KOKUHO and Kabuki Talk

KOKUHO and Kabuki Talk

by | Apr 6, 2026 | Classes & Events, Other News

KOKUHO and Kabuki Talk at J-Sei

Thursday, April 16, 4 pm (hybrid)

KOKUHO (2025), directed by Sang-il Lee, a theatrical masterpiece to experience, has become the top-grossing Japanese live-action film of all time. J-Sei movie fans have clamored to the local theaters and are eager to talk about it and learn more about the art of kabuki.

Whether you have or have not seen the film, join us to meet special guest Nakamura Gankyō (aka Bandō Hirohichirō), the first American-born professional kabuki actor and teacher, who will talk about the art and tradition of kabuki. In addition to performing and lecturing nationwide, Sensei Kirk Kanesaka teaches kimekomi doll at J-Sei, and coordinates the Asian Studies program at California State University San Bernadino.

We look forward to hearing your thoughts and having a lively group discussion of the movie KOKUHO (2025).

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The Making of a Japanese, film screening and Q&A with Ema Ryan Yamazaki

The Making of a Japanese, film screening and Q&A with Ema Ryan Yamazaki

by | Mar 31, 2026 | Classes & Events, Other News

The Making of A Japanese

a film screening and Q&A with Ema Ryan Yamazaki

Sunday, April 19, 4 pm

Join us for a film screening of “The Making of A Japanese” and Q&A with filmmaker Ema Ryan Yamazaki. 

Intimately capturing one school year from the perspective of 1st and 6th graders at Tsukado public elementary school in Tokyo, The Making of A Japanese has the magic of childhood with precious moments of joy, tears, and discovery — as they learn the traits necessary to become part of Japanese society.

While living in New York, Ema realized that her core values stemmed from experiences during her public elementary school years that she experienced in Osaka, as she learned crucial values of discipline and responsibility. That became her thesis: 6-year-olds around are pretty similar, whereas a 12-year-old Japanese child is distinctly Japanese. With no narration or interviews, the viewer is invited to experience what it’s like to go through the Japanese school year, where the balance of freedom and restraint is at question, and every life lesson tows the line of growth and sacrifice.

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Listen to the podcast.

In episode 6 of Hibiku Kotoba, Oscar-nominated and award-winning documentary filmmaker Ema Ryan Yamazaki joins Kathleen on the podcast. Together they talk about Ema’s origin story as a filmmaker, her menteeship with Sam Pollard, and all three of her feature films along with her Oscar-nominated “Instruments of a Beating Heart.

Ema’s decision to go back to Japan and create documentary films about Japanese society is to share to the world her experiences as a Japanese person and to showcase the nuances of living in a country where culture is deeply instilled in every part of its society. For aspiring documentary filmmakers, this episode is definitely worth listening to as she shares her insight and advice for those who also want to be a documentary filmmaker.

About the Filmmaker

Ema Ryan Yamazaki is a Japanese/British documentary filmmaker based in Tokyo, with roots in New York. With a unique perspective as an insider and outsider in Japan, Ema strives to tell stories that empathetically show human struggle and triumph. Ema is the Director of Instruments of A Beating Heart and Editor of Black Box Diaries, which were both nominated for the Academy Awards in 2025. She has directed three acclaimed feature documentaries; The Making of A Japanese, Koshien: Japan’s Field of Dreams, and Monkey Business: The Adventures of Curious Georges Creators.

Japanese Americans and Anti-Asian Violence, a conversation on racism and resistance with Scott Kurashige

Japanese Americans and Anti-Asian Violence, a conversation on racism and resistance with Scott Kurashige

by | Mar 31, 2026 | Classes & Events, Featured

Japanese Americans and Anti-Asian Violence, a conversation on racism and resistance with Scott Kurashige

Saturday, April 25, 1 pm

Join author/scholar Scott Kurashige in conversation with local community activists Eryn Kimura and Eddy Zheng on building multiracial solidarity.

Written in the radical spirit of Howard Zinn, American Peril represents the culmination of thirty-five years of study and activism, and is the new book by award-winning scholar Scott Kurashige. From the lynching of Asian immigrants during the exclusion era to the ongoing slaughter of Asian civilians by the U.S. military, the book connects domestic and global events that have been erased from the official record.  It shows us how the racism motivating the mass incarceration of Japanese Americans was part of a broader pattern of dehumanization underlying the firebombing of Tokyo, the dropping of the atomic bombs, and subsequent acts of mass murder and genocide throughout Asia that evaded war crimes prosecution. Going beyond victimhood, Kurashige traces the rise of Asian American community protest and activism in response to the 1982 “Japan-bashing” murder of Vincent Chin and other overlooked tragedies. While many have worked to legislate and prosecute hate crimes, Kurashige argues that hope lies in grassroots activism for multiracial solidarity.

Scott Kurashige is author of “The Shifting Grounds of Race: Black and Japanese Americans in the Making of Multiethnic Los Angeles” and coauthor, with Grace Lee Boggs of “The Next American Revolution: Sustainable Activism for the Twenty-First Century”. Books will be available for sales and signing.

Eryn Kimura is a fifth generation San Franciscan and Japanese-Chinese American mixed media artist, filmmaker, cultural producer and community builder. She currently works for Booker T. Washington Community Service Center, the oldest Black-led community-based organization in San Francisco.

Eddy Zheng is the founder of New Breath Foundation, dedicaed to the healing and transformation of  AANHPI, harmed by the unjust U.S. immigrtion and criminal legal systems and to unite communities of color.

American Peril will be available for sales and signing.  To order a book in advance.

The event is co-sponsored by Eastwind Books of Berkeley and J-Sei.

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The Japanese Way of Parenting, a book talk with Lisa Katayama

The Japanese Way of Parenting, a book talk with Lisa Katayama

by | Mar 31, 2026 | Classes & Events, Featured

The Japanese Way of Parenting, a book talk with Lisa Katayama

Saturday, May 2, 4 pm

In this fascinating half-memoir, half-parenting guide, Lisa Katayama shares her quest to raise her American kids using Japanese parenting principles—combining unconditional love with unwavering rules. Japan is well known for its culture of respect, technological innovations, delicious food, peaceful vibes, and deep connection to nature. The source code to all of it is the way the Japanese view childhood—as a time of rigorous training for societal participation, where they learn from the start that they are just one part of a larger whole.

Lisa Katayama is a working mom and writer who was born and raised in Tokyo. She is the author of two books, including Urawaza: Secret Everyday Tips and Tricks from Japan, and is a former tech and culture journalist for Wired, Fast Company, and The New York Times Magazine. Katayama is a US-Japan Leadership Program Fellow and an Asia Society Young Leader and was named one of Forbes Japan’s Top Women to Watch in 2018.

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Temporary Detention and The Mis-Adventures of A Former Nisei Week Queen

by | Mar 31, 2026 | Classes & Events, Featured

Temporary Detention and The Mis-Adventures of A Former Nisei Week Queen

A film and conversation with collaborators, Brian Niiya, Evan Kodani and Sharon Yamato

Saturday, May 9,  2 pm

Hear from historian Brian Niiya to learn more about the temporary detention centers, hastily built for Japanese Americans during WWII. See the short documentary “The Mis-Adventures of A Former Nisei Week Queen,” directed by Evan Kodani and produced by Sharon Yamato.  And be part of reclaiming the stories in place to build awareness of the injustices and detention happening today.

On February 19, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, authorizing the forced removal of “any or all persons” from designated “military areas” for reasons of “military necessity.” Though it did not specify Japanese Americans by name, it resulted in the mass removal of 110,000 people of Japanese ancestry living on the West Coast to primarily inland concentration camps. As a temporary measure, fifteen “assembly centers” were built as makeshift WWII concentration camps providing interim housing for about 82,000 people of Japanese ancestry for an average of three months. When only a few Nikkei left their homes voluntarily, the military resorted to forceful evacuation and incarceration.

Told with poise, humor, and strength, The Mid-Adventures of A Former Nisei Queen shares reflections of spirited 92-year-old June Aochi Berk. Growing up in prewar Little Tokyo, she goes from surviving in a horse stall at the Santa Anita temporary detention center and in a barrack at the Rohwer concentration camp during World War II to being crowned Nisei Week Queen in Los Angeles. Director Evan Kodani has over a decade of experience in filmmaking. He has filmed and edited a multitude of productions, including the Emmy award-winning ARTBOUND episode Masters of Modern Design in collaboration with PBS SoCal.

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Sansei Musings, a conversation with Naomi and Karen

Sansei Musings, a conversation with Naomi and Karen

by | Mar 31, 2026 | Classes & Events, Featured, Other News

Sansei Musings

A conversation with writers Naomi Hirahara and Karen Tei Yamashita

Friday, June 19, 5 pm

Discovery and creative imaginings fill the pages of the historic fiction works by Naomi Hirahara and Karen Tei Yamashita. With new works to share, they will join in conversation on what inspires the writing, what comes from our shared histories, what transpires through the process, and what remains to be told. 

In Crown City, Naomi Hirahara brings to light Pasadena at the turn of the century, when Japanese design and art piqued the interest of high society, with an art theft mystery from the vantage of the Japanese craftsmen and laborers who built a new life in America.

In Questions 27 & 28, Karen Tei Yamashita reaches backward and forward from the time of the questionnaire, chronicling the individuals who arrived in the US from Japan at the turn of the century, their children who came of age during war and incarceration, and their descendants who lived in its aftermath. 

 Naomi Hirahara is an Edgar Award-winning author of multiple traditional mystery series and noir short stories. Her Mas Arai mysteries, which have been published in Japanese, Korean and French, feature a Los Angeles gardener and Hiroshima survivor who solves crimes. A former journalist with The Rafu Shimpo newspaper, Naomi has also written numerous non-fiction history books.

Karen Tei Yamashita is the author of nine books, including I Hotel, finalist for the National Book Award. A recipient of the National Book Foundation’s Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, she is Professor Emerita of Literature and Creative Writing at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

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