I Would Meet You Anywhere by Susan Kiyo Ito

I Would Meet You Anywhere by Susan Kiyo Ito

I Would Meet You Anywhere – A Book Talk with Susan Kiyo Ito

 

Saturday, March 30, 2 pm (in-person)

Growing up with adoptive nisei parents, Susan Kiyo Ito knew only that her birth mother was Japanese American and her father white. But finding and meeting her birth mother in her early twenties was only the beginning of her search for answers, history, and identity. Though the two share a physical likeness, an affinity for ice cream, and a relationship that sometimes even feels familial, there is an ever-present tension between them, as a decades-long tug-of-war pits her birth mother’s desire for anonymity against Ito’s need to know her origins, to see and be seen.

Along the way, Ito grapples with her own reproductive choices, the legacy of the Japanese American incarceration experience during World War II, and the true meaning of family.

“A brave, compassionate, and necessary memoir that bears witness to how we let go, when we hold on, and how families are not just born but chosen.”

— Rahna Reiko Rizzuto, author of Hiroshima in the Morning

Susan Kiyo Ito is the co-editor of the literary anthology A Ghost at Heart’s Edge: Stories and Poems of Adoption. Her work has appeared in numerous literary magazines and anthologies. A MacDowell Fellow, she has also been awarded residencies at the Mesa Refuge, Hedgebrook, and Blue Mountain Center. She has performed her solo show, The Ice Cream Gene, around the US and adapted Untold Stories: Life, Love, and Reproduction for the theater. She writes and teaches in the Bay Area.

Join us for a book reading, an engaging conversation with writer and artist Patricia Wakida, and tea.  Book sales and signing will follow.  Hardcover, Retail: $24.95

RSVP for free event. Limited space available.

Book Launch: The Poet and the Silk Girl by Satsuki Ina

Book Launch: The Poet and the Silk Girl by Satsuki Ina

Book Launch: The Poet and the Silk Girl, a memoir by Satsuki Ina

Sunday, March 24, 2 pm (Hybrid)

The Poet and the Silk Girl follows the harrowing journey of the Ina family through wartime race-based incarceration and traces the echoes of trauma across generations. Join us for this book launch with filmmaker, activist, and psychotherapist Satsuki Ina in conversation with her son cartoonist and illustrator Adrian Tomine.

The Poet and the Silk Girl illustrates through one family’s saga the generational struggle of Japanese Americans who resisted racist oppression, fought for the restoration of their rights, and clung to their full humanity in the face of adversity.

In 1942 newlyweds Itaru and Shizuko Ina were settling into married life when the United States government upended their world. They were forcibly removed from their home and incarcerated in wartime American concentration camps solely on account of their Japanese ancestry. When the Inas, under duress, renounced their American citizenship, the War Department branded them enemy aliens and scattered their family across the U.S. interior.

Born to Itaru and Shizuko during their imprisonment, psychotherapist and activist Satsuki Ina weaves their story together in this moving mosaic. Through diary entries, photographs, clandestine letters, and heart-wrenching haiku, she reveals how this intrepid young couple navigated life, love, loss, and loyalty tests in the welter of World War II-era hysteria.

With psychological insight, Ina excavates the unmentionable, recovering a chronicle of resilience amidst one of the severest blows to American civil liberties. As she traces the legacies of trauma, she connects her family’s ordeal to modern-day mass incarceration at the U.S.-Mexico border. Lyrical and gripping, this cautionary tale implores us to prevent the repetition of atrocity, pairing healing and protest with galvanizing power.

Renowned cartoonist, Adrian Tomine, son of the author will join the event to be in conversation with his mother and together explore the intergenerational impact of the family’s wartime experience on identity and literary expression. Adrian published his comic book series at the age of 16, and he has since illustrated highly touted covers for The New Yorker magazine. His graphic novel Shortcomings, named a New York Times Notable Books of the year, was adapted for film and released in 2023.

“A powerful quilt work of memory, The Poet and the Silk Girl sutures the traumatic wounds of Japanese American incarceration with care for the past and struggle for the future.”Andrew Leong, author of Lament in the Night

Published by Heyday Books, Hardcover, 6 x 9, 312 pages

Book sales & signing to follow. Light reception.

RSVP for free event, in-person or online. Limited space available.

 

SPEAKER BIOS

Satsuki Ina is a licensed psychotherapist specializing in community trauma. She helps victims of oppression to claim not only their voice but also their power to transform the systems that have oppressed them. Her activism has included cofounding Tsuru for Solidarity, a nonviolent, direct-action project of Japanese American social justice advocates working to end detention sites. Ina has produced two documentaries about the World War II incarceration of Japanese  Americans, Children of the Camps and From a Silk Cocoon. She has been featured in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, TIME, Democracy Now! and the documentary And Then They Came for Us. A professor emeritus at California State University, Sacramento, she lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.

 

 

Author photo by Paul Kitagaki, Jr.

Adrian Tomine began self-publishing his comic book series Optic Nerve when he was sixteen, and in 1994 he received an offer to publish from Drawn & Quarterly. His comics have been anthologized in publications such as McSweeney’s, Best American Comics, and Best American Nonrequired Reading. Both his graphic novel Shortcomings and his memoir The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Cartoonist were named New York Times Notable Books of the year. Since 1999, Tomine has been a regular contributor to the New Yorker. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife and daughters.

J-Sei’s Artisan Faire 2023

J-Sei’s Artisan Faire 2023

J-Sei Artisan Faire

December 3, 2023, 11 am to 4 pm

In-person – One day only! 

Come shop with us!  J-Sei encourages creative artists in our midst to share their inspired designs for gift giving and to spread the joy. 

We feature handcrafted gifts, ceramics, jewelry, wearable art, tote bags, stationery, home decor, specialty foods, books, and more.

  • Enjoy a chance to meet our artists and artisans and do some shopping!
  • Support local businesses and try out new dishes with our Asian pop-ups.
  • Share in the holiday cheer with performances by J-Sei Singers, Let’s Groove, and others.

 

Okkon Pop-up featuring okonomiyaki

Secrets of Tiger - an Asian bistro

Fire and Spice - Northern Thai

Shared Cultures - foraging and fermenting miso

Mume Farm - crafting ume products

Granddaughters, kitchen essentials by Shelby LaRosa

Return of Artist DeLynda Deleon

New Creations by artists Chiyeko Klarman and Carina Lee

J-Sei Marketplace ASIAN POP-UPS

We invite you to join us in supporting creative
food ventures and local businesses!

Jane’s Homemade – gluten-free cookies & candies

Kim’s Sushi – assorted sushi rolls

Mume Farm – pastries and ume products

Musashi Bento – lunch bento to-go

Okkon Japanese Streetfood – okonomiyaki

O’Toole’s Fire and Spice – Northern Thai food & iced tea

Secrets of Tiger – Asian Bistro sandwiches

Shared Cultures – farm to ferment miso

Don’t miss Sunnie’s 3 kinds of kimchi, Fuzzy’s Fizzies, Movie Night’s Baker Dozen, and Anne’s Doggy Treats for sale in the Holiday Warehouse.

J-Sei is located at 1285 66th Street
(between Hollis St & San Pablo Ave) in Emeryville.

 

FEATURED ARTISANS

 Amy Funabiki –  Zipper Pouches

Anne Takizawa – Homemade Doggie Treats

Barbara Morita – Paper designed ornaments and cards

Carina Lee – Assorted Playful Knitted Creations

Carolyn Hayashida – Quilts, Totes and Bags

Carrie Yoshida -Cyanotype and Original Designed Cards

Chiyeko Klarman – Hand-built Pottery and Square Totes

DeLynda Deleon – Handcrafted beaded jewelry

Felicia Hoshino & Judith Kajiwara – Children’s books

Fuzzy’s Fizzies – Galco Soda Stop

Gerry Furuzawa – Original Watercolor Paintings & Prints

Harvest Land – Hand-screened Print T-shirts

Jane’s Homemade – Gluten-Free Cookies and Candies

Joanne Wong – Washi Paper Card Designs

Jun Hamamoto/San Quentin Origami – Origami Cards

Kayoko Designs – Jewelry

Koko Baker – Handwoven Scarves

Linda Matsui – Assorted handcrafted gifts

Movie Night Bakers – Homemade Cookies

Mume Farm – Ume products

Shared Cultures – Miso products

Shelby LaRosa – Granddaughters Scrubbies and other kitchen essentials

Sunnie Youk – 3 kinds of Kimchi

Teri Lee Pottery

Tracy Takayanagi Hui – Happi, Totes & Jewelry

Where’s the Cat?; The End of a Quilt Journey

Where’s the Cat?; The End of a Quilt Journey

Where’s the Cat: The End of a Quilt Journey

by Carolyn Hayashida

November 20, 2023 to January 12, 2024

Never claiming to be a quilter, Carolyn Hayashida has found her quilt journey’s end. From a young age, she was drawn to sewing and studied art and fashion design. Her first quilt was a gift to her husband for his 50th birthday, the Family Kamon quilt. 

She was invited to JASEB (now J-Sei) through Bess Kawachi Chin who invited her to share her Sashiko designs in her clothing creations. She later frequented JASEB when her mother was active. She was later asked to coordinate the JASEB Quilting Class. She learned from the talented quilters and began to incorporate her unique designs into her quilting projects. Carolyn has a keen eye for combining fabrics and personalizing each creation with her stitching talents.  Come visit the gallery to find the cat, rabbits, and to discover an array of Japanese cultural motifs in her work. Gallery Hours:  MWF 10-1, TuTh 1-5

Carolyn Hayashida will be at the J-Sei Artisan Faire: Sunday, December 3rd, 11 am to 4 pm.  Stop in to see her at the faire, then go upstairs to the gallery at J-Sei to see the quilt show.

Watercolor Meditations

Watercolor Meditations

Watercolor Meditations (Exhibit)

Gallery Talk: Thursday, October 5th, 2 pm

What is the journey that awaits us? What lies beneath the surface as we explore our creative musings? For Gerry Furuzawa, Karen Allen and Wendy Kiniris, taking watercolor classes with Wendy Yoshimura nurtures their artistic talents.  Each brush stroke adds to the depth and intensity of the images they choose to paint. When they step back, the light and reflection is added in. As their teacher coaxes them forward, they discover pleasing results. An astounding collection of paintings have taken shape and emerge from their watercolor meditations.

Join us for an artist talk with Gerry, Karen & Wendy on Thursday, October 5th.  Gallery Hours:  MWF 10-1, TuTh 1-5