Government and Advocacy

This week, week 4 of NCI we spent our time with Helen Hayashi to learn about government and advocacy. Through Helen's connections we were able to meet various people who worked with the government; mainly local. To start off our time with Helen she had us research each level of government (local (city and county), state, and federal) before we met with people. Being a Criminology-Law Enforcement major I researched the aspects of how each level of government used law enforcement, so I searched San Jose Police, Santa Clara County Sheriffs, California Highway Patrol, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (fun fact, I like to call the FBI the Federal Bureau of Intimidation because of an NCIS episode I watched). I understood the relationship of these law enforcement groups with the exception of the Sheriffs Department because for me and like most people we do not really know what the county does. With this research we finished we drove over to San Jose City Hall and met with Fred Buzo. Fred is one of the people who helps Mayor Sam Liccardo. Meeting with Fred was a great experience because he talked about how he got into working with politics and how Japantown was an important part of San Jose. The common theme of meeting with these people is that they went into one field of study and ended up doing something else; Fred was a lawyer who ended up in politics after a while. Later that day we met with Laura Wells. Laura is in charge of the Department of Transportation in San Jose and she told us that her field of study was actually civil engineering and that working for the DOT was not exactly a career she wanted but ended up becoming in charge after sometime. She took us the DOT's Transportation Management Center to show us one of the many "toys" that they have to help the city's traffic needs. This place was as someone put it right out of the movie The Italian Job. One big screen where you can see any of the 200 traffic cameras throughout San Jose. This place was pretty cool and interesting and the fact that its in a "secret" location that you would just walk past makes it even cooler.

DOT TMC 7/6/2015. Photo by Alec Matsumoto

On Tuesday we worked with Kathy Sakamoto with the JBA again. We helped her stuff letters for VIPs for the upcoming 125th Anniversary of Japantown. VIPs such as Congressman Mike Honda, Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren, and various San Jose City Council members, and county supervisors. My hand writing is not the best but I guess it was good enough to have the task to address the envelopes.

Letters to the VIPs 7/7/2015. Photo by Alec Matsumoto

Wednesday was a great day. We got to meet with three interesting people from government. The first person we met was Cindy Chavez. Cindy is one of the Santa Clara County Supervisors and she talked to us about the role of the county. Remember in the first paragraph where I talk about how people do not know what the county does, well Cindy explained it to us and it really helped. Essentially the county can be a city government for places that are not inside of a city's boundaries, also they act on behalf of the federal government when needed. They provide jails for cities as well as the courts and probation. The county does a lot, but we don't exactly realize it. Cindy drew me a diagram or picture to help illustrate what the county does:

Picture illustrating what the county does by Cindy Chavez 7/8/2015. Photo by Alec Matsumoto

Later that day we met with first term City Council member Raul Peralez. Raul was a straightforward and honest guy. He told us the process of him becoming a city council member was not a one year thing but it actually took him about four years to actually do. He said that he did a lot of research for this job prior to even running for office and that he did not even expect to become a city council member coming out of college. He told us that he majored and got his degree in math and became a teacher for his old high school in Cupertino. Later he became an EMS then eventually served as a San Jose PD officer for eight years before becoming a city council member. He said doing what you like is better than doing something you don't like and he enjoyed everything he did. He still holds his substitute teaching permit so that if he ever wants to he can go back and teach students. From what I can tell, Raul does things that interests him while also serving and giving back to the community.

After meeting with Raul we met with Vedant Patel of Congressman Mike Honda's Santa Clara Office. Vedant talked to us about how he got into politics and what a Congressperson actually does. Vedant actually majored in biology wanting to become a doctor but after graduating he got an internship with the Congressman and has worked for him for a while now. He also talked about how much a Congressperson's office can do for the people that they serve and also how how hard it is to run a campaign.

I think that common theme of this week was not about politics even though it was but instead of how the journey of life is an interesting one where we do not know where we will end up. Vedant was a bio major but ended up working as a Congressional Aide, Raul was a math major who became a teacher then an EMS responder then a police officer then a City Council Member, Fred was a lawyer who found his way to the Mayor's Office, and Laura was a civil engineer who had no interest in DOT but ended up becoming the head of it. We never know where we may end up but from what I can tell is that all of these people enjoy their jobs and all I can say is I hope that my future is similar to theres.

Also I found that it is hard to go anywhere in the JA community where there is not someone who knows either one of my parents, especially my "famous" mom...

-Alec Matsumoto 7/10/2015

Arts & Culture

 This week Roy Hirabayashi was our supervisor and he took us to various arts and culture place around Japantown. On Monday we visited San Jose Taiko's practice facility in downtown to see where they practice and also to talk about the history and trouble that SJ Taiko has had with getting a place to practice. He told us that SJ Taiko has gone through many different places over the years and the previous place they had problems with noise complaints directed towards them; taiko isn't a quiet activity. He said they really got lucky when they found their current location cause it was set to be demolished by the city for the new baseball stadium that would have been for the A's if they came to San Jose. Luckily they were able to secure a lease for the whole building from the city about a week before it was going to be leveled. Roy said that they wanted the whole building so that they did not have to deal with neighbors complaining about the noise being generated by playing on the drums. Roy also talked about how eventually they would have to move and find a new place again because the city still plans to tear down the building for redevelopment in the future so they are looking into finding a new place to hopefully call home permanently.

On Tuesday Roy took us to meet Duane Takahashi and Michael Yoshihara of San Jose's Chidori Band at Kubota Restaurant. They talked to us about how Chidori Band is one of the last bands in the country that does what they do; write and play music in Japanese for the Japanese American community. They said that the busiest time for the band is during Obon season since they go around to the different temple Obons to play music for the Bon Odori since they are the last band like them in the USA. I remember seeing them each time they played at my Obon, the Mountain View Obon one and how I always thought it was interesting in how the band was so appealing even though I could not understand what they were singing about and how there was the "old school" vibe when they play.

Chirdori Band 60th Anniversary

On Wednesday we met with Rev. Gerald Sakamoto of the San Jose Buddhist Church Betsuin and talked to him about the involvement of the temple in the community. I thought that it was interesting how the role of the various Shin Buddhist Temples in the USA kind of played the same role while also playing different roles as well. Most temples are the focal community center for the Nikkei Community sponsoring groups like Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, YBA, sports leagues, and etc. Rev. Sakamoto also talked about how the temples should try to shift from being the cultural center that they are to a Dharma center and focus more on the Dharma instead of the culture since thats what a Buddhist Temple should be doing in my opinion. But since most temples helped many of the Issei, Nisei, and Sansei, its hard to see that shift happen since the temples are rooted deeply in the community with all the groups that they sponsor.

Later in the day we walked down to Empire7Studios to meet with co-owner Juan Carlos to talk to him about why he set up shop in Japantown and the importance of the art scene in Japantown. He told us that the murals that he does helps make the area look more vibrant but also sends a message of what is going on. I know for sure I like the mural that is on Santo Market's wall as well as the other ones on the electrical boxes around Japantown.

On Thursday we went to the Mexican Heritage Plaza and met with Tamra, the Executive Director over there. She talked to us about how the Plaza had a trouble some start and that her agency was able to revitalize it within four years. We learned of the importance of having a cultural center and that the Plaza wasn't just for Mexican Heritage but for other cultures to use and be on display. Later that day we met with Wisa and Franco from San Jose Taiko to talk about SJ Taiko and how they fit into the leadership and direction of the future of this ancient art form.

Alec Matsumoto 7/6/15

Week 2: Hula, Zumba, NASCAR, and Surveys

Week two of NCI SJ started with us heading over to the Akiyama Wellness Center to do Zumba with our week two supervisor Kathy Sakamoto. Zumba was a fun experience that I have decided to hold off on doing again until I get into better shape. During the middle of the week we headed over to the Hula studio over on 6th street to do hula with Kathy. Hula is another activity that I will hold off doing again. These two experiences showed us how each business runs and what services are provided. This was more evident however with the Akiyama Wellness Center since they provide a multitude of services with Yu Ai Kai to the elderly population to help them stay not only up to date on technology but also physically and mentally sharp.

 Photo by Alec Matsumoto: Hula 6/24/15

Photo by Iszac Gaton: Zumba 6/22/15

During the whole week we spent with Kathy we were instructed to walk around to each business in Japantown and pass out flyers for the 125 yr. anniversary of Japantown, parking surveys, and ad order forms. Monday-Wednesday we hit the streets to pass out the "packets" and Friday we went around to remind and collect the businesses of the packets. This job taught me interpersonal skills and the importance of getting out into the community to make a personal connection. Even though it was initially intimidating for me to go out and meet new people, I felt comfortable doing so after the first few businesses. Most of the people in J-town are nice and friendly and are willing to take the time to talk to you even if they are slightly busy. Even if they were, most of them were polite about asking us to just leave the packets with them so that they could look at it once they had time after we explained what it was. I also found unfortunately that some of the businesses in J-town were not so friendly when we came in to talk to them, but that is apart of life and I learned that even if they may not be friendly, acting hostile back towards them will not be helpful. These businesses are important and vital for Japantown since they draw in people and help keep Japantown alive, even if they may not be open to filling out a survey their needs are still important so just by going around and saying that we are trying to help with the big issue of parking gets them to think about how beneficial working with the JBA and other associations may be for the collective good of the community.

We did more than just Zumba, Hula, and walking around this week. We also went to San Francisco's Japantown's JCCCNC for our weekly Intern-days where we had a workshop and met two the founder of Kimochi, Inc, and a NASCAR driver who is Japanese American. Meeting with the great Steve Nakajo, the founder of Kimochi, Inc was a great experience. We learned about the importance of community and giving back to those who gave to you as well as the importance of understanding that the JA community should not be so inclined to distinguish between generations, especially between Nikkei and Shi-Nikkei. 

During our workshop we learned of the numerous JA organizations that are out in the world and how they contribute to the JA community. We learned that just by getting involved with one of them we can get involved with more. Also the leader was kind of pushing us to join or think of joining JACL.

Photo by Chelsea Hayashi (SF Intern) 6/25/15: List of JA organizations that we knew of at the time

-Alec Matsumoto

Orientation and Interactions

Up in San Francisco, we got a chance to meet all of the NCI interns. There are a lot of colorful and positive characters within this community; I'm looking forward to getting to know them all better. We got to speak briefly on the first day and we all are probably going to share the same picture on our blogs. The San Jose group consists of only two members, the San Francisco branch has 7 members and LA has a massive group of twelve interns. It's a shame that San Jose interns won't get to work closely with the rest of the program, but it was wonderful to meet the whole community none the less.

One of the first workshops we took part in was a leadership identity exercise. Learning about what makes me a leader and what other people take from themselves into the leadership position opened my mind to other aspects of leadership that I hadn't thought about in the past. I know that it's a bit redundant, but one of the biggest take aways from this experience is how big this world. Despite that, we all somehow knew a mutual friend of another. There were a lot of other workshops and activities that all happened in a blur, but the main take away from the whole orientation experience is the depth and warmth from the Japanese American community. You can really see their passion for their home and the desire to make it a better place for the future. 

The few days of the actual internship have been mostly working with Duane Kubo. We've been discussing how the youth can get involved with the Japanese community and the ways we can push this community forwards in a positive direction. One of the projects we'll be focusing in on is video to shed light on and bring more character to the Issei Memorial Building. Not many people know much about it, but that doesn't mean that all of the huge contributions it has made to the community must go unnoticed. 

This is just a quick screenshot of a few of the things that the Issei Memorial Building (IMB) has been through since its creation. Alec and I are working to produce a piece that JACL and other groups may potentially hold in their arsenal to effectively get the Japantown culture out into the world on platforms that it hasn't been provided on before. So far one of the biggest aspects I've seen reaffirmed again and again is the positivity that comes from everyone in this community. It's been fun so far and I'm looking forward to the rest of the program.

-Iszac Gaton!

Opening Session and First Days of Work

Oppening Session:
Our first days of NCI (Nikkei Community Internship) had us split 3 days in San Francisco and San Jose to meet the other interns from SF and LA. There are 21 total interns in the program; 2 from San Jose, 7 from San Francisco, and 12 from Los Angeles. We learned that these 3 cities are the last remaining official J-Towns left in California. Learning this we learned why this program is important to the future of J-Town communities and how each of us can take what we learn from where we are placed and the workshops that we do and use it for the future of J-Towns and the Nikkei Community.

Picture of SJ,SF, and LA interns in SF J-Town 6/15/15

Meeting and getting to know my fellow interns was a great opportunity and experience. I got to meet people from different schools and leadership backgrounds as well as other people within the Nikkei Community. I soon realized that the Nikkei Community that I had grown up and been apart of for my life up until now was just a portion of what the actual community is. Just being apart of and active in the Mountain View Buddhist Temple/Buddhist Churches of America and subsequent youth groups/ organizations was the only idea or picture that I had of the Nikkei Community. I was aware of San Jose Japan Town and actually grew up there, going to pre-school and practicing Judo for a few years as well as being active in the Tri-City/ Nikkei sports leagues was the only other part of the Nikkei Community that I was aware of as well. My goal by the end of this program is to hopefully as my time here at NCI progresses on I will become more involved within the broader Nikkei Community of San Jose Japan Town and understand what it takes to help this community progress.

First Few Days:

As the day began we rolled into the Issei Memorial Building on 5th Street in San Jose Japan Town. We met with Roy Hirabayashi who showed us around the historic building that we will be calling "home base" for the next 8 weeks. Next we met with Duane Kubo who began to talk to us about our overarching project that we will be working on mostly for the time we are working in J-Town. He allowed us to think of a few ideas that we then narrowed down to creating a film or documentary to help raise awareness about the historic Issei Memorial Building. So for the past two days we have been working on research and filming ideas as well as a timetable to do such an "ambitious" project as Duane put it for the next 8 weeks. We are also working on a few smaller projects such as a social media campaign to help tie the community together as well as other even smaller projects like taking surveys for the JCCsj and the JBA while we are here.

Brainstorming ideas for our two main projects with Duane

Alec Matsumoto 5/19/15

Japantown Business Association and San Francisco Closing Retreat

For my last week of NCI, I got to spend time with Kathy Sakamoto of the Japantown Business Association (JBA). I also got to meet Michelle Ramos, the JBA intern for the summer.

The Japantown Business Association is really important due to the diversity of Japantown. Naturally, businesses have different goals and shoot for different customers, so they won't always agree with each other. JBA really tries to help all of the businesses here, and the Japantown community. And being someone who visits the community regularly, I think the variety of the businesses here is needed to bring people into Japantown.

During my time with the JBA, I got to meet a lot of people. First, we attended a Center for Asian American Media (CAAM) meeting at the San Jose Museum of Art that included a couple city representatives and other important people in Asian American businesses or communities. They are organizing the CAAM Fest, a fall festival showcasing Asian American movies. This is a good opportunity to enlighten the community about various issues Asian Americans face and a different perspective.

I also got to see many of the businesses in Japantown during my time with the JBA. Kathy had Michelle and I go around Japantown to talk to business owners about Japantown's 125th anniversary next year. The JBA is trying to collect information on all the businesses in order to showcase them in social media and other things for next year. It was interesting to be able to meet a bunch of the business owners and their businesses. I have been in Japantown many times in my life, and there were several businesses that I never even knew about there.

On Wednesday, the Japantown Community Congress held a closing luncheon for me. And just like that, my time with the NCI program in San Jose was over. However, I still had a little bit more to do.

On Thursday, all the interns met up in San Francisco for the closing retreat. Jeremy and Coco first led a walking tour, mainly for the LA interns who hadn't been to SF Japantown for NCI before. We then had a statewide debrief, where all the interns talked about the pros and cons of our experience in the NCI programs and with the retreats. Then, we split up into our regions (Norcal and Socal) and had regional debriefs about our experiences with intern days. For dinner, former Norcal interns were invited to socialize with everyone, before we went to the Hotel Kabuki to sleep. 

The Norcal interns had prepped for the closing luncheon for several weeks, and now it was time to shine. Our theme was "Blazing a Brighter Future," as we used Tanabata decorations to convey our wishes for the Japanese American communities. First, we met with the California Japanese American Community Leadership Council (CJACLC) that consists of people from the three Japantowns. Then we had the closing luncheon, at which I spoke at. 

I would like to express my gratitude to Ellen, Andrew, and Roy for organizing the NCI program in San Jose. I would also like to thank all of my weekly supervisors who helped make this program a great experience, and the people they had me interact with. Finally, I would like to thank my fellow interns, for being the icing on the cake. I had a wonderful experience!

Government, Advocacy, and Media

Wow, it has already been seven weeks of working in the NCI program. I feel like I have learned so much, and with this week being government, advocacy, and media week, I learned even more. Plus I had Helen Hayashi and Reiko Iwanaga leading this week, and they both are involved in so many different aspects of the community.

On Monday, Reiko and I met with Mike Inouye at the NBC Studios. I must say, it was quite the experience to see operations of things that we see all the time on TV. I had never been in a control room before, so it was awesome being able to see the director working live to broadcast news to the entire bay area. I also got to witness part of the broadcast with my own eyes, not on TV. I also got to see Scott McGrew and Christina Loren live, plus I also met Robert Handa (not of relation). Mike showed me how he can control the cameras that show the traffic, and explained how his background in IT and improv helps him working at NBC. He also showed me how the weather and traffic would be shown on a green screen.

The San Jose Mercury News Building

After this, we went to visit Dennis Akizuki at the San Jose Mercury News. We talked about how he transitioned from Berkeley to being a newspaper editor, and how technology has shifted newspaper focus from print to online. We also got a tour of the building, although they are moving to another building soon. It was also interesting to see Dennis in work environment instead of at Obon.

For Tuesday, Helen and I went to City Hall. First we met with Lee Wilcox, Assistant to the City Manager. For starters, we both went to Leigh High School. I asked about BART coming to San Jose, and he said it was a money issue, and then I brought up Prop 13, which he had written his thesis on. In case you don't know, Prop 13 was on the ballot in the 1970s or 1980s in response to the oil crisis, inflation, and skyrocketing property taxes. Prop 13 is one reason why property taxes are much lower than the value of the house after owning the house for a bit, and why government is having a hard time with the budget each year. Now, it has become the third rail of California, because touching this subject in politics will anger a lot of longtime residents, even if keeping it screws up the state.

View from the 18th floor of City Hall looking towards Japantown

After this, we talked to Norberto Duenas, the Deputy City Manager. Noberto was a really nice guy who seems like he cares for the people of San Jose. He had a total American Dream life, growing up in Florida and Latin America, joining an SJSU college program there before a civil war forced him to transfer to SJSU itself, then joining the local political system in San Jose. He talked about how the border crisis and immigration were important to San Jose considering the number of immigrants who come to the Silicon Valley.

Yosh Uchida showing some of his awards

For lunch, we met with Yosh Uchida, so he talked about judo and showed us some of his trophies. Considering Yosh is in his 90s, he sure remembers a lot about some of the people he used to coach and his experiences. Considering how much he has accomplished, it was awesome just to be able to talk with him.

After lunch, we met with Ruth Cueto, a staff worker to Sam Liccardo, who is in the running for Mayor of San Jose. She said that a lot of her focus is on affordable housing and transportation in District 3. It is interesting to see how the city is responding to population growth, with the pull factors of the Silicon Valley. Not everyone here can necessarily afford to live here, as witnessed by the many homeless people in St. James Park.

On Wednesday, I was with Helen again, and we met first with Vedant Patel. He is a Congressional Assistant to Mike Honda. He focused in on immigration, health care, and AAPI issues. Personally, as a Public Health major, I am glad that people have more access to health care now. Especially when you think of immigrants, who don't know how this country runs.

After this, we met with Brian Grayson, Executive Director of the Preservation Action Council. They look up historical buildings in San Jose and fight to preserve them due to historical value. For example, they have been fighting to keep Winchester 21, one of the former movie domes. I must say, I had mixed feelings about preservation, as I think some thing (like Winchester 21) should be preserved, but other things it is better to have a newer building in place.

Lastly, we went to downtown to meet with Leah Toeniskoetter of San Francisco Planning and Urban Renewal Association, or SPUR. They got founded after the 1906 earthquake, and recently set up a new building in San Jose. For the part of SPUR in San Jose, they are focusing on making San Jose a better city. For one, they are trying to see what makes certain urban areas, like Santana Row, click, and then use that knowledge to improve the downtown area. They are also working with the Valley Transportation Authority to make public transportation easier in San Jose. This includes possibly allowing light rail to get a green light all the time.

On Thursday it was my last intern day in the city. First, we met again with Jon Osaki, as he wanted to see if some of our ideas had changed from the beginning of the internship to the end. He made a point that all of the interns have to potential to have an impact in the community, and that we are the future. We then met Patty Wada of the SF JACL and Haruka Roudebosh of Nakayoshi. They showed a video highlighting various hate crimes against Asians and racist sayings against Asians that span from the mid 1800s to the present day. This is why keeping the memory of internment is important; we have not yet learned our lesson from Executive Order 9066. Haruka also talked about Nakayoshi, a young adult Japanese American organization in Northern California.

Friday I was working with Reiko again. We visited DeBug first, which is an organization that raises awareness about racism or abuse of power against minorities. They have a magazine, a radio station, and t-shirts that they use for advertising, fundraising, and awareness in the community.

After this I got to spend time with Duane Kubo, who also works out of the CATS office from time to time. His background is more in the arts department, and he has been involved with things from newspapers to online videos. He showed me a little around a few of the small businesses that also showcase art, like Cukui and 2Twenty5. Currently, he is working on a J-Town video project that would include all different kinds of videos about various aspects of not only Japantown, but the greater Asian community as well. Being a Public Health major, he brought up Lyme Disease and how it isn't considered a chronic disease by the CDC, even though it causes, well, a chronic disease. We also talked about random other things that affect the community, including how zip code has a big influence on how successful people can be. And this has to do with education, quality of life, neighborhoods, and businesses, to name a few. There seems to be a cycle of poverty at the bottom end of America of generations of people who cannot access the American Dream and are stuck in poverty. How do we fix this?

Finally, on Saturday, I had to work at Nihonmachi Street Fair in SF. I worked at the Nichi Bei with Kenji Taguma and Heather Horiuchi. We sold T-shirts based off of their Soy and Tofu Festival that happens in June. They also had a big tofu mascot, which, thankfully, I did not have to wear.

Well, only one more week to go!