Week 2

(Lina, Kathy and Alex)

We began week 2 on Monday by meeting with Kathy Sakamoto, the Executive Director of the Japantown Business Association. Although Kathy had recently injured her leg, she was always very bright and happy! We cleaned a utility box in Japantown, so that Yurika Chiba, Artistic Staff at San Jose Taiko, would be able to repaint her Taiko Cat Art Box (which was voted as the most eye catching!) Afterwards, we went to the JBA office and learned about the importance of the JBA in San Jose (and also about Kathy’s passion for any and all things related to dancing). Kathy also asked us about the things we were passionate about, and why we decided to pursue this internship. It was interesting to hear about her experiences in San Jose Japantown and her perspective of the community. San Jose’s NCI program is very special because it allows us to meet so many different individuals with unique experiences; these stories broaden our perspective of the Nikkei Community, and deepen our understanding as to how we can continue to be a part of the community in the years to come.

On Tuesday, We started our four day JBA Instagram promotion by taking photos of items inside four Japantown stores: Kogura Company, Banana Crepe, Cukui, and Nikkei Traditions. Every day, we would post photos on Instagram asking which store the items came from, and whoever guessed correctly would win a prize. It was nice to meet a couple of the winners! 

Kathy had suggested that she wanted a JBA mascot, so we decided to help! We brainstormed potential ideas for the mascot, and decided that we wanted a friendly looking cat to represent JBA.  My friend Diana Lin is a student at RISD (Rhode Island School of Design), and she helped us out by drawing the cat. Then, on Wednesday, I used Adobe Illustrator to draw the image on the computer.

(Diana's Drawing)

(Final Product)

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(On very left Jon Osaki)

On Thursday June 23rd we participated in our first intern day in San Francisco hosted by Erika Tamura. We decided to drive up to San Francisco at 8:30 in the morning but unfortunately witnessed traffic and were ultimately 30 minutes late. Had we known President Obama was in San Francisco we would have left earlier. Our day consisted of three guest speakers and their workshops. Our first speaker was Jon Osaki the Executive Director of Japanese Community Youth Council (JCYC). He showed us videos of JCYC and the development of the organization from the start to present day. After we debriefed what we saw and we discussed topics like "what does a Japanese community mean to you". After we had bentos from Nijiya for lunch provided by Erika. Next a worker from the JCYC spoke to us. He was a summer camper as a child in the organization. He did a team building game with us and later taught us about organizing busy schedules and priorities. The next guest speaker showed us a video of the Japanese internment camps through the eyes of Americans meaning, they believed that it was a "summer vacation" or that "they were helping the Japanese". After the video we discussed how we felt. After this speaker was done we drove back to San Jose to conclude our long day.

Kathy reading our Thank You card

On Friday June 24 we met with Ellen for our weekly checkin at Roy's Station. During our check in we discussed with her our thoughts, feelings and take aways from the week. She encouraged us to be ourselves and to not be afraid of sharing our thoughts with her. Our second week of our internship with Kathy and the JBA was fun and adventurous and we cannot wait until our third week with Rich Saito.





-Alex Okamoto and Lina Lalwani

First Week!

(Photo provided by Taylor Kim)

My journey with NCI began with Orientation in Los Angeles, where I met Alex and the interns from San Francisco and Los Angeles. We learned about Little Tokyo and the Nikkei community through workshops, discussions, and a scavenger hunt. One of my favorite parts of orientation was getting the chance to talk to Alan Nishio about the evolution of the Nikkei Community and what it means to be Japanese American in a globalizing world. Overall, I would say that the trip to LA was fantastic; all of the interns were really sweet, and it was great to have the chance to bond with all of them!

When we got back to San Jose, we first met Roy Hirabayashi, who introduced us to the San Jose Japantown. He took us on a walking tour, and later on, we went around again to observe some of the monuments in the area. We had numerous talks about the historical significance of San Jose Japantown and what we as interns can do to preserve Japantown for future years to come. My favorite experience this week was getting to spend time with Roy, PJ, and the artistic staff of San Jose Taiko, one of the pivotal groups in the North American Taiko. At school, I am a member of Brown/RISD’s Gendo Taiko. For me, taiko is more than just drumming; Gendo is my family on campus and has given me a lot support during tough times. I admire San Jose Taiko for their ability to use taiko as a way to celebrate the Japanese American community and strengthen Japantown. On Thursday evening, I saw the group collaborating with various works of art at the San Jose Museum of Art. Indeed, taiko has no creative limitations.

On Friday, I finally got to meet Ellen Kamei, Ryan Kawamoto, and past interns Iszac and Alec. Hearing their experiences with the program last year was really helpful. Although it has only been a week since the start of NCI, I am having a great time! I have already met so many incredible individuals that have made me feel like I am a part of this community. I am confident that this internship is going to be a wonderful experience and am looking forward to what's next!

-Lina Lalwani, 6/19/16

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