International youth reporter Kevin Tain reports live from the 11th annual Sakura-Con, the Northwest's premiere Japanese Animation and Cultural Festival, this weekend from the Washington State Convention and Trade Center.

Today at 3pm, talk to the high school junior live on his online talk radio show.



To listen to Kevin's Sakura Con podcasts, select what you want to hear on the above menu and click the play button.





Friday Photos: Sakura-Con Attendees CosPlay Costumes.





Resources

gia: The Original Weeabitch is LiveBlogging from workshops and the show floor.
Anime Pulse is posting podcasts of workshops and show recaps

Labels: event, Japanese, youth

Labels: Culture, j, Japanese

Kiki Yeung, International Examiner Fashion Reporter, interviews Jay Doughten and Masako Kanazawa, the husband and wife owners of Atsui Tokyo, at the Seattle Int'l Fashion Week 2007 urban showcase.

Labels: Culture, interview, Japanese

Emi Meyer, International Examiner Reporter, talks to Japanese singer-songwriter Chihomi.

English Transcript

Chihomi, could you give us a little self-introduction?

Yes, nice to meet you, my name is Chihomi. I released a single in 2001 and debuted as Chihomi Ishihara. I've now taken off my last name and have been performing as Chihomi for a year. I am a singer-songwriter.

You recently changed the direction of your career— could you explain how?

I started music because I loved singing. As things unfolded, I questioned what music meant to me, and whether I should continue my career in the same direction. At the root of the matter, I realized singing means the most to me, and arrived at the fact I love music. So in many ways, I decided to make things simple again. I am now working alone, of course with the help of many, and trying to return to the origin. I've therefore adjusted the direction of my career and am now a solo artist.

From now, how do you see your future plans?

I'm really pleased with how I'm pursuing music right now. I want to think of the people who are listening and create music that gives them energy and hope. That would make me content, and in order to do that, I need to continue enjoying music myself.

Some words of advice?

What kind of advice?

Like for other musicians?

Believe in the fact that you love music. It's hard to continue what you're doing, but if you keep at it, you will see results.

Labels: Entertainment, ie story, interview, Japanese

During the Second World War, Canada regarded Japanese as a threat to national security.

In January 1942, a "protected" 100-mile wide strip up the Pacific coast was created, and any men of Japanese descent between the ages of 18 and 45 were removed and taken to road camps in the British Columbian interior, to sugar beet projects on the Prairies, or to internment in a POW camp in Ontario. A few men at the McGillivray Falls, just outside the quarantine zone, were employed at a logging operation at Devine, near D'Arcy, British Columbia, while those in the other Lillooet Country found employment with farms, stores, and the railway. Read More

Labels: Culture, Japanese

George Morihiro (left) talks about entering the Puyallup Assembly Center and how "the day you walked through that gate, you know you lost something."

Frank Yamasaki shares memories of the Minidoka incarceration camp.


Mas Watanabe talks about his feelings about going into the Puyallup Assembly Center.

Kara Kondo remembers the day of mass removal to the Portland Assembly Center.

These clips are excerpts from oral history interviews conducted by Densho. To see the complete interviews, visit the Densho Digital Archive.

Labels: Culture, interview, Japanese

This story about Masumi Hayashi first aired March 25, 2004, on "Outlook." It was rebroadcast Dec. 21, 2006, shortly after Congress approved $38 million to presevere WW II internment camps.


Masumi Hayashi exhibit on Japanese internment camps, part 2

Labels: Culture, Japanese

This video was produced by the U.S. Government to explain their decision to forcibly intern thousands of American citizens of Japanese descent.

Labels: Culture, Japanese

Labels: Culture, Japanese

By STEPHANIE FARR
Philly.com
AS A commencement speaker at his high-school graduation in Salinas, Calif., George Ikeda spoke about the importance of civil liberties in the United States.
Three years later, on July 4, 1942 - Independence Day - he became an internment-camp prisoner, taken from his home by the government whose virtues he once extolled.

Ikeda's only crime was his Japanese heritage.

Hirotoshi Nishikawa was 3 when his family was uprooted from their Hollister, Calif., home and taken to an arid desert camp.

He retains few memories of his wretched experience, but the ones that linger are tied to his senses: the heat, the sand, the suicide.

On Feb. 19, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, which authorized the military to remove and imprison anyone who was at least one-eighth Japanese by blood.

It didn't matter that Ikeda and Nishikawa were born American, that citizenship to this country was their birthright. They were ordered to report to assembly centers by April taking only what they could carry.

"We weren't physically removed from our homes; we followed orders," Ikeda said. "There's a typical Japanese term meaning 'It can't be helped.' But you couldn't think of anything sadder than leaving everything behind." Read More

Labels: Culture, Japanese

This video provides a brief introduction to Densho: The Japanese American Legacy Project, describing the work we do in preserving the oral histories of Japanese Americans and informing future generations about the World War II internment experience.

Labels: Culture, Japanese

Kaori Hull chats with her mother, Yoko Hanazono, in front of their restaurant "Hanazono Asian Noodle" on Taylor Street in Port Townsend, WA.

Labels: food, interview, Japanese

Emi Meyer, Singer-Songwriter, talks about her new CD, "Curious Creature." The college junior is the winner of the 2007 Seattle-Kobe Female Jazz Vocalist Competition and will be studing Ethnomusicology this year in Kyoto, Japan. Emi was also KGRL Flower-Powered Artist in May.

Labels: Entertainment, interview, Japanese, youth

Join Chef Ani Phyo to learn a fast easy raw vegan Japanese inspired nori roll recipe using your food processor. The recipe is from her uncookbook "Ani's Raw Food Kitchen" available in all bookstores.

Ani Phyo is executive chef of SmartMonkey Foods, the premier resource for vegan, raw, and living cuisine that’s full of flavor, design, creativity, and fresh local organics.

Ani was raised on a raw food diet, and as she grew older and went away to university, she began eating more of the standard american diet. She gained weight and developed high cholesterol. As an adult, Ani went back to raw foods to discover it gave her mental clarity, more focus, and kept her highly productive. She began offering weekly raw dinners in Los Angeles, long before there were any raw restaurants open, just so she would have gourmet food to feed herself the next several days.

Soon, customers began requesting meals for the week for pick up on Sunday. This launched her prepared and packaged foods line. Ani began as a pastry and vegetarian chef, then became a vegan chef. It was a natural progression for her to become a raw vegan chef offering delicious nutritious foods that are good for us and the planet. - Source: AniPhyo.com

Labels: food, Japanese

Conrado "Manny" Manuel has been creating replicas of 14th century Japanese landscape lanterns for 14 years. He left the Philippines at 23 years-old and joined the US Navy to "see the world."

Labels: art, event, interview, Japanese, vendor

Josh Yiu, Foster Foundation Assistant Curator of Chinese Art at the Seattle Aisian Art Museum, gives Hyun-Jung Jang, a Korean journalism student visiting Seattle to learn English, a tour of the exhibit - "Shu: Reinventing Books in Contemporary Chinese Art" that opened on August 9th and closes December 2, 2007.

"This exhibition examines the impact and notion of the book in the artists' upbringing and in their art. In contrast to traditional artworks that had a foundation in texts, the book—and knowledge by extension—inspires art-making in contemporary China in an almost perverse way, because many book-related artworks parody the purpose and power of the book. Artists created unintelligible books with blurred characters, or books devoid of a logical sequence or narrative, thereby nullifying the authority of the text." - SAM Press Release July 9, 2007

Labels: art, Japanese

Nhien Nguyen, editor International Examiner, interviews Portland-based Jiro Yonezawa, Japanese bamboo artist, at the William Traver Galleryo opening reception August 2.

Jiro's exhibit is called Crossroads that represents a selection of his uniquely expressive woven bamboo and mixed media sculptures. Each piece combines a deep respect for the traditions of Japanese basketry with an American zest for self-expression and innovation.

Yonezawa studied traditional bamboo basketry techniques in Japan before moving to the United States in 1989. He uses imported Japanese mandake bamboo as the primary material in most of his pieces, which is known for its hardness, flexibility, strength and surface quality. He hand-splits each strip, finishing each to the same width and thickness, bevels the edges, and then dyes and lacquers them.

Jiro Yonezawa's Crossroads will be on display at the William Traver Gallery-Seattle through September 2nd, 2007. Gallery Profile

Jiro Yonezawa: Japanese basketry as sculpture at William Traver Gallery

BY CLAIRE EMIKO FANT
Examiner Contributor

Jiro Yonezawa is a soft-spoken Japanese artist who prefers to let his artwork do most of the talking for him. His medium is the art and craft of Japanese bamboo basket weaving, which he brings into the realm of sculptural form. The pieces in his current exhibit, “Crossroads,” at William Traver Gallery in Seattle, are eloquent and graceful. The details reveal Yonezawa’s skill and passion in working with bamboo using time-honored traditional techniques. Read More

Labels: art, ie story, Japanese

Kiki Yeung, International Examiner, interviews Chinese tourists from Beijing at the Pike Place Market in Seattle, WA.

From the founding of the Pike Place Market at the turn of the century until the start of World War II, Japanese American farmers constituted a large segment of the people who delivered and sold produce daily at the market. Through their efforts, the market grew, becoming the best place in Seattle to buy fresh, locally grown produce and farm products. Before World War II, farmers in the market numbered about 600; after the War their numbers dwindled to fewer than 50. The departure of the Japanese American farmers and the onset of the War contributed significantly to the steady decline and near destruction of the market in the early 1970s. - Pike Art Project

Labels: Japanese