J-Sei’s Virtual Book Club: Clark and Division by Naomi Hirahara

by Kathy Hashimoto | Sep 6, 2021 | Clark and Division, Classes & Events, JSei Book Club

Clark and Division

by Naomi Hirahara

J-Sei’s Book Club selection for Fall is CLARK AND DIVISION, the latest thrilling mystery by award-winning author Naomi Hirahara, who very graciously made an in-person visit to J-Sei for a hybrid book signing and reading event in August.

Synopsis: Twenty-year-old Aki Ito and her parents have just been released from Manzanar, where they have been detained by the US government since the aftermath of Pearl Harbor, together with thousands of other Japanese Americans. The life in California the Itos were forced to leave behind is gone; instead, they are being resettled two thousand miles away in Chicago, where Aki’s older sister, Rose, was sent months earlier and moved to the new Japanese American neighborhood near Clark and Division streets. But on the eve of the Ito family’s reunion, Rose is killed by a subway train.

Join the Club, Buy the Book

Sign up for J-Sei’s Book Club and be added to the Book Club mailing list (put “Book Club” in your email’s subject line). Please encourage anyone interested to join! Our book discussion will be even further enriched by a diverse range of perspectives, for instance of different ages, races, and gender identities.

Copies of the hardcover edition are available for purchase from Eastwind Books, which Eastwind is very generously offering to Book Club members at a discounted price. Order the book online through Eastwind and type JSEI in the coupon field at cart checkout to get your 10% discount. Also, you can choose to pick up your copy at the store or arrange for shipping, or you can designate J-Sei for delivery/pick-up by typing your request into the Note to Seller comment box at cart checkout. We can also facilitate a Share-a-Book program that will allow members to share their copy of the book after they’ve finished reading it.

Book Club Format: Read the book at your own pace. As you’re reading, you can comment online about whatever strikes you and share with fellow Book Club members on the secure J-Sei Book Club webpage. Periodically I will check in with members by email to prompt online discussion about certain themes and aspects of the book. Then sometime around October or early November we’ll schedule a live Zoom meeting so members can get together to discuss the book.

Hope you can join us!

— Kathy Hashimoto, moderator

About the Author

Naomi Hirahara is the Edgar Award–winning author of the Mas Arai mystery series, including Summer of the Big Bachi, which was a Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year and one of Chicago Tribune’s Ten Best Mysteries and Thrillers; Gasa Gasa Girl; Snakeskin Shamisen; and Hiroshima Boy. She is also the author of the LA-based Ellie Rush mysteries. A former editor of The Rafu Shimpo newspaper, she has co-written non-fiction books like Life after Manzanar and the award-winning Terminal Island: Lost Communities of Los Angeles Harbor.

The Films of Kerwin Berk & Remembering Hiroshi Kashiwagi

by Kathy Hashimoto | Aug 5, 2021 | Classes & Events

J-Sei At the Movies with Special Guests Kerwin Berk and Ben Arikawa

Friday, August 13, 6:30 pm via Zoom

Please join us for this special evening with director-writer-producer Kerwin Berk, who will visit with us to discuss his career making films, including The Virtues of Corned Beef Hash (2010), Infinity & Chashu Ramen (2013), and Kikan: The Homecoming (2019).

Kerwin will also join us to remember Hiroshi Kashiwagi, the celebrated and beloved Nisei poet, playwright, writer, and actor who sadly left us in 2019, just shy of his 97th birthday. Hiroshi is the star/featured performer of Kerwin’s “Japantown Trilogy,” and we’ll watch a trailer and shorts, including a moving video tribute to Hiroshi, A Meeting at Tule Lake, by cinematographer Ben Arikawa, who will also be our special guest this evening.

Kerwin has kindly agreed to grant us access to watch Infinity & Chashu Ramen online prior to our meeting on the 13th. We’ll send you the link when you RSVP.

RSVP with “August Movie Night” in the subject line.
You’ll receive Zoom information prior to the event.

About the Filmmakers

KERWIN BERK is a Sansei filmmaker who was born and raised in San Francisco’s Japantown. He is an award-winning journalist who worked at newspapers and wire services in Asia and the United States for more than 20 years. His last stop was at his hometown newspaper – The Chronicle. Today, he is a freelance writer and independent filmmaker who still calls The City his home. He has written, produced, and directed award-winning films and web series, including The Virtues of Corned Beef Hash, Infinity & Chashu Ramen, and Gold Mountain.
https://ikeibifilms.com/

BEN ARIKAWA is a Northern California Sansei. He lives not far from where his paternal grandparents settled to work on a fruit orchard about a hundred years ago. Late in life, he realized that he has a need to tell stories and has been exploring his literary side. Ben has contributed an article to Pacific Citizen and several articles to Discover Nikkei. His stories reflect his experiences as a Japanese American, son, husband, and father. He is also exploring his artistic side as a director of photography for Ikeibi Films on Kikan: The Homecoming (2019), the web series Gold Mountain (2016), and as an actor in Infinity and Chashu Ramen (2013).

J-Sei Movie Night Bento

August 13 Bento

For movie night, you can order specially made obento from My Friend Yuji. Here is this month’s special movie night offering:

Pork Keema Curry, Zuke Soft Tamago, Mizuna Salad and Rice
Indian style Japanese curry, marinated soft boiled egg, mizuna salad, and rice
$18

Click on the button below to place your order.

You can pick up your meal at the selected pick-up time at J-Sei on Friday, August 13th. Please remember to wear a mask and observe social distance protocol. Thank you!

MY FRIEND YUJI

To order: When you click on the button above, it will take you directly to a pop-up order form on the My Friend Yuji webpage, where you first select a pickup time. In the next window, click anywhere inside the box frame to open another pop-up and select the number of bento you want to order, then click on “Add item” to close the pop-up. Click the “View order” bar at the bottom to confirm your order and click “Continue to payment” to sign in and pay for your order.

Support J-Sei At the Movies

Thanks to you, J-Sei At the Movies recently celebrated its third anniversary! We look forward to more creative programming with educational and inspiring Japanese and Japanese American films. We are especially grateful for the up close and personal chats with filmmakers as we learn so much from the exchange.

We love having a growing and enthusiastic audience. You are the best! We welcome any donations to help us offset costs for Movie Night. Thanks for considering this.

The Films of Yuriko Gamo Romer & U.S.–Japan Relations

by Kathy Hashimoto | Jul 8, 2021 | Classes & Events

J-Sei At the Movies – An evening with filmmaker Yuriko Gamo Romer

Friday, July 16, 6:30 pm via Zoom

Please join us as J-Sei At the Movies continues its tribute to amazing women of Japanese heritage in history and film.

Just before the Tokyo Summer Olympics are scheduled to start on July 23, our evening with special guest Yuriko Gamo Romer will focus on a major theme in her films: breaking barriers and bridging U.S. and Japanese societies through sports and competition. We’ll discuss her current project, Diamond Diplomacy (in production), which charts the 150-year history of the beloved pastime shared by both nations—baseball. We will also talk with Yuriko about her acclaimed 2012 documentary, Mrs. Judo: Be Strong, Be Gentle, Be Beautiful. Featuring archival footage and close-up interviews, it presents the moving and inspirational story of Keiko Fukuda (1913-2013), a pioneer in Japan and the U.S. who spent her life devoted to the martial art of judo and overcame gender inequality to become the highest-ranking woman in judo history.

Yuriko has kindly agreed to grant us access to watch Mrs. Judo online prior to our meeting on the 16th. We’ll send you the link when you RSVP.

RSVP with “July Movie Night” in the subject line.
You’ll receive Zoom information prior to the event.

About the Filmmaker

YURIKO GAMO ROMER is an award-winning director based in San Francisco. She holds a Master’s degree in documentary filmmaking from Stanford University and is a Student Academy Award winner, National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Scholar, and American Association of Japanese University Women Scholar. In June 1999 she started Flying Carp Productions. Her current documentary project, DIAMOND DIPLOMACY, explores the relationship between the United States and Japan through a shared love of baseball.

Romer directed and produced MRS. JUDO: Be Strong, Be Gentle, Be Beautiful the only biographical documentary about Keiko Fukuda (1913-2013), the first woman to attain the 10th degree black belt in judo. MRS. JUDO has traveled to more than 25 film festivals internationally and was awarded the Grand Jury Award for Best Documentary at the 2013 International Festival of Sport Films in Moscow and broadcast on PBS nationally as part of CAAM’s Japanese American Lives 2014. Additionally, her film Occidental Encounters won numerous awards, among them a Student Academy Award Gold Medal; Heartland FF’s Jimmy Stewart Memorial Crystal Heart Award; and National Media Network’s Silver Apple. Romer’s short films include Reflection, Kids will be Kids, Sunnyside of the Slope, Fusion and Friend Ships, a short historical animation about John Manjiro, the inadvertent Japanese immigrant rescued by an American whaling captain.

J-Sei Movie Night Bento

July 16 Bento

For movie night, you can order specially made obento from My Friend Yuji. This month’s special movie night offering has two different items to order:

Wafu Hambagu/Roasted Corn Salad/Asazuke
Japanese hamburger steak, roasted corn and spring vegetable salad, lightly pickled vegetables and koshihikari rice
$20
Wafu Chicken & Salmon/Roasted Corn Salad/Asazuke
Roasted chicken and salmon, roasted corn and spring vegetable salad, lightly pickled vegetables and koshihikari rice
$20

Click on the button below to place your order.

You can pick up your meal at the selected pick-up time at J-Sei on Friday, July 16th. Please remember to wear a mask and observe social distance protocol. Thank you!

MY FRIEND YUJI

To order: When you click on the button above, it will take you directly to a pop-up order form on the My Friend Yuji webpage, where you first select a pickup time. In the next window, click anywhere inside the box frame to open another pop-up and select the number of bento you want to order, then click on “Add item” to close the pop-up. Click the “View order” bar at the bottom to confirm your order and click “Continue to payment” to sign in and pay for your order.

Support J-Sei At the Movies

Thanks to you, J-Sei At the Movies recently celebrated its third anniversary! We look forward to more creative programming with educational and inspiring Japanese and Japanese American films. We are especially grateful for the up close and personal chats with filmmakers as we learn so much from the exchange.

We love having a growing and enthusiastic audience. You are the best! We welcome any donations to help us offset costs for Movie Night. Thanks for considering this.

J-Sei’s Virtual Book Club: Minor Feelings by Cathy Park Hong

by Kathy Hashimoto | May 27, 2021 | Classes & Events, JSei Book Club, Minor Feelings

Minor Feelings is anything but minor. In these provocative and passionate essays, Cathy Park Hong gives us an incendiary account of what it means to be and to feel Asian American today. Minor Feelings is absolutely necessary.
— Viet Thanh Nguyen,
Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Sympathizer

Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning

by Cathy Park Hong

As Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month comes to a close, J-Sei’s Book Club summer selection is MINOR FEELINGS: AN ASIAN AMERICAN RECKONING by poet and essayist Cathy Park Hong. After its debut in Spring 2020, this collection of seven essays became an instant classic, presenting a blend of memoir, cultural criticism, and history to examine racialized consciousness and truth in America today. Unifying these essays is Hong’s evocation of “minor feelings,” that disturbing yet familiar experience of having one’s own perception of reality discredited or marginalized by others. In this time of social change and racial justice, Hong’s timely, candid, and subversive book challenges all of us to reconsider notions and assumptions that we grew up with as well as thinking about what we can do, as individuals and as a community, moving forward.