Tuesday, July 8, 2014

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.

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