As the seasons change, we inevitably turn our thoughts to tasty autumn dishes. Fatty mackerel, crisp tempura, mouthwatering steak and much much more are featured in this autumn roundup of some of our favorite restaurants.
Interviews and articles by Misa Murohashi, Noriko Hantsinger, Ai Isono, Harmony Kelly, Azusa Ueda and Sumiya Kurihara. Translation by Bruce Rutledge
～The autumn menu features everything
from authentic Japanese to Japanese-style Western delights～
Show this article to restaurant staff and get an Nakagawa original eco-bag
*While supplies last
The popular Nakagawa Japanese restaurant in Bothell is offering three special dishes for a limited time this autumn and winter. The first is Mixed Mushroom Keema Curry, which is available on the restaurant’s Saturday lunch menu. This is an autumn version of the already popular curry dishes served here. Along with ground beef and pork, four autumn mushrooms — shiitake, maitake, shimeji and king oyster — are mixed in with abundance.The texture and umami combine to bring out the mild heat of keema curry. A lightly fried egg sits on top. Use the spoon to mix the egg deeply into the curry and it will offset the acidity of the tomatoes. Once you taste it, you won’t be able to stop! This restaurant’s curry rice fans can’t wait to give it a try.
Mixed Mushroom Keema Curry $13.50 Plenty of volume for big appetites. Add a fried shrimp or chicken katsu ($4 each) as a topping
The second new dish is the Seared Mackerel Battera. The mackerel puts on fat from autumn through winter and becomes more and more delicious. Half of a shime saba mackerel is flagrantly roasted in-house. It’s a voluminous dish and surprisingly tender. Subtle use of vinegar brings out the essence of the mackerel. Each bite melts in your mouth, and the umami of the fatty fish lingers. In between the sushi rice are white sesame, pickled ginger, red shiso and green shiso. Subtle flavor comes out from the sliced kelp on the top. Each adds a different taste and texture.
Seared Mackerel Battera $23 This is the season for enjoying the fattiest mackerel. The portions are large and good for sharing
The third new dish is Sweet Potato Sundae. Washington-grown organic Satsuma potatoes are mixed with egg and cream to make a paste that is served atop vanilla ice cream for a fantastic dessert. The aroma of the Satsuma potato and its natural sweetness make for the perfect finish to a meal. The chestnut and powder sugar give the dessert a cute, Japanese feel.
Sweet Potato Sundae $8.25 This dessert is a feast for the eyes and the tastebuds. The cornflakes at the bottom add a crunch. It will remind you of a Japanese parfait
At the sushi counter, the restaurant prepares seasonal favorites flown in from Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo. “I am especially confident about our many offerings of white-meat fish,” says Owner-Chef Shinichi Nakagawa. He prepares the portion and decoration of each plate with an eye for detail. Customers looking for a store that exudes a Japanese spirit need look no further. These three dishes will be served for a limited time, so make a special trip, especially on the weekends. Try them out before they’re gone!
“We’re also offering a Matsutake Menu,” says Chef Nakagawa. Check the restaurants Facebook page and website for more details
As the seasons change, we inevitably turn our thoughts to tasty autumn dishes. Fatty mackerel, crisp tempura, mouthwatering steak and much much more are featured in this autumn roundup of some of our favorite restaurants.
Interviews and articles by Misa Murohashi, Noriko Hantsinger, Ai Isono, Harmony Kelly, Azusa Ueda and Sumiya Kurihara. Translation by Bruce Rutledge
～This extremely spicy ramen is bound to make you sweat!～
Until October 31, tell the restaurant you saw this article in the Post, and you’ll get 10% OFF your bill
This homemade noodle and sushi restaurant in South Lake Union buzzes with Amazon employees on weekdays. This October will be Teinei’s first anniversary. Executive chef of Teinei, Kenichiro Tsushima used to work for a official residence of Consul-General of Japan in Seattle. His new autumn menu features Onikara Ramen. You’ll be blow away when you first see this dish. The deep red soup with tofu and ground pork is reminiscent of the soups at the famous Tokyo restaurant Mouko-Tanmen Nakamoto. The soup and noodles mix well, leaving a sting of spice on the tongue and then doubling up by heating you to your very soul. In any case, it’s spicy but it’s also delicious. The soup is soy-based and served with coarse or finely ground red peppers, lots of ginger and broad bean chili paste.
Onikara Ramen $13.50 It’s a never-to-be-forgotten bowl of noodles with a deep red soup that will get your heart pumping. Our intern Kurihara sweat through the meal, enjoying every bite. Gochiso sama!
“Since we’re making a spicy ramen, we make sure we satisfy fans of spicy food by really making it spicy,” Hall Manager Ryohei Ishibashi says. Of course, this dish is not just spicy. Try it once and it may become habit-inducing. It’s a dangerously addictive dish.
Another item to be sure not to miss is the Shio Ramen, which has been on the menu since the start. Chef Shigeki Kawakubo, who is usually busy making sushi, says that his ramen has been getting better and better. “If you get too obsessed, there won’t be any profit left for us,” Hall Manager Ryohei warns the chef with a smile. The soup is Seattle-friendly, using no pork because of the diverse dietary choices here, and opting for a chicken base instead. The Shio Ramen brings out the soft chicken flavor even more. You’ll want to drink every last drop of the clear soup. Napa cabbage and white leeks bring an elegance on top of the bowl.
Shio Ramen $11 A delicious-looking ramen. The chashu adorns the dish. It’s just $9 at Happy Hour
On the sushi side of the menu, the restaurant introduces the Yellow Submarine this fall. Inside is a cucumber to stimulate your appetite, some crunchy Japanese pickles and scallop sashimi, all wrapped up in yellowtail for a memorable mix. Thinly sliced lime and shiso leaves offer an alluring aroma, and a homemade ponzu sauce using katsuo dashi brings out the flavors beautifully.
Yellow Submarine $15 All the individual ingredients come together in a beautiful and delicious combination
Actually, there is one more item we fell in love with at this restaurant. It’s the spicy sauce, which takes four hours to make. It sits on each table and can be used on ramen, sushi, even white rice! It seems that this sauce is especially popular with the regulars.
The homemade spicy sauce adds a deeply addictive flavor. The spice comes along slowly and has a hint of umami
There is free parking (for up to 15 cars) in the lot off of Pontius Avenue. If you like spicy dishes, don’t miss this restaurant. Happy hour is 5 to 6pm and 8pm untill closing Monday through Friday, and all day on Saturdays and Sundays.
As the seasons change, we inevitably turn our thoughts to tasty autumn dishes. Fatty mackerel, crisp tempura, mouthwatering steak and much much more are featured in this autumn roundup of some of our favorite restaurants.
Interviews and articles by Misa Murohashi, Noriko Hantsinger, Ai Isono, Harmony Kelly, Azusa Ueda and Sumiya Kurihara. Translation by Bruce Rutledge
Owner-Chef Kazuo Ishikawa has more than 25 years of experience cooking in the Seattle area. In July 2017, he started this his own bento shop. “I wanted to have a store that served good Japanese homey meals with a casual and reasonable fast-food concept,” he said.
Take a look at the store’s signature item, the Makunouchi Bento, and you’ll soon understand what Chef Ishikawa is aiming for. It includes a teriyaki chicken thigh made with homemade sauce, grilled wild keta salmon treated with salted rice malt, and a variety of shrimp and vegetable tempura selections. Each could serve as a main course in a restaurant both in quality and portion! His bentos include regulars like kinpira, niimono items and California rolls.
Makunouchi Bento $13.95 This is a great price for the quality and portions of this bento
“I include on my menu only items that I as a Japanese person would enjoy eating,” says Chef Ishikawa. To make sure his bentos are healthy options for children, he uses organic items whenever possible, selects natural ingredients, and includes a lot of vegetables. These bentos are beloved by Japanese moms on the Eastside. “There are a lot of parents who share their bentos with their children,” the chef adds.
Pork Shogayaki Bento $11.95
Other selections that are consistently popular with Japanese customers include the Shogayaki Bento and the Kara-age Bento. They come with the Japanese-style macaroni salad with finely cut ham and vegetables. Chef Kazuo’s bento is something you will find at bento stores in Japan. It is worth visiting them in Issaquah.
Chicken Kara-age Bento $9.95 The kara-age wraps a tasty chicken thigh in a thin layer of corn starch
Warm bentos can be picked up 10-15 minutes after ordering them. Chirashi Bowl takes less than five minutes to prepare and is a good option when you are in a rush. Eight types of fish slices sit upon a bed of sushi rice. This bowl is very reasonably priced. The bentos and the donburi items like chirashi come with miso soup.
Chirashi Bowl $14.95 A luxurious bowl of sliced fish sourced from the same places used by sushi restaurants. Seafood Poke and sushi rolls are also available
The store has started a new catering service. They can cater your company meeting, event or even just a get-together of friends. Contact them for more details.
The store features seasonal menus. A favorite last autumn was the Matsutake Bento ($17.95). It’s expected back this year
As the seasons change, we inevitably turn our thoughts to tasty autumn dishes. Fatty mackerel, crisp tempura, mouthwatering steak and much much more are featured in this autumn roundup of some of our favorite restaurants.
Interviews and articles by Misa Murohashi, Noriko Hantsinger, Ai Isono, Harmony Kelly, Azusa Ueda and Sumiya Kurihara. Translation by Bruce Rutledge
～Comforting, delectable tastes of the izakaya restaurant～
Until October 15, Tell the restaurant you saw this article in the Post, and you’ll get a free 4-piece California roll。
Owner Chef Mitsuo (aka Chef Taka) will celebrate the restaurant’s third anniversary this October. Taka’s parents and grandparents were also cooks, and that lineage is reflected in this izakaya’s excellent menu. He serves sushi, curry, donburi and noodle dishes. In a season when we long for comforting dishes, he is waiting to satisfy your stomach and your soul.
We’d like to especially draw your attention to two seasonal special dishes that will be on the menu until February. First is the Mentaiko Cream Udon. Served on an iron pan, the steamy dish elicits fragrances of katsuo and mentaiko (pollock roe) when brought to your table. The mentaiko stands out amid the white sauce, full of umami from the dashi and the rich cheese flavors. The soft udon noodles drip with the creamy soup and mentaiko as you lift them with your chopsticks. It’s good to the last drop. The green onions on top come in two varieties: fresh and fried. There’s also thinly sliced katsuo and shredded nori seaweed to fill out the flavor profile.
Mentaiko Cream Udon $14.95 The rich taste of hot udon noodles with chunks of mentaiko. It’s offered for a limited time, so go try it while you can
The second dish is Chef Taka’s signature Beef Tataki Roll. Soft, red Angus beef is used to wrap shrimp tempura, cucumbers, carrots, imitation crab and pickled burdock. Toppings include green onions and tobiko. Accent the roll with the combination of sriracha sauce and Japanese teriyaki sauce. With every bite, an array of flavors march forth.
Beef Tataki Roll $14.50 This original roll brings together shrimp tempura and beef tataki in an 8-piece serving
Don’t miss the ramen at Muto. When you order the popular Red Volcano Tonkotsu, you get to choose a spice level from 4 to 10. Start with level 4, as even the lowest level will hit the back of your throat with spiciness on the first bite. The secret is a special Indonesian chili sauce. The slow-cooked tonkotsu soup combines with the spicy ethnic sauce in a happy marriage. So far, there is one customer who got to level 8 before giving up.
Red Volcano Tonkotsu $12.95 Amid the kick of spices, the depth of the tonkotsu emerges. The scattered Korean chili is like fireworks!Homemade chashu and a flavored egg add to any ramen meal. The photo shows Shoyu Ramen ($9.95) with an extra portion of chashu ($2.50)
There is a good selection of sake here. Try the Sake Sampler ($12), which includes tastes of the ginjyo Izumi Judan, the daiginjo Tedorigawa and the junmai Masumi. Drink, eat and enjoy the ambience of a Japanese izakaya.
As the seasons change, we inevitably turn our thoughts to tasty autumn dishes. Fatty mackerel, crisp tempura, mouthwatering steak and much much more are featured in this autumn roundup of some of our favorite restaurants.
Interviews and articles by Misa Murohashi, Noriko Hantsinger, Ai Isono, Harmony Kelly, Azusa Ueda and Sumiya Kurihara. Translation by Bruce Rutledge
～Tastes of seasonal authentic Kaiseki in Bellevue～
Until October 31, tell the restaurant you saw this article in the Post, and you’ll get a free small serving of vanilla, azuki or matcha ice cream
If you want to experience authentic Japanese Kaiseki, try “I Love Aki Gozen” at I Love Sushi on Lake Bellevue. Kitchen Chef Fumio Shimojima and Sushi Chef Jun Takai have collaborated on the limited seasonal lunch set filled with the favorite tastes of autumn in Japan. The lunch set includes small appetizer dishes, sushi, tempura and soba noodle soup. It’s the sort of menu you’d see at an old establishment in Japan with top-notch chefs.
I Love Aki Gozen $25 This lunch menu is available only through November. These kaiseki dishes are made with skill and obsession, satisfying both your stomach and your soul. The peak season for ikura is September-October, which is right now! The ikura is filled with hot umami these days
The small appetizer dishes Chef Shimojima has painstakingly prepared include Dutch-Style Simmered Autumn Eggplant, Simmered Sato Imo (Japanese Taro) & Scallops, Simmered Pacific Saury & Ginger, and Simmered Satsuma Imo Toganooni. “They all take time and attention to make,” the chef says with confidence. The Dutch-style eggplant dish originated in Nagasaki, a city whose harbor was used by colonial Dutch traders. It has a refined taste that just can’t be duplicated at home. Moist Pacific saury is simmered for 10 hours, and even bones are soft. The Toganooni dish, originated in the Kozan temple in Kyoto’s Toganoo area, has delicate sweetness of the Satsuma potato and the freshness of lemon. The dishes are so colorful, it almost seems a shame to eat them. The seasonal tempura featuring eringi and maitake mushrooms and sockeye salmon is surprisingly crunchy and delicious. Sushi items include Oshi sushi (pressed sushi) with fatty mackerel from Hachinohe Japan, and small rice bowls with king salmon, uni and ikura. “This is the season for ikura,” says Chef Takai. “Through the end of the year they are at their most delicious.”
Chef Takai (right) has more than 20 years of experience as a sushi chef and joined I Love Sushi last year after working at Shiro’s for five years. Chef Shimojima (left) has lots of experience in established restaurants in Japan
Chef Shimojima and Chef Takai also offer an Omakase course full of seasonal offerings ($75+ per person). Omakase course needs to be reserved at least three days ahead of time to allow time for preparation. Whenever possible, the restaurant has in stock autumn seafood favorites such as mackerel, sardines, Pacific saury and the cutlass fish. You can enjoy a leisurely kaiseki meal at the table, or sit at the counter and watch the seasonal fish get prepared right before your eyes. Let yourself luxuriate a little this autumn.
I Love Sushi on the Lake Bellevue
23 Lake Bellevue Dr., Bellevue | (425) 455-9090 |http://ilovesushi.com
Over 135 visitors from Japan were welcomed to Washington State from September 18th to 24th for the 28th Japan-America Grassroots Summit. The Summit was founded in 1991 by the John Manjiro-Whitfield Commemorative Center for International Exchange to honor the friendship between John Manjiro Nakahara and his descendants in Japan and Captain
William Whitfield and his descendants in the United States. The Summit alternates between the United States and Japan every year. Hosted by the Japan-America Society of the State of Washington in association with the Consulate General of Japan in Seattle, city governments, sistercity associations, and Japanese community organizations and leaders, the Summit was held in Seattle for the first time.
The opening ceremony was held on September 19th at Tillicum Village on Blake Island. Lieutenant Washington State Governor Cyrus Habib, Deputy Mayor of Seattle Shefali Ranganathan and descendant of Commodore Perry, Matthew Perry made speeches at the ceremony and expressed their welcome to visitors from Japan.
Photo by Nat Seymour. Scott Whitfield, 6th generation descendant of Captain Whitfield (left) and Tomoyasu Nakahama (middle), son of Kyo Nakahama (right) and 6th generation descendant of John Manjiro exchanged gloves at the opening ceremony
Students from Unebi High School in Nara Prefecture made an English presentation about what they learned about Japanese American history in Seattle. Their skit about Jamie Ford’s novel “Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet” attracted audience’s applause. Two high school students Hiromi Komatsu and Hinako Osaki gave an English speech “Dream of Manjiro in Our Hands” and “Connecting Tracks with Invisible Thread” respectively, with which they won at the John Manjiro Speech Contest held previously in Kochi prefecture.
Participants from Japan visited their homestay towns and stayed with their host families for four days. The closing ceremony was held on September 23rd at Hyatt Regency Lake Washington. Emceed by KING5 News Anchor Lori Matsukawa, the ceremony featured music by School of Taiko, Navy Band Northwest and Seismic Sound. Mayor of the City of Bellevue John Chelminiak and Port of Seattle Commission President Courtney Gregoire appeared on stage. Yasutaka Katayama from Hyogo prefecture government also appeared on stage and expressed his excitement hosting the next year’s Summit.
Born in 1841 as a fisherman’s son, John Manjiro Nakahara was drafted and marooned from Japan under isolation policy when he was 14 years old. Captain Whitfield rescued Manjiro and shared his own home with him. Later, Manjiro’s rare command of English
and salutary experience in America became pivotal to the Japan/ US relationship after Perry’s arrival in 1853. The Nakahama’s 5th generation Kyo Nakahama visited Seattle for the summit. “I hope this summit will encourage younger generations to understand importance of friendship between Japan and the U.S,” said Nakahama. The Nakahama and Whitfield families reunite every year for this summit and continue their historical friendship.
Uwajimaya Seattle Stores | Wednesday October 3rd – Tuesday October 9th
Uwajimaya’s 4th Ehime Fair brings local venders from the prefecture to share with their customers the opportunity to enjoy regional Japanese cuisine. Ehime Prefecture is located on the island of Shikoku, one of the four main islands of Japan. Surrounded by the Seto Inland Sea to the north and Shikoku Mountains to the south, Ehime is blessed with the
best from both land and sea. The climate is warm and mild throughout the year making it the perfect environment for cultivating citrus. Ehime is the largest producer of citrus fruits in Japan and is known as the “Citrus Kingdom”. Uwajimaya’s founder Fujimatsu Moriguchi was from Ehime Prefecture and the store has a special relationship with the prefecture.
At the fair, you will enjoy Ehime’s local taste of citrus products, seafood, seafood snacks, mochi and more. On Saturday October 6th at 2 pm, as part of Ehime Fair, a tuna-filletting event will be held at the Seattle Uwajimaya. They will be cutting a sustainably-raised Blue Fin Tuna cultured from the Uwajima Bay, in Ehime Prefecture. Special sale to follow the tuna cutting performance.
Let’s pick at some of Ehime’s local delicacies that will come to Uwajimaya!
Tamanegi Ten & Tako Ten – steam-fried fish cake
Steam-fried ground fish cake is one of local delicacies inEhime. Try two flavors; one with Awaji-made sweet onion and another with chopped octopus. Enjoy the superior texture of the Ehime style fish cake.
Only carefully selected Japan-made ingredients are used, making it possible to enjoy the tastes of an authentic Japanese restaurant in your home. This dashi package contains soysauce powder and requires no extra seasoning to deliver a consummate taste. Use for variety of cooking.
This ready-to-eat sweet is made from the skins of yuzu, iyokan, kawachi bankan and other representative Japanese citrus fruits. No flavoring or preservatives are used to create the rich aroma. It provides a new kind of texture that is different from gummies and chewing gum. Enjoy the citrusy aroma and the sweet and sour taste.
Hakata no Shio is natural sea salt that doesn’t use any chemicals or additives. Salts that include ocean minerals bring out the flavor of the food. Select from three types; the moist
type Hakata no Shio coarse salt, the smoother Hakata no Shio roasted salt, and the flakier Fleur de Sel.
The company’s original recipe enables the concentration of the umami and aroma of bonito in this product. The taste is richer than your typical bonito shavings, making them a delicious topping on tofu, salad or takoyaki. They also have been shaved in a way that gives them a soft texture.
Pearls from Uwajima City*Uwajimaya Bellevue Store Only
Japan’s leader in pearl production is Uwajima City in Ehime Prefecture. The irregular-shaped coastline surrounds a gentle bay rich in nutrients where the akoya pearl oyster creates a thick nacreous layer. The pearls of Uwajima are especially dazzling because of the region’s four distinct seasons and the change in ocean water temperature. Check out the highquality pearls raised in Uwajima’s pearl farms. And don’t miss the well-respected Doi Pearl brand Ubudama.
Tuna Filleting Show
The Tuna cutting event is a popular attraction at sushi restaurants in Japan. Experience the melt in-yourmouth sensation from super fresh Blue Fin Tuna! Saturday October 6th at 2 pm
Meet Mikyan! Come meet Mikyan, which is Ehime’s official prefecture character. Friday October 5th at Noon, Saturday October 6th at 1 pm & 4pm and Sunday October 7th 1 pm & 4pm
by Allen Nakamoto, Seattle Nisei Veterans Committee
Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in the NVC September 2018 newsletter.
At the NVC Hall on September 9th, over 200 people attended the NVC hosted joint luncheon to honor active duty personnel from the 7th Division of the Joint Base Lewis McChord and the Japanese Ground Self Defense Force. The 7th Division was headed by Major General Bill Burleson and the Command Sergeant Major Stephen Helson. The JGSDF Colonel Yoshinori Machinaka brought about 50 Japanese active duty personnel who are training at the Yakima Firing Range for the Rising Thunder Exercise. All active duty
personnel were warmly received by the NVC Commander Walter Tanimoto. Other dignitaries present were Rear Admiral James Kelly, retired, who represented John Manjiro-Whitfield Commemorative Center for International Exchange, Mr. Peter Kelly who is the President of the National Association of Japan America Societies, Japan Seattle Consul General Yoichiro Yamada, US Congressman Adam Smith, Chelsea Clayton, representing Congresswoman Patty Murray, Washington Senator Bob Hasegawa, and Japanese Business Association and Nisei veterans.
As always, many NVC volunteers enabled this event to fruition. Countless numbers of
NVC folks work the NVC Magic that makes the event move smoothly and with vitality. Volunteers included Susan Uyeji, Louise Kashino, Gregg and Miki Takamura, Keith and Mary Ann Yamaguchi, Dale and Shizu Kaku, Kerry Taniguchi, Chris Sketchley, Shawn Brinsfield, Frank Shinoda, Princess Hall, Alan and Mari Wilson, Ren Watanabe, Lisa and Pat Kunihiro and others.
The success of this year’s joint luncheon was in large part due to Sasakawa Peace Foundation, USA that provided funding for the lunch and administrative costs. Japan
US Military Program or JUMP is also a collaborative efforts of Sasakawa Peace Foundation USA, the Embassy of Japan and the National Association of Japan-America Societies. The Japan America Society of Washington’s assistance was greatly appreciated.
The lunch consisted of Japanese dishes and Terry Takeuchi’s favorite lineups. Those active duty personnel were appreciative of the NVC lunch as during their training at the Yakima grounds, they are served MRE, Meals Ready to Eat. After servings of celebratory cakes for dessert, the Joint Luncheon program began.
Going for Honor, Going for Broke DVD was shown to the audience. After the DVD, Nisei veterans in the audience were honored and recognized. They were: Mickey Hiroo, Tosh Tokunaga, Tak Akiyama, Shig Tanagi, Sat Ichikawa, and Kim Muramoto. Shig served in the 7th Division that Major General Burleson is currently commanding.
After recognizing Nisei vets, we were treated with the Okinawa Taiko and the Lion Dance. For the finale, the audience joined in the celebratory Okinawa dance.
We were very grateful for the participation of many community members to honor US and Japanese active duty personnel. For this year’s sixth annual event, VIPs and NVC members helped to share and educate the Japanese American Experience with many people who had no idea about the Japanese incarceration and the 442nd /MIS accomplishments. This event also opened up acknowledgment and contribution of Japanese American patriots who served in the military since World War II. When today’s Army personnel and the NVC veterans speak, the conversation is timeless as we all shared similar experiences. The NVC has always served the unique comradery of veterans at the hall, as advocated in the Preamble of NVC Constitution.
Press Release By Asian and Pacific Islander (API) community organizations
On October 11, 2018, a coalition of Asian and Pacific Islander (API) community organizations will host the 6th annual API Candidates and Issues Forum. The forum will start at 6 p.m. with light dinner served starting at 5:30 PM at Asian Counseling and Referral Service at 3639 MLK Jr. Way South.
Established in 2012, the API Candidates and Issues Forum’s goal is to “provide an educational, nonpartisan forum for API civic engagement where electoral candidates and initiatives are treated fairly and provided with equal time to respond to questions on issues that are important to our API communities.” Initiatives and electoral races are considered for the forum when they affect API communities.
At this time, one initiative and two electoral races are confirmed for the API Candidates Forum:
Initiative 1631 – The Protect Washington Act.
Also known as the Carbon Emissions Fee and Revenue Allocation Initiative, the Voter’s Guide states “[t]his measure would charge pollution fees on sources of greenhouse gas pollutants and use the revenue to reduce pollution, promote clean energy, and address climate impacts, under oversight of a public board.”
Examples of highly affected API communities include Chinatown ID with the worst air quality in Seattle, and Beacon Hill with challenging air and noise pollution health impacts from roads and airplanes.
US Congressional Race District 7: Rep. Adam Smith v Sarah Smith. District 7 covers Puget Sound Region, Tacoma and Bellevue.
WA State Senate Race District 37: Sen. Rebecca Saldana v Beth Broadway. District 37 covers Beacon Hill, Central District, Rainier Valley, Columbia City, Rainier Beach and Renton.
For nonpartisan information on the 2018 candidates and issues, please refer to the official King County Voter’s Pamphlet, which will be mailed out on October 16. For more information, please refer to the King County Elections website: https://www.kingcounty.gov/depts/elections/how-to-vote/voters-pamphlet.aspx
We ask that community members make sure to mail in their ballots by November 6 or drop them off at their nearest ballot box. Locations of drop boxes are listed at https://www.kingcounty.gov/depts/elections/how-to-vote/ballots/returning-my-ballot/ballot-drop-boxes.aspx
2018 API Candidates Forum Community Partners: Asian Counseling and Referral Service (ACRS), Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA), Asian Pacific Directors Coalition (APDC), Asian Pacific Islander Americans for Civil Empowerment (APACE), APACEvotes, API Coalition Advocating Together for Health Communities (APICAT), Chinese American Citizens Alliance (CACA) – Seattle Lodge, International Community Health Services (ICHS), InterIm Community Development Association (InterIm CDA), Seattle Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) and Seattle Chinatown-International District Preservation & Development Authority. Media Partners: Filipino American Bulletin, FILAM Herald, International Examiner (IE), Northwest Asian Weekly (NWAW), and Seattle Chinese Post. Business Partners: Hact Construction and Rolluda Architects.
Press Release Contact: Co-Chair Maria Batayola; 206.293.2951; mbjumpstart@msn.com
Co-Chair/ACRS Civic Engagement Program Manager Joseph Lachman; 206.774.2436; JosephL@acrs.org
Out of all the things I love about growing up in a multicultural family, storytelling is an easy pick on the list.
My parents’ approach to the task— whether it was for the inevitable cry of “I’m bored!” on a long road trip, or to fill a dull moment during yet another commercial break—brought forth a never-ending stream of tall tales, folk stories, and childhood memories from
my Greek father and Japanese mother.
My dad was a master of bedtime stories, and had a way of conjuring up the goofiest, liveliest tales on the the fly. One of his favorite original characters was Boba Bill—an unlucky guy who drank so much bubble tea that his teeth turned into tapioca! With stories like that, my sister and I were frequently up giggling past our bedtime.
He could easily keep the attention of us two kiddos with his animated, engaging stories, but my mom’s storytelling abilities possessed powers of a different kind. Whenever I burned with a fever, I knew that I would soon experience the comfort of her gentle, rolling voice as she recalled smalltown family hijinks and adventures from her childhood in 1960s’ Akita.
That same voice, though, also could keep me up at night with her chilling retellings of Japanese ghost stories. Two terrifying favorites of mine were the tales of Oiwa, who found supernatural vengeance after being poisoned by her husband, and Yuki-Onna, the Snow
Woman.
I always felt close to my Japanese heritage, and closer to my mother, when she shared her memories with me. Her stories were not a reminder of what I couldn’t experience as a nisei, but a record of love and ancestral resilience that reminded me of who I was, where I came from, and what it meant to be Japanese—what it meant to be me.
I waited for the day when I would have my own stories to tell. And when it came, I found that with certain pieces, I could hear my father’s voice… in others, I hear my mother’s.
Friends of Minidoka, Inc. announces a Fall Friendraiser to be held October 17th from 6:30-8:30pm at the Magic Valley Arts Council, 195 River Vista Pl., in Twin Falls. Friends of Minidoka invites the business community, educators, and neighbors in southern Idaho to join them for a poignant evening program to learn about the history of Minidoka National Historic Site and hear exciting updates about the park.
Friends of Minidoka was established in 2003 as a 501(c)3 nonprofit partner of Minidoka National Historic Site. As the philanthropic partner of the National Park Service at this site, they engage in and support education, research, and historic preservation related to the incarceration of Japanese Americans during WWII, especially as it relates to Minidoka National Historic Site.
From October 1942 to August 1945, Minidoka housed over 13,000 incarcerees of Japanese descent, originally from Washington, Oregon, Alaska, and California. Officially designated the Minidoka War Relocation Center, Minidoka was locally known as Hunt Camp. Located 15 miles north of Twin Falls in Jerome County, Minidoka National Historic Site has become a significant contributor to the Magic Valley’s tourist economy. Attracting several hundred people to the area each year, attendance is expected to continue its steady rise with the development of a permanent visitor center in spring of 2019.
Along with an introduction to the incarceration experience at Minidoka, there will be a screening of short videos by incarcerees and their descendants on how this experience has impacted their lives; updates from Friends of Minidoka and the National Park Service; and information regarding the impact of the park’s operations on the economy of Southern Idaho. The evening will include a no-host bar and catered social hour with Friends of Minidoka board members, NPS staff, and presenters.
This program will provide the community with the opportunity to better understand the significance of the incarceration experience and the sustained impact that the development of Minidoka National Historic Site will continue to have in southern Idaho.
For more information or to sponsor this event, please contact Mia Russell at mia@minidoka.org or (208) 863-0076.
Seattle locals know that Kubota Garden is a public garden tucked away in a quiet part of South Seattle that exhibits both Japanese and Western design influences. With colder weather approaching, the vibrant colors of fall leaves will soon be visiting Kubota Garden, but Kubota Garden Foundation Board President Joy Okazaki wants the community to know that there’s more to the Garden and its history than what’s posted on its website.
Unlike the majority of Japanese gardens in North America, Kubota Garden is the brainchild of artist Fujitaro Kubota, an early Japanese immigrant who was not formally trained in Japanese garden design but ran a successful landscaping business in Seattle for decades. It was Fujitaro’s home as well as his business, and he developed the garden as a community gathering place in addition to a showcase for the business.
During the 1970s, the Kubota family looked to sell the property, but developers were constrained by the designation of the Garden’s core as a City Landmark. The local community eventually convinced the City of Seattle to purchase the property. Kubota Garden is one of the only examples of a garden where a Japanese immigrant lived and worked on the property, designing it himself before it was designated as a public space. Kubota also designed Japanese gardens on the Seattle University campus and the Bloedel Reserve on Bainbridge Island.
Fujitaro Kubota in the garden, 1962, Courtesy of Kubota Garden Foundation, Densho
Today, the City is responsible for the Garden’s maintenance, but the Foundation is instrumental in garnering financial and volunteer support. The Foundation organizes free tours, events and capital projects such as the recently completed ishigaki “castle” style stone wall at the Terrace Overlook which brought in master masons from Japan. The Foundation also organizes the Spring/Fall Plant Sale fundraisers and annual events. This
year marked the first soapstone carving workshop for youth and a Japanese Iris exhibit. But performances also happen at the garden every summer. Ms. Okazaki says that the Garden is looking to make even more improvements to the garden as well as continue to expand its event offerings over the coming years.
The Foundation also houses a large photo archive, all 2,124 of which are now publicly available on the Densho Digital Repository at Densho.org. The digital archive showcases
photographs from the establishment of the Garden under Fujitaro’s ownership to people enjoying the garden today. The completion of the digitization project was announced at the Foundation’s annual meeting on September 22nd.
Whether enjoying the bright florals of spring or vibrant reds of fall, Kubota Garden is an “urban wilderness” compared to the typical image of a carefully curated Japanese garden. But according to visitors from Japan, the garden still feels very Japanese because it resembles a more deliberate and large scale version of a Japanese household backyard. Fujitaro was famous for his unique fusion style that took advantage of the native
landscape, even creating gardens in the confined desolation of the Minidoka War Relocation Center during World War II. Today, the Japanese American garden is a popular space for people of all cultures and backgrounds. On any given weekend, you might stumble upon a quinceañera, an Indian wedding party, or teenagers doing photo shoots amongst the garden’s natural beauty.
Though Kubota Garden is owned by the City of Seattle as a park space, the partnership with the Kubota Garden Foundation ensures its operations, preservation and growth as a Seattle destination. The Foundation is supported mainly through grants and public donations. Visitors can find out more about this Seattle landmark and how to get involved at kubotagarden.org or on the Kubota Garden Facebook page.
In 1990, a young Paul Atkins fresh out of Stanford University decided that after graduation, he would travel to Kyoto and experience Gion Matsuri, the world’s oldest urban festival. That experience changed his life in profound ways. Professor Atkins is now chair of the Department of Asian Languages and Literature at the University of Washington, where he has been teaching since 2002.
Later this month, Atkins is offering a free lecture in conjunction with Washin Kai, a UW volunteer group (more information at: https://washinkai.info). The lecture, titled “Friend from a World Unseen: Fujiwara no Teika and Medieval Japanese Poetry,” is open to the public. It will be held in room 210 of UW’s Kane Hall from 7pm.
We sat down with Professor Atkins to hear how the Gion Matsuri changed his life and to begin to understand the influence of Fujiwara no Teika. Excerpts from our conversation follow.
“I didn’t know any Japanese. But I knew that Kyoto was the cultural capital of Japan, and I timed my arrival so that I could see Gion Matsuri. ”
When did you become interested in Japanese literature?
I grew up in Brooklyn, New York, and I had very little contact with Japanese culture. I grew up in the world of Saturday Night Fever, Dog Day Afternoon. That was my life. I went to Stanford to attend college. I wanted to be a writer and became an English major with a creative writing emphasis in both fiction and poetry. I studied with Denise Levertov, who was a wonderful Seattle poet. In my junior and senior years, I discovered East Asia through Taoism, through Zen, and also through the writings of the Beat Generation. They
were very interested in Eastern culture. I wanted to be Gary Snyder!
I just decided after I graduated that I was going to go to Kyoto. I had taken only one course on traditional Japanese culture. I didn’t know any Japanese. But I knew that Kyoto was the cultural capital of Japan, and I timed my arrival so that I could see Gion Matsuri. I graduated in the middle of June, and by early July, I was there. I wasn’t on the JET program, I didn’t know any Japanese. I wasn’t coordinated enough for that. I made up this plan too late. I found jobs teaching English conversation. I found a homestay with a
Japanese family. I enrolled in the Kyoto YMCA because I needed a visa and needed to learn Japanese, then I met the woman who became my wife. And this all happened within two weeks.
The bookcase in Professor Atkin’s office is lined with Japanese classics
Wow. How long did you stay?
I stayed in Japan for two years, and when I left, I decided that since I came in with Gion Matsuri, I want to go out with Gion Matsuri. One of my homestay students was a well-connected Kyoto person and I was offered the chance to actually pull the Naginata Hoko, which is the most prestigious of the carts. I’m glad I did it because you have to be under 40 years old to do that.
I was auditing classes at the Stanford Japan Center, and a very kind Kyoto lady took me to the Noh theater. She asked me what I was interested in and I said poetry. She asked what sort of poets, and I said, Ezra Pound. She said, I have something I want to show you. Pound was a huge booster of the Noh drama.
I would go to the Noh theater and have an English translation. The plots of the Noh plays are very simple. You can figure out who the priest is and who the lady is and who the ghost is. I would follow along and watch the action on the stage, listen to the music, and I thought, I would really like to know what they are saying. I’d like to know the original. So I went back to Stanford, this time to study classical Japanese. I wrote my master’s thesis on waka poetry. Then I went back to Japan for dissertation research at the University of Tokyo and completed a dissertation on Noh drama, then finished my PhD.
Which leads us to the topic of your lecture. Who is Fujiwara no Teika?
Fujiwara no Teika (1162-1241) is kind of like the T.S. Eliot of Japan. Everybody has heard his name, he is really important, but sometimes it’s hard to put your finger on why he is so influential. With Eliot, we can say, well he wrote “The Wasteland” and that encapsulated what people were feeling after World War I. With Teika, we have these waka poems, and it’s really asking a lot of one waka poem to stand in for his entire work. Like Eliot, he was not just a poet, he was a critic, he was a judge of poets, he was an editor. He’s not known just for his own poetry like his friend Saigyo Hoshi (1118-1190), but for being behind the scenes.
I think many of the North American Post readers will be familiar with Hyakunin Isshu – it’s 100 poems by 100 poets, and people would memorize the poems and play this memorization game. It’s a big deal and I think it’s inspired a manga and anime series as well. Teika is regarded as the editor, the selector, the compiler of that series. And he’s been regarded as the editor of it for the past 600 years. I’ve come to think that he is not actually the compiler, which a lot of people will find shocking. But it doesn’t detract from his legacy because I think people wanted to pick someone famous, and they picked him.
I think the people who compiled it were his descendants. If you read the poems in Hyakkunin Isshu, they’re pretty simple and easy to understand and memorize. This is not the style of poetry that Teika was known for. The style of poetry he was known for was called Daruma Uta, Bodhidharma poems. Bodhidharma is the founder of the school that became the Zen school. Around Teika’s time, Zen was just starting out in Japan. It was regarded as an almost heretical form of Buddhism. It was associated with nonsense. Zen relies very heavily on paradoxes, short-circuit logic and long periods of meditation to lead people to a higher truth. But for establishment Buddhists at the time, Zen was just gibberish. Teika wrote these complex, difficult to understand poems, and when people wanted to criticize him, they said, that’s just nonsense, that’s gibberish, that’s Bodhidharma poetry, that’s Zen poetry. Today Zen poetry would be a compliment, but to these people, it was not a compliment at all.
That brings us to the question of what Teika was doing in his poems. People will have to come to my lecture so that I can show them, but a short answer for your educated readers would be: Think of a haiku and how much a haiku demands of the reader because it is so brief. And not only is it brief, but the haiku was not invented in a vacuum. It’s actually the beginning of a sequence that a group of people would compose. After the initial poem of 5-7-5 syllables, there would be another person composing a second verse
of 7 and 7 syllables. That would make a waka or tanka poem. And then the next person would ignore the first verse and, based on the second verse, compose a third verse. That’s called renga poetry, linked verse. People would compose poems together in groups. Haiku is just the lead-off verse in that entire sequence. It could have been 36, it could have been 100, it could have been 10,000 links. That’s why a haiku has so much negative space in it. It needs to leave something out for the next person and it gives you tremendous compactness, concision and power.
Atkins’ book on Fujiwara no Teika was published last year by University of Hawai’I Press
Teika’s poetry was highly allusive, so with 5 or 7 syllables he could summon a famous poem from the early period of the Kokinshu (which is an early anthology of waka published in 10th century), for example, and that would be doing a lot of his work. Or he would demand that readers imagine a scenario, a scene. You really have to work hard. Some people didn’t want to work all that hard. They were trying to sell a simpler style and would call his writing gibberish. He would say, this isn’t gibberish, this is esoteric Buddhism. He uses that phrase in his writing. For people who were initiated, people who know how to read it, it makes sense. Those who know don’t say; those who say, don’t know.
In his age, the stuff we venerate now as the Classics was contemporary Japanese literature. It was cutting edge, it was the vanguard, it was avantgarde literature. It looks familiar to us now, but it looked very unfamiliar to the people at the time. He was a co-compiler of the New Kokinshu (the Shin Kokinshu). That was one of his big achievements.
There was a diary left behind, right?
Teika left a diary called Meigetsuki, Chronicle of the Brilliant Moon. But he never called it that. He called it “my foolish diary.” He kept this diary for at least 55 years, really faithfully. Unfortunately, we only have about a third of it that’s extant. There are a fair number of courtiers’ diaries from that period. What makes Teika’s special is he tells you about his feelings. He doesn’t just list who was there at the ceremony and what they were wearing and who got what sort of fiefdom, but he’ll sit down and reflect. Like the night before he turned 70 years old, he reflects on how rare it is to be able to turn 70. People celebrated their birthdays on New Year’s Day. So on New Year’s Eve, he is reflecting on turning 70, how rare it is, how few people in his ancestral line have made it to 70. He was enormously conscious of rank and office, so he’s also tracking not just who made it to 70 in his father’s family, but what ranks they achieved. He’d done very well for himself. He spent his whole life complaining about being sick, but he lived to the age of 80. He had a house in Saga and often went there to take medicinal baths, but he lived a long time and outlived his rivals. People say he was a grumpy person, but I’m not sure where they get that from. Perhaps he was honest, and others were more decorous in their writings.
Another way we feel we know him is his handwriting, his calligraphy, which is really quite distinctive. His handwriting is fairly easy to read, but it’s not pretty. It doesn’t have the wiry tautness of his father’s handwriting, for example, or the classical courtier handwriting style. He developed it because he needed it to be easy to read. He ran a scriptorium at his house. He was obsessed with writing, not just writing his diary, not just writing his poems,
copying out ancient texts, editing them. That’s one of the reasons we have a lot of scraps of his handwriting. He wanted something that would be easy to read that would be accurate. There were no computers, there were no typewriters, there were no Xerox machines. If you wanted a copy of a book, you had to borrow it from somebody, you had to get a lot of paper and ink, you had to get some free time – either yours or someone else’s – you needed to get a brush, and you needed to just write, to copy it yourself. With age, his handwriting was not pretty to look at, but it has this patina, this aura of authenticity. He would say that his handwriting was like the devil’s handwriting. But he was proud of the fact that it was easy to read and accurate.
That’s why we know him, one for his diary and the other for his calligraphy. We feel attached to him. It’s the calligraphy of someone who had it and is slipping, and I think there is tremendous pathos in that.
So he would write out the complete texts of classics like The Tale of Genji?
He writes in his diary about The Tale of Genji. His copy was stolen when he was a young man. He went 20 years without it, which is very unusual because during that time he was writing poems that alluded to The Tale of Genji. Later in life, there is a section of his diary where he says he gets the ladies in waiting in his household together and – it’s 54 chapters and 1,200 pages in English translation – and he mobilizes them. They finish The Tale of Genji. The editions that we use now are editions that he edited. There were multiple versions, and you need somebody who is really intelligent, competent and confident to say this is right and this is wrong.
To hear more about Fujiwara no Teika, go to room 210 in Kane Hall on UW campus on 10/25 at 7pm for the lecture. It is free and open to the public. No prior registration is needed.
“What makes Teika’s special is he tells you about his feelings.”
Professor Paul Atkins is the chair of the Department of Asian Languages & Literature at the University of Washington. His fields of interest include classical and premodern Japanese language and literature, premodern Asian studies, drama, poetry and poetics, and translation and interpretation. Last year, he published Teika: The Life and Works of a Medieval Japanese Poet with the University of Hawaii Press. Atkins received his bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees from Stanford University.
University of Washington Department of Asian Languages & Literature offers instruction in the principal languages and literatures of Asia, including East, Southeast, Central, and South Asia. Emphasis is placed on the roles of these languages within the cultures they serve as well as on linguistic, textual, and literary analysis. The department offers undergraduate degrees in Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and South Asian languages and literature, and graduate degree programs in Chinese,
Japanese, Korean, South Asian, and Buddhist Studies. Washin Kai, also known as Friends of Classical Japanese at UW, was formed in spring 2018 to preserve and strengthen classical Japanese studies at the University of Washington. The all-volunteer group includes people from the Puget Sound area with strong ties to the university and Japan. The group aims to create a permanent fund at the university dedicated to supporting the study of classical Japanese language, literature, and culture.
Japanese American National Museum, retrieved from the organization’s press release
The Japanese American National Museum will travel its pop-up display of the Allen Hendershott Eaton Collection, which was saved from the auction block in 2015 through the efforts of Japanese American community leaders and activists, to NVC Hall in Seattle.
The display will be free and open to the public on November 24 and 25, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
While conducting research for a book about arts and crafts objects created by Japanese Americans during World War II, author Allen Hendershott Eaton amassed a significant collection of such camp artifacts. After many years of being in storage and forgotten, the
collection was inherited by a family friend of Eaton’s, who in April 2015 decided to put the artifacts up for auction. Japanese American activists and community leaders rallied successfully to stop the sale and ultimately, the collection was transferred to JANM.
Titled Contested Histories: Art and Artifacts from the Allen Hendershott Eaton Collection, the display includes physical or digital representation of every item in the collection—more than 400 individual photographs, sculptures, paintings and watercolors, jewelry items, vases, beads, nameplates, and other handmade items from the WWII incarceration camps that Japanese Americans were forced to endure.
In addition to providing the opportunity to see a collection that inspired strong emotions and decisive actions within the Japanese American community, Contested Histories is
intended to help gather information about each individual object so that the museum’s efforts to preserve and catalog the collection can be as complete as possible. Camp survivors and their family members and friends will be encouraged to share with JANM
information they know or remember about the objects, including who is depicted in the many photographs, most of which were shot by photographers working for the War Relocation Authority.
Chair constructed by Yorozu Homma while incarcerated at Heart Mountain concentration camp in Wyoming during World War II. Japanese American National Museum Allen Hendershott Eaton Collection (2015.100.57)
Support for the conservation and display of the Eaton Collection was provided by the National Park Service’s Japanese American Confinement Sites Grant Program. Additional support was provided by George and Brad Takei, the Earle K. and Katherine F. (Muto) Moore Foundation, and Richard Sakai.
by Nina Wallace, Chinatown International District Coalition
Seattle’s Chinatown-International District is unique in a lot of ways. It’s the only place in the country where Japanese, Chinese, Filipino, and Vietnamese immigrants and Black and
Native neighbors settled alongside each other to create one vibrant, multi-ethnic community. It’s also the neighborhood where residents, businesses and cultural organizations face the highest risk of displacement within the city. Hotel Concepts’ plans to construct a 16-story luxury hotel at 8th and Lane adds to that threat.
At a recent meeting with the International Special Review District board—which approves design projects based on whether they uphold the cultural, economic and historical
qualities of the CID—some community members voiced support for the development, saying they hoped it would increase public safety, help local businesses thrive, and revitalize the neighborhood. I share their concerns.
As someone who lives and works here, I witness every day the crisis of our unhoused neighbors forced to sleep outside, the mom-and-pop shops priced out of business after generations of serving the community.
I too want a safe, thriving, familyfriendly CID, a place where Jiichans and Pau Paus can access the services they need and young people can connect with our history and culture. The proposed SpringHill Suites Marriott Hotel will deliver the exact opposite.
Hotel Concepts has failed, repeatedly, to demonstrate any good-faith commitment to the current health and future prosperity of the CID. Despite overwhelming opposition to the
massive scale of the project—the hotel, if built, would tower more than 12 stories over every other building in the neighborhood—the developers recently added another two stories to their original proposal. Requests to explain why the hotel’s street traffic would be directed to the pedestrian-heavy South Lane turnaround, vital to the daily use of
hundreds of seniors and children as well as emergency service providers, rather than the much safer alternative on 8th Street have been met with a stone wall.
Even more troubling, representatives for Hotel Concepts have repeatedly dismissed valid concerns about how a luxury development inaccessible to the vast majority of the CID’s
current residents would exacerbate the displacement of low-income elders and families. U.S. Census data shows the median household income in the CID is less than $25,000, compared to more than $75,000 citywide, and 40% of area residents, many of whom are immigrant elders, live below the federal poverty line. There is a dire need for affordable
housing in the CID, yet the design team continues to evade questions as to whether any of the 103 planned apartments will be low-income units, if the jobs created by the hotel will pay a living wage, and if the commercial and communal space on the ground floor will be made available to existing businesses and cultural organizations.
The design team’s limited public outreach efforts have consistently excluded community members with dissenting opinions. A recent survey distributed to a targeted audience of just 186 CID residents and business owners dishonestly claimed to represent over 2,200 in favor of the hotel. But dozens of people who packed last month’s ISRD meeting had never even heard of the survey. How can we trust Hotel Concepts’ vague promises to “improve” the CID when they refuse to engage with our community in any meaningful
way?
I am all for development that benefits the people of the CID. But what we are witnessing in Seattle is the beginning of a story already playing out in shrinking Chinatowns and Nihonmachis across the country. Developers with deep pockets and few ties to the local community buy up property in historic cultural districts by outbidding nonprofits that would have used the land to provide healthcare, housing and other vital services. (As
was the case with this hotel, ICHS and SCIDpda tried to purchase it to build an aging-in-place facility for API elders.)
Promises are made that wealth brought in by luxury condos, upscale shops, and chain restaurants will trickle down to the rest of the community. Instead, longtime residents and businesses are pushed out by skyrocketing rents and an onslaught of “redevelopment.” A recent study by the National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development revealed that over 350 low-income API families were already displaced from the CID
between 2007 and 2014. Those numbers will continue to climb unless we invest in affordable, community-oriented development.
Nina Wallace is a yonsei writer and Communications Coordinator at Densho, a local nonprofit that preserves and shares stories of Japanese American WWII incarceration in order to inspire action for equity today. She is a member of the CID Coalition, dedicated to preventing displacement and protecting the integrity and vitality of the CID as an inter generational, multicultural, and self-sustaining community. Made up of community members who live, work, and have deep cultural and familial ties to the Chinatown-International District, the CID Coalition can be reached at cidnohotel@gmail.com or on Facebook at Humbows Not Hotels.
Nationally-known equity and multicultural educator and writer, Bettie Luke will be the featured speaker at the October 20th, Omoide (Memories) program. A member of the noted Seattle family, Ms. Luke will discuss how the early Chinese and Japanese immigrants shaped today’s International District.
Ms. Luke is best known for her role in over 35 years of equity and multicultural training in educational, community and business sectors. She is a National Education Association
certified trainer on minority leadership.
Since her return to Seattle about seven years ago, Ms. Luke has been an active participant and leader in numerous community events. Among them are the Wing Luke Asian Museum (named after her brother), the Ethnic Heritage Council, Seattle Seafair
Pow Wow, Jade Community Chinese Women’s Club and the Northwest African American museum.
Ms. Luke is also a member of the Omoide (Memories) writing group sponsored by the Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Washington (JCCCW). The public is invited to hear Ms. Luke at the Saturday, October 20th, Omoide program, 1 pm- 2:15 pm, at the
JCCCW building, 1414 South Weller Street. The event is free.
THIS SUMMER, I was pleased to meet two interesting artists. One was a well-dressed, elderly lady who was quietly sitting by herself at a wedding I had the pleasure of attending.
When I introduced myself, she said,
‘I know your parents. My name is Amy Nikaitani.’
Amy Nikaitani. Photo by David Yamaguchi
At once, I recognized her name as that of the local Nisei artist whose pen and ink sketches I have admired for years. For example, I knew that gifts featuring her work are for sale in the gift shop of the Wing Luke Museum.
“Are you still making art?,” I asked. Mrs. Nikaitani replied that these days she is doing nudes. Twice a month she attends a downtown studio to draw models there.
A shoulder bag with the same image. Photo by David Yamaguchi
A second, up-and-coming artist is Stacia Burrington, who was holding down a booth at the Redmond Arts Festival. Her cute neko [cat] pictures are also on sale at Wing Luke.
Stacia Burrington. Photos: David Yamaguchi
Stacia, who grew up viewing anime, focused on wabisabi— the Japanese concept of imperfect, ephemeral beauty—in art school. It is interesting how ‘Japanese’ Stacia’s art is, for a young person who has yet to travel to Japan.
As well as being a full time solo jazz pianist, I also have been the self-employed band leader for countless musical configurations spanning many decades. A typical June or July calendar may have a dozen or more ensemble engagements to go along with another ten to twenty solo gigs during the span of 4-5 weeks. A schedule like this will always include
a wide variety of venues, contacts, contracts, invoicing, and technical audio requirements for each individual performance. Sometimes, it seems like a lifetime of scheduling with an
emphasis on details. Like any business, one must have good work habits and be task oriented. Although there has been a downturn in physical products like CDS and cassettes, it has become the one element that is in my favor. I no longer have to do warehousing, inventory, and shipping of boxes of records to be sold at retail outlets. This
has taken a major work load off my plate and I like that.
When the great Cannonball Adderly passed away, his brother Nat said that Cannonball was a great band administrator and organizer for the various orchestras he led. There are and always have been a plethora of talented musicians but the thing that impresses me is when you have a great ensemble as opposed to a singularly great soloist.
My wife and others like the expression ‘if you love your job then you never have to work a day in your life’. This axiom has been a good moniker for my humble career, however, recently there is a much more contemporary version of this sentiment. If someone asks me how I’m doing, my response is ‘I am living the dream’. Playing cool jazz, eating well,
golfing with friends-who could ask for anything more?
We have a daughter turning 10 months old at home, and my wife is always making her baby food. This time, I’d like to share a recipe that uses the same ingredients we steam to feed our daughter but instead uses oil to cook a nice appetizer to go with a glass of sake, beer or wine.
Ingredients
Hamburger patties
2 blocks firm tofu
¼ lb ground chicken
1/8 onion, finely chopped
¼ enoki mushroom, finely chopped
1 small carrot, finely chopped
1 tsp ginger, finely chopped
2 Tbsp hijiki seaweed (dried)
2 tsp cornstarch
Sauce
1 tsp cornstarch
1 cup dashi broth
1 Tbsp light soy sauce
Other
2 Tbsp canola oil
Salt to taste
Green onions to garnish
Instructions
Wrap the tofu in a paper towel and press down on it for about 30 minutes to drain excess water. Reconstitute the dried hijiki seaweed in plenty of water for 20 to 25 minutes. Drain in a strainer.
Add 1 Tbsp of canola oil to a frying pan and lightly cook the ground chicken, onions, enoki mushroom, carrot, ginger, and reconstituted hijiki seaweed. Add salt to taste. When ingredients are well-cooled, let them cool down togather on a plate.
In a large bowl, break up the drained tofu and then mix with the cooked vegetables. Add 2 tsp of cornstarch to the bowl and mix again until everything starts to take on the consistency of hamburger. Shape small hamburger patties.
Add 1 Tbsp of canola oil to a pan and cook the patties until browned. Serve on a plate.
Heat up the dashi broth and light soy sauce and add salt to taste. Mix 1 tsp of cornstarch in about 1 tsp water and add to the broth. When it starts to thicken, pour the sauce on the tofu hamburg. Sprinkle finely chopped green onions on top.
When Tom Ikeda set out to create Densho, a grassroots organization that preserves and shares oral histories and other material related to World War II imprisonment of Japanese and Japanese Americans, the former Microsoft employee and University of Washington grad thought he was looking at a three-to-five-year project. Twenty-two years later, he’s still at the helm, finding new challenges and making sure his organization will be ready to adapt to the artificial intelligence age. Ahead of the Densho Dinner gala at Meydenbauer Center on November 3, Ikeda sat down with the
North American Post to chat about his organization’s evolving role.
Interview by Bruce Rutledge
What is Densho’s role at this juncture in history?
Our role is to be that smart kid who does the research, thinks about it, and tries to find the relevance in ways that bring a better understanding. At Densho, because we understand the history of what happened to Japanese and Japanese Americans during World War II, we are in a really good position to highlight similiarities that we can learn from. We try to find what we call learning opportunities.
For example, during Trump’s campaign two years ago, he would say things that we found so alarming in that the rhetoric was so similar to what was used on Japanese and Japanese Americans in World War II. It’s what we call this “othering” of a group of people. “These people are dangerous. For national security reasons, we have to be careful and afraid of these people.” Way back then, we started raising flags. His followers and advisers would even say things like, “The Japanese incarceration thing wasn’t that bad. FDR was a good president and he must have had good reasons.”
Everything that had been determined and discussed and analyzed by historians started to shift two years ago. After President Trump was inaugurated, one of his first actions was this travel ban in predominantly Muslim countries. What we found interesting was this targeting of another group and otherizing them to make them seem dangerous. They said it’s a national security concern. We viewed it as a thin veil to hide religious discrimination in the same way they did to Japanese Americans. With the Japanese Americans, they said it was a military necessity to put them in camps. We know from looking at all the documents that there was no military necessity. It was just an excuse for racial discrimination against Japanese and Japanese Americans. When we see similarities, it’s our role to bring them to light.
Another issue that came up and seemed very similar to what happened to Japanese Americans was the family detention camps. There’s a quote, we can’t figure out who said it first, but I use it in my talks: History doesn’t always repeat itself, but it often rhymes. So, the detention facilities are different from the concentration camps in World War II, but again it’s the similarities. Even the separation of children. We use that as an opportunity
to talk about how in World War II, Japanese families were torn apart, in a different way – oftentimes, it was the fathers who were picked up by the FBI, leaving the wife and children to fend for themselves in very difficult situations.
In recent years, you’ve made an effort to reach out to other ethnic communities being vilified.
We went to CAIR Washington as well as MAPS (Muslim Association of Puget Sound) and asked, how can we help? There was this constant barrage associating them with being terrorists. During conversations with CARE Washington, it came up that a lot of the Muslim community is in the service. We reached out to Gold Star parent Khizr Muazzam Khan and invited him to Seattle. During the talk, I shared that my grandparents were Gold Star parents; my uncle was killed in action. Then Mr. Khan shared his story.
He spoke about how much the Muslim community appreciates how the Japanese Americans have stood with them. And the story of the Japanese Americans, the similarities and how much it resonates with them – he used it as a ray of hope. He said that as difficult as it is, to just know about the resilience of the Japanese American community was inspiring as a Muslim American. While we were there to support him, he thanked the Niseis in the audience, saying they were the heroes and how much he and other Muslims looked up to them.
The thing I love is that we walk into these situations thinking we know the history and can make connections, but once you do that with real people, we realize how much deeper and richer it gets. We are friends. We are connected. I feel like I know the Muslim community better.
That’s the powerful thing we’re trying to do more of: to not only make the informational connection, but to also start connecting with stories, and that means interacting more and more with these communities. That’s our evolution.
Your parents and grandparents were at Minidoka. Did they share stories of the War when you were growing up?
I grew up on Beacon Hill, then moved over to Genesee Park, so I was very much a working-class Rainier Valley kid. I spent hundreds of hours in the Nisei Veterans Memorial gym playing basketball. I did lots of sports. I was also a geeky kid. It really wasn’t until I got to Franklin High School that I understood more of what the camps were. In particular, there was one teacher in high school who was Japanese American and was in Tule Lake. She had me read the novel No No Boy. I asked my dad about the tensions between the World War II vets and the draft resistors. That opened up a really interesting conversation. My dad was a veteran, but he had many friends who went to Tule Lake or were draft resistors. He talked about how divisive that was for the community. My wife’s father was a draft resistor. Later on, I had long conversations with him about that. This was in the early ’80s.
What led you to form Densho?
Going back to my Rainier Valley roots, when I was at Microsoft, I got the chance to talk to Scott Oki. Scott is another Rainier Valley kid. When I met him, he was very high up, maybe the third or fourth highest executive at Microsoft. I was at a much lower level. We agreed that with our advantages working at Microsoft at the time, it would be important to do something for the community at some point.
Years later, after I had left Microsoft and after Scott had left, he called me and wanted to talk about doing an oral history project. I thought it was a strange project for someone who was once at a high level in Microsoft. But I met with him, and that’s when I found out about the Shoah Foundation. This was a project started by Stephen Spielberg after he did the movie Schindler’s List. They were videorecording oral histories. That was a new thing. They were also digitizing those videos, but back then they were using mainframe technology. When Scott and I went to Universal Studios where their offices were, they were jackhammering the streets outside their trailers because they were laying fiber-optic cable to get connected to the Museum of Tolerance and the US Holocaust Memorial. They were thinking point to point. That’s when it clicked for me. I said, “Scott, we can do this, and we can do it at probably a couple of orders of magnitude cheaper than the Shoah Project.” Their budget was $50-60 million. We could use personal-computer technology and connect to the Internet.
This photo captures a moment when families of Japanese ancestry arrive at Turlock Assembly Center, a makeshift concentration camp in California. Courtesy of the National Archives and Records Administration.
Did you realize how long you’d be doing this job?
I really thought this was going to be a three-to-five-year project. I was going to dive in, figure out the technology, do a couple hundred interviews, and be done. Twenty-two years later we’re still talking about all the things we want to do.
The first 20 years, we did Japanese and Japanese American history, but in many ways, I felt that we were siloed. But you almost have to start there. You have to really, really understand your topic.
You couldn’t have foreseen the rise of social media, so important to Densho, back in 1996.
We had a pretty good understanding that the world was going digital. At Microsoft, I worked in what we called multimedia publishing, which was essentially the old CD-ROM technology. What was clear to the people in that area was that everything was going to go digital. A big project I worked on was Encarta encyclopedias. I distinctly remember talking with people at Encyclopedia Britannica. They were making hundreds of millions of dollars
when we went there. We said we’d like to put your whole encyclopedia on a disc. It would cost us a few bucks for each one. Every year, we could send someone a new disc that is updated. You can search. It’s so much easier. They turned us down flat. They said, “We make so much money selling these print encyclopedias. We have tens of thousands of salespeople all around the country that go door to door. We have incredible distribution. Why would we support something that would cannibalize that?” Literally, within five years of that meeting, they declared bankruptcy. That’s how fast things were changing.
I recognized museums, newspapers, education; they were going to go digital. There were so many advantages. It wasn’t just about doing these interviews and digitizing them. It was about tagging them in ways and structuring them so that we could more easily find things and make connections. If you go to our website, any video or image that you find, you can also download. It’s an important productivity tool. That’s why filmmakers love us. They can search for, maybe, a woman who had children in camp, then they can click and download that file and put it into editing software and put it into their film. We can add context through tagging and other contextual tools. We were thinking about that sort of thing 22 years ago. We thought that by going down this path and thinking differently about how to organize this content, it would open doors.
And there is still more to be done. Even our platform is designed to be scalable. Right now, it’s the job of the archivist to put content in there. But we are thinking that within five years, we would want to do more crowdsourcing so that families that have photographs or documents could scan them at home and tag them in a way that makes them useful. We see information-sharing becoming more and more distributed than today.
The other thing that is huge – and people don’t really understand how much of a game-changer it is – is machine learning and artificial intelligence. We think that in five, 10 years, when someone does a search about an ancestor who was in the camps, rather than finding links to records, photographs, and newspaper articles, these machine-learning algorithms will have enough intelligence to think like a researcher. Then, with the thinking
of a filmmaker, they will put together a multimedia presentation that looks like it was done by a professional. And it will allow you to navigate. You could ask to go on the path of a family member as they left Seattle during the War. Then you could stop at the camp to hear more about that. It’s all possible because we have the content and it is tagged. Now we need the programs to be smart enough to pull it all together.
It’s a matter of making connections and telling stories to inform people?
Today it’s easier to make these connections online or in person. We spent 20 years collecting the information, organizing it. Today, we have younger people – artists and others – who can tap into that content much more quickly.
Tomorrow, I will have dinner with the CEO of the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute. She’s an African American woman, and she invited me to go speak down there. She asked me to speak on racism… in Birmingham! I did it. Before my talk, I walked through the museum. The amazing thing to me was how similar the stories were. They had their own black downtown, which in many ways was like Nihonmachi here. She told me that it was important for the people down South to understand that racism wasn’t just a black-white
thing. On the West Coast, it was more of an Asian-white thing. And now today, it’s more of a Latino-white thing. She said it really opened the eyes of the community to realize that it is much bigger than a black-white race thing.
“The thing I love is that we walk into these
situations thinking we know the history
and can make connections, but once you do
that with real people, we realize how much
deeper and richer it gets. “
About Densho https://densho.org/
Densho is a nonprofit organization in Seattle started in 1996 to preserve the testimonies of Japanese Americans who were unjustly incarcerated during World War II. The organization offers these irreplaceable firsthand accounts, coupled with historical images and teacher resources, to explore principles of democracy and promote equal justice for all.
Tom Ikeda is the founding executive director of Densho. He is a sansei who was born and raised in Seattle. Tom’s parents and grandparents were incarcerated during World War II at Minidoka. Prior to working at Densho, Tom was a general manager at Microsoft Corp. in the Multimedia Publishing Group. Tom also worked as a research engineer developing hemodializers (artificial kidneys) with Cordis Dow Corp. and as a financial analyst at the Weyerhaeuser Co. Tom graduated from the University of Washington with a BS in chemical engineering, a BA in chemistry and an MBA.
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