Nikkei Community Stories Through Art, a pre-festival event
Nikkei Community Stories Through Art, a pre-festival book event
Sunday, September 28th, 11 am
Join us for a joint book event for Seattle Samurai and Belly Like Drum, as part of J-Sei’s pre-festival program. How do stories of our past shape our current trajectory? What stories and legacies are remembered through illustrative storytelling? Hear from author Kelly Goto about her father Sam Goto’s legacy as an illustrator. Meet artist Rob Sato, Roger Oda and Kimi Maru, collaborators of Belly Like Drum, who seek to pass on stories and recipes for building community.
Be drawn into the artistry of Nikkei community. Buy a book. Then, stay and join J-Sei’s Annual Family Festival that follows from 12 to 3 pm.
Seattle Samurai by Kelly Goto, with illustrations by Sam Goto
Sam Goto created the character Samurai Shigeru in the comic strip “Seattle Tomodachi,” telling the stories of the first Japanese immigrants and their descendants in the Pacific Northwest. His comics blend Japanese culture and tradition with his own experiences of balancing the samurai values of loyalty, honor, and honesty while pursuing the American dream. Author Kelly Goto pays tribute to her father’s artistic legacy by weaving his illustrations of history, family, and culture into an accessible narrative. For Kelly, compiling this work has been a journey of reconnecting with her cultural heritage and identity, culminating in a true coming home.
Kelly Goto is an author, designer, and storyteller connecting culture, history, and the human experience. She now lives in Seattle, where she leads both gotomedia and gotoresearch — driving innovative human-centered design and product research on a global scale. Her work reflects a deep commitment to cultural preservation and accessibility. Inspired by her father Sam Goto’s dedication to capturing the Japanese American experience through cartoons and illustrative stories, Kelly’s latest book, Seattle Samurai, honors his legacy while inspiring the next generation.
Belly Like Drum – Recipes for Building Community from Nikkei Progressives
Belly Like Drum offers recipes for building community through stories, interviews, poems, and artwork. The community cookbook highlights treasured family meals and meaningful dishes from members of Nikkei Progressives—a grassroots group based in Little Tokyo standing against injustice, inequality, and white supremacy.
Belly Like Drumis published in the longstanding tradition of learning from history by telling and retelling the stories that give us courage, insights, and hope. Working for social justice is an ongoing and intergenerational process and, just like food, it is something we must return to every day. As organizers and activists from ages seven to ninety-seven, the contributors to this cookbook believe that as we are nourished by the food we make, eat, and share, so our souls are fed by our involvement in the struggle for justice.
Edited and compiled by Ako Castuera, Alyson Iwamoto, Kimi Maru, Rob Sato, and Tony Osumi (the Nikkei Progressives Oishii Committee); Cover Artwork by Rob Sato; Additional artwork by Rob Sato, Ako Castuera, Alyson Iwamoto, Roger Oda, Aiko Iwamoto Kaoosji, Kate Wong, Kris Chau, and Valerie Fletcher Oda
