J-Sei Reconvenes in Community
J-Sei COVID Protocol Update
Dear Friends:
We have missed seeing you and look forward to having you join us at J-Sei.
While the mandates for the state and counties have shifted, we will continue to operate with our J-Sei COVID Protocol (updated in Dec, 2021) to create a safe environment for our participants, volunteers, and staff. For all individuals who participate in our programs and all visitors, we request Proof of Vaccination and Booster.
We are implementing an electronic check-in system to streamline building entry. For those who attend classes or volunteer, a key card will be assigned to you. Once registered and instructed, you will be able to check yourself in using the computer kiosk in the front lobby upon entry. We look forward to sharing this new feature with you.
While at J-Sei, we require everyone to wear masks indoors and observe social distancing. Safety practices will be modified as needed. Thank you for your patience and flexibility. Should you have any questions or concerns, please contact Diane Wong, diane@j-sei.org.
We offer an array of Community Hybrid Programs to share new creative works and to encourage social interaction. We know that it has been a long time of hibernation and we do value the support and cheer you bring to one another.
Diane Wong
Executive Director
In-Person Classes will resume:
Tues 3/15 – Tai Chi, 1-2 pm
Wed 3/16 – Ikebana, 2-4 pm
Th 3/17 – Watercolor, 1-3 pm
Fri 3/18 – Tai Chi (Intro), 1-2 pm
Tu 4/5 – J-Sei Sings, 10-11 am
Wed 4/20 – Kimekomi Doll 10am -1 pm
Additional classes will continue to be offered online or may offer a hybrid or in-person option. Check with your instructor on plans for a particular class.
Intrigued by the beauty and illusion of classic feats of illusion and sleight of hand, David Hirata performs magic along with stories that weave in the history and influence of Japanese magic (wazuma) in America. In his solo show “Box Without A Bottom: Soko-nashi Bako,” Hirata introduced Namigoro Sumidagawa, the first Japanese to receive a passport to America, who traveled with the Imperial Troupe in 1866 and dazzled Victorian audiences with his stage magic. Sumidagawa’s most famous illusions included Soko-nashi Bako, which was notoriously appropriated by American magicians in yellowface and rechristened the “J*p Box,” and Ukare-no Cho, or “Paper Butterflies.”
In Navigating With(out) Instruments, traci kato-kiriyama uses her present—political unrest, family love and loss, her own cancer diagnosis—to bridge the traumas of the past generations with the hope of the future ones. Often seamless, often with a loud bang, kato-kiriyama moves from genre to genre, from poetry to prose, essay to monologue to letters—framed by US colonialism and war mongering alongside the intimate navigation through memory, death, and transformation—to urge readers to protect and to share their legacies, both personal and communal, as a means of global survival.