the JCCCNC and its role in the community. We then had a round of speed dating and then lunch with the staff. It was interesting hearing why everyone else got involved, and some little quirks about each person. We then had a meeting with Casey Ikeda, who talked a little bit about interviewing and JA history. Finally, we got to meet with Kenji Teguma of Nichi Bei Weekly, and he talked about festivals in San Francisco Japantown and the impact Nichi Bei has had in the community.

Japanese American Museum of San Jose

This week I got to work at the Japanese American Museum of San Jose, or JAMsj for short. One thing that is amazing about JAMsj is that all of the workers are volunteer, yet they are still able to keep the museum running very smoothly. One of the reasons for this is their president, Aggie Idemoto, who I got to spend some time with throughout the week talking about leadership development and working with other people.

Aggie was just one of the people I got to meet while with the museum. Jimi Yamaichi gave a tour of Japantown, pointing out some of the historic sights. He also talked about how things were in the 1920s and 1930s in Japantown, for he has lived in San Jose most of his life. An intern of Tule Lake and a draft resister, Jimi had tons of information as he also gave a tour of the museum. Rebecca Karabatos is the librarian at the museum. For a library project, she had me search recent books about Japanese Americans that JAMsj could add to its collection, plus organize some material about the 442nd Regiment and internment. I also met Barbara Kawamoto, the director of communications at JAMsj. We had an engaging discussion of bringing some of the college Japanese American clubs together for a bonding activity. And this was just Monday.

I also got to meet other people involved in the community outside of JAMsj. Lynn Yamaichi is the director for the Lotus Preschool, and she showed me around and told me what the kids would do and learn. I had a phone conference with Cynthia Konda, director of Okaasan & Me, a bilingual program that involves both children and their parents to educate them both. I met a little with Joe Yasutake, of the museum, talking with Aggie Idemoto about having youth involved with the community. I was able to talk to Curt Fukuda and Ralph Pearce, authors of the upcoming San Jose Japantown book. This included an interesting conversation of how to conduct interviews and why they started writing the book. I also talked to Tom Izu and Steve Fugita about Asian American Studies in higher education. I already knew a little bit of this information, as I took an Asian American Studies class at UC Berkeley and am a History minor. This was a fun conversation that went from talking about the Japanese American community today with the Yonsei, Shin-Nisei, hapas, and non JAs who are interested in being a part of this community, to Tom Izu's role in sparking the Niseis into talking of camp for redress.

On Thursday, we had our first Norcal Intern day in San Francisco. First we were given a walking tour of San Francisco Japantown by the Nation Japanese American Historical Society NCI interns. Then we had a meeting with Jon Osaki of the Japanese Community Youth Council (JCYC), an organization that provides activities and programs for the younger generation. He emphasized that the current youth are the future of Japanese American culture. Later that day, a couple NCI alums came and led a scavenger hunt in SF Japantown.

There were a couple other highlights of this week. One is that I attended the JCC's meeting on Tuesday night, and got to see a little bit of how the JCC is run and what they do. Then on Saturday, I helped out at a CATS event called Hidden Legacy. I worked with Reiko Iwanaga as they showed the documentary on Japanese American Culture in camp, especially Obon dances, kabuki, and playing the koto.