Japanese Movie Night – May 2025

Japanese Movie Night – May 2025

by | May 1, 2025 | Classes & Events, Featured

J-Sei At The Movies (on Zoom)
Friday, May 9, 6:30 pm

J-Sei Movie Night is dedicated to the wonderful and fascinating world of Japanese cinema, as well as Japanese American and AAPI films!

Join us on Friday, May 9, to watch and discuss the final film in Yamada Yōji‘s award-winning Samurai Trilogy: LOVE AND HONOR / 武士の一分 (2006) starring megastar Kimura Takuya (Blade of the Immortal; La Grande Maison Tokyo) and, in her big-screen debut, Dan Rei (Kābee; Vivant) as a low-ranking samurai and his wife whose quiet life together is tragically upended. Winner for Best Cinematography, Lighting, and Supporting Actor (Sasano Takashi) at the Japan Academy Awards, this is the last of Yamada’s films in the samurai genre, graced with the filmmaker’s steadfast sense of humanism, period detail, and scenes of natural beauty.

If you would like to join us, please RSVP to jill@j-sei.org with “May movie night” in the subject line to receive Zoom info prior to the event.

See you at the movies!

J-Sei Movie Night Bento

Chef Yuji is offering a choice of Makunouchi Bento and a special sushi dish for this month’s movie night bento!
Makunuochi Bento (fish) – $25

Onigiri, grilled saba, fried shrimp, spring pea potato salad, kyuri sunomono and simmered kabocha

Makunuochi Bento (chicken) – $25

Crispy chicken, soboro (ground chicken) over koshihikari, spring pea potato salad, kyuri sunomono and simmered kabocha

Makunuochi Bento (beef) – $25

Onigiri, braised shortrib, menchikatsu, spring pea potato salad, kyuri sunomono and simmered kabocha

Deep fried spicy tuna sushi – $20

Deep fried spicy tuna maki and tare

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 Tock webpage, where you first select a pickup time. In the next window, click on an item and select the number you want to order, then click “Add”; repeat with other items if desired. Click the “View order” bar at the bottom to confirm your order, then 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 is in its Eighth Year! 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. We welcome any donations to help us offset costs for Movie Night. Thanks for considering this.

Boro Inspired Collage with Sashiko – Spring 2025

by | Apr 29, 2025 | Classes & Events, Featured, Other News

Boro Inspired Collage with Sashiko Stitching

Mondays, June 2 & 9, 10 to 12 – The class is full. Sign up for a future session

In this two- day workshop we will create patchwork placemats or a table runner. You will be introduced to various methods to create the collage patchwork from boro-inspired with sashiko hand stitching to quilting methods. Participants will be encouraged to explore their individual style, preferences and methods.

In the spirit of Boro, you can repurpose what you may already have at home. Textile artist Chiyeko Klarman has personally cut up unwanted clothing, pulled out my fabric stash, dyed small pieces of white cloth with tea, coffee, onion skins. Upon registration you will be provided with a materials list of sewing tools and suggested fabric sources.  

Workshop fee: $15  RSVP to jill@j-sei.org with “Boro” in the subject line.  Space is limited. the class is full. Sign up for early notice of the next session.

                  

 

Japanese Movie Night – May 2025

Japanese Movie Night – April 2025

by | Apr 1, 2025 | Classes & Events

J-Sei At The Movies (on Zoom)
Friday, April 11, 6:30 pm

J-Sei Movie Night is dedicated to the wonderful and fascinating world of Japanese cinema, as well as Japanese American and AAPI films!

Join us on Friday, April 11, to watch and discuss the second film in the Samurai Trilogy by renowned director Yamada Yōji: THE HIDDEN BLADE / 隠し剣 鬼の爪 (2004) starring Nagase Masatoshi (Mystery Train; An) and Matsu Takako (Long Vacation; Hero) as a samurai and a household maid caught up in the waning years of the Tokugawa shogunate and on the verge of a new world. Winner for Best Art Direction at the Japan Academy Awards, this breathtaking movie is filled with period and location detail and characters that embody Yamada’s vision of the samurai genre.

If you would like to join us, please RSVP to jill@j-sei.org with “Apr movie night” in the subject line to receive Zoom info prior to the event.

See you at the movies!

J-Sei Movie Night Bento

Please check back to see if Chef Yuji has a bento offering this month!
 
 
 
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 Tock webpage, where you first select a pickup time. In the next window, click on an item and select the number you want to order, then click “Add”; repeat with other items if desired. Click the “View order” bar at the bottom to confirm your order, then 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 is in its Eighth Year! 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. We welcome any donations to help us offset costs for Movie Night. Thanks for considering this.

Kintsukuroi Screening and Restoring Our Brokenness

by | Mar 19, 2025 | Classes & Events, Other News

 KINTSUKUROI

FILM SCREENING
followed by Q&A with cast and crew

Thursday March 13, 6:00 pm
Rialto Cinemas Cerrito, 10700 San Pablo Ave, El Cerrito, CA

Tickets: $20

For tickets: https://rialtocinemas.com/coming-soon-cer/

Back by popular demand, join us for a theatrical screening of KINTSUKUROI. The film, with its cleverly written script, interwoven stories and depth, this movie is a must see and must see again favorite.  Get your tickets now! 
About the Film
The philosophy of KINTSUKUROI shows us that something shattered can be restored and made stronger and more beautiful. The term is an apt metaphor for the Japanese American experience of WWII.

Forced from their homes, farms and businesses, more than 120,000 Japanese Americans were unjustly imprisoned simply because of their race. Our new feature-length film KINTSUKUROI follows the Ito family from pre-war San Francisco to the concentration camps of the American West to the battlefields of Europe as it endures one of the most shameful periods in American History.

RESTORING OUR BROKENNESS

Join us for an intergenerational conversation inspired by the film KINTSUKUROI by director Kerwin Berk.

Saturday, March 22
12pm to 3pm
J-Sei, 1285 66th St., Emeryville, CA

Free registration: https://bit.ly/3WE7cVV

Please note that the film will not be shown at the event but all are welcome, whether or not you have seen the film.

Kintsukuroi is the Japanese art practice of piecing together shards of pottery to repair, then using gold leaf to restore beauty and make it whole again. The film touches on the legacy of the Japanese American incarceration, a range of experiences, from loyalty to resistance, despair and loss, and rebuilding of lives. What is your connecting point and how does it impact you today?  Connecting Across Generations is an evolving collaboration of individuals and Japanese American community groups interested in broadening cross generational relations.

Connecting Across Generations including J-Sei, Japanese American Women Alumni of UC Berkeley, Japanese American Youth Alliance, Nikkei Student Union of UC Berkeley, Berkeley JACL, Berkeley Buddhist Temple, Okaeri Northern Cal, and Friends of Topaz Museum.

Letters to Home, an anthology of LGBTQ+ Nikkei experiences

by | Mar 18, 2025 | Classes & Events, Other News

Okaeri Northern California presents

Letters to Home: Art & Writing by LGBTQ+ Nikkei and Allies

Saturday, April 5, 2025, 1:30 pm

Join Okaeri for the Northern California launch of Okaeri’s book Letters to Home: Art & Writing by LGBTQ+ Nikkei and Allies. Hear from contributors eri oura, Ellen Tanouye, and Tomo Hirai for a live reading and engaging dialogue with moderator Stan Yogi. Book sales and signing, and light refreshments will follow. 

Live stream will be available. To access the live stream, please register and we will send out a link in advance. J-Sei is ADA-accessible, and there is a free parking lot and street parking available.  This event is co-presented by J-Sei & Omusubi. 

RSVP: https://bit.ly/Okaeri Nor Cal-booklaunch

Letters to Home

Edited by: Cody Uyeda, Michael Matsuno, and Rino Kodama

Letters to Home is among the first anthologies to spotlight LGBTQ+ Nikkei experiences and allyship through an intergenerational lens. Bringing together art, poetry, and story-telling from nearly 50 contributors across the US and Japan, it offers a nuanced exploration of the trials and triumphs of finding community, and the process of co-constructing a sense of belonging for queer and trans Nikkei.

 

Okaeri Community’s mission is to create visibility, compassionate spaces, and transformation for LGBTQ+ Nikkei and their families by sharing our stories and providing culturally-rooted support, education, community-building, and advocacy.  Okaeri is fiscally sposored by LTSC.

Criminals, a book reading and conversation

by | Mar 18, 2025 | Classes & Events

Criminals, a book reading and conversation

Saturday, April 26, 2 pm

Join Host Steven Okazaki with guests Judi Nihei and Jan Masaoka, for a book reading and conversation on Ben Masaoka’s Criminals and the Post-War Sansei Experience.  Masaoka’s moving debut novel tells the story of a brother and sister struggling to break out of a small Japanese American community in the late 1950s and early 60s.  

Criminals follows the lives of a sister and brother, Ruth and Hank Tanazaki, as they struggle to free themselves from the weight of their parents’ generation in a small Japanese American community in Los Angeles in the late 1950s and early 1960s. This poignant story of the double-edged nature of community—a force that supports the group, at cost to the individual—explores the possibilities and limits of seeking personal freedom through creativity. Masaoka’s dazzling, deeply-moving debut is also an eloquent addition to the canon of Asian American literature.

In Criminals, America is Godzilla rising from the sea at Venice Beach to stomp on the Japanese American Dream, barely noticing the dreamers below as they fight back with rocks, sticks and gaman. Masaoka’s hang-loose brilliance takes us on a vividly observed, wonderfully quirky, and deeply moving exploration of generational trauma. He captures the desires, blows, and little victories of a family on the fringes of a community where everyone is trying so hard not to rock the boat, they don’t notice their children are adrift. —Steven Okazaki, Academy Award-winning filmmaker

Join us for a book reading, book sales, and conversation.  

RSVP for this Free Event

About the Author

Ben Masaoka (1952–2024), born and raised in Venice, California, took off for Hawai’i as soon he could, living on the beach and working odd jobs so he could surf.  He eventually settled in Seattle where he married, taught High School English, and raised a family. His short stories have been published in the Chicago Review of Books and Catamaran Literary Reader. CRIMINALS is his first and only novel.  He died in September 2024 a few weeks before it was published.  

Hosted by

Steven Okazaki was in an All-Japanese American Boy Scout Troop with Ben Masaoka in 1964.  “It was a time when Japanese Americans did nearly everything together,” he says. “And then it started to change.  Especially in Venice, where we grew up, there was a lot of stuff coming at you really fast.  In high school, I was the artist and Ben was the surfer, that was his identity.  He was the coolest person I knew.”   

In conversation with

Judi Nihei met Ben at a screening of Steven‘s Unfinished Business in Seattle.  She says, “I’m grateful his voice is being heard.”

Jan Masaoka, Ben’s first cousin, says: “Ben’s book is a time machine.  It transported me back to the Japanese American world and our family life in LA in the 1950s.”