Closing retreat and Closing thoghts

I'm writing this post about a week and a half after the internship wrapped up. I think that I am going to need more time to take in everything that I've experienced during this internship. This internship has taught me a lot about myself and the world at large. Coming into this program I didn't know much about Japantown or the lively community that it holds. Going down to Little Tokyo in LA was a so much fun. I got to see other interns that I've only gotten to speak to over the internet. I am really grateful that i got to meet everyone that I did. The interns that I spent time with, I'm really proud to call them my friends. It's not everyday that you can round up 21 strangers and make them get along. Going up to San Francisco every week to discuss with each other a plethora of different intellectual topics was a really eye opening experience. They pushed me and made me see things from different perspectives. The same thing happened working with the different supervisors. This internship was created an environment that I could learn, and push in ways that I haven't in the twenty years I've been alive. 

Moving forward I plan to stay involved with the community. I am working with Ryan Kawamoto to make videos for the Yu Ai Kai website. I will continue to help Duane with the documentation of Japantown. Writing all of this out is making me miss the people that I've gotten the chance to work with over the internship, but to know that they're all making so much amazing progress helps a little. I start school tomorrow, or today; sometime depending on how long it takes me to get this whole wave of ideas out. It's getting close to midnight. I'm definitely not caught up on sleep, but I'm not dreading school. Now that I've had this wonderful summer, I'm a bit nostalgic, but more than anything I am really excited for what's to come. 

Thank you so much. I know my life has changed for the better.

Iszac Gaton

Week of Health and Hospital

This week I got to meet with Darcie Kiyan and Andrew Knaack. I got to meet with Andrew and take a tour of AACI, Asian Americans for Community Involvement. The organization gives a lot to the community that may not be able to or feel comfortable with speaking English. In a way it bares similarities to the old Kuwabara Hospital. One of the most interesting parts of the organization was that it started with the goal of Asian American Activism and getting the community more involved. Either way, it's an act of giving back and making the world better. I also got to go meet with Darcie and Grace-Sophie Melanio, director of Community Health Partnership about a health plan for those who can't afford it. This was another field that I as not well versed in at all. Health coverage isn't a topic they dive deep into in school. The reach that Japantown has outside of it's small neighborhood is impressive. I know is spoke about this idea back in the week of arts in culture, but seeing the different facets work and extend their influence and help those who don't always live in the community. It solidifies the idea that Japantown is about giving and not taking.

Week with Yu Ai Kai

We had an opportunity to work with Yu Ai Kai, the local senior center. I honestly had a lot of fun here. Getting the chance to work here with the other volunteers a humbling experience. Setting aside time to help out others isn't something that we, as the society that we are now, don't do nearly enough. When I was in high school we had Key Club, a volunteering club, but sometimes the good work done felt like it was lost in the college applications it looked good on. The simple act of doing something for others without asking for anything in return isn't something you see all too often, but this is an entire establishment based on that idea. Japantown as a whole really has that energy of giving more that that you take. A couple weeks before working with the Yu Ai Kai we got a chance to speak with Ryan Kawamoto about working as the executive director of the center. Nothing he spoke about was about how much he was taking from the experience and how it has affected him. He talked about how much the center is giving back and how they can give more.
As a whole, this is something that came from everyone in this community. No one talked about how much they've taken from their experiences or what they've accomplished, in the self-praising way. The members of this community concerned themselves with how they could make it better for everyone else. I'm so grateful that I have had a chance to meet them all and look to them as role models.

Week of Disaster Preparedness

This week, July thirteenth to the seventeenth, we were with Rich Saito. He took us to speak to the fire station and the police station.When we started this week, I didn't really know what sort of we would learn. Working with Rich, a former police officer, we had an opportunity to speak with police officers and fire fighters. To be completely honest, before this week, I felt that these officers were daunting and unapproachable, but getting to speak with them I learned that they are very friendly people.  Aside from that, we had an opportunity to speak and think about conditions for safety perception and actual preparedness. It's not a topic that really gets discussed in school and certainly nothing I've given too much thought. Obviously safety and preparedness is a major part of a community, but it's definitely an overlooked aspect. When we were taking the survey for Helen Hayashi, the main point of concern for the community was safety in the neighborhood. With that knowledge, we worked with Rich to conduct another survey about safety in the neighborhood. Not only was this a good way to gauge the state of safety that our Japantown, but to those who weren't as prepared hopefully began to think about ways that they could do their part to be more safe.

This week was definitely unexpectedly fun. Getting to see how much care is needed to care for the safety of a whole community. If nothing else, this internship has definitely shown me how much people care about this neighborhood.

Iszac Gaton

Last 2 Weeks

My internship with NCI has come to an end and I am sad to see it go. These past 8 weeks have been a great opportunity both professionally and socially and I am truly glad that I was able to take part in such a great program. I just want to thank all of the people and organizations that made NCI possible and all of the people who supervised us each week. From Ellen to Paul, to Roy, Helen, Ryan, and Erika, to Kizuna and the JCCsj, thank you for all of your support and work this summer and summers past and future!
NCI has been a great opportunity for me because I got to see and do many things that a lot of people do not get the opportunity to do (I wish there was video of my closing speech in LA where I summarized why NCI is great because I feel that was the most genuine and true to Earth statement). As many people who know me know, I am a man of few words and there are not enough words in the world to describe how grateful I am for taking part in the NCI program this summer nor are the enough words to describe how amazed I am at all of the people who took their time to make this program run. I can only hope to one day do what all of these wonderful people are doing; these are some pretty big shoes to fill. Thank you NCI, JCCsj, and everyone else!
Thank you to:

Kathy Sakamoto- JBA

Roy Hirabayashi- SJ Taiko

Helen Hayashi- JCCsj

Julie Hubbard- Yu-Ai Kai

Rich Saito- JCCsj

Duane Kubo-J-Town Community TV

Ryan Kawamoto- Yu-Ai Kai

Juan Carlos- Empire 7 Studios

Franco Imperial- SJ Taiko

Wisa Uemura- SJ Taiko

Michael and Duane of Chidori Band

Sensei Gerald Sakamoto - San Jose Buddhist Church Betsuin

Mike Inouye- NBC

Jessica Savage- Avaya

Raul Peralez- City Council of San Jose

Vedant Patel- Congressional Aide to Mike Honda

Cindy Chavez- Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors

Laura Wells- San Jose Dept. of Transportation

Andrew Knaack- JCCsj, NCI

Ellen Kamei- JCCsj, NCI

PJ Hirabayashi- SJ Taiko

Sharon Uyeda- San Jose JACL

Fred Buzo- San Jose Mayor's Office

Cpt. Lo- San Jose Fire Dept.

Cpt. Ciaburro San Jose Police Dept.

-Alec Matsumoto