KOMEBUKURO:  Boro inspired “rice bag”

Two Mondays, 1 to 3 pm –
Choose from March 2 & 9 or March 23 & 30.

KOMEBUKURO, drawstring rice bags, were traditionally used to carry rice as offerings to temples and shrines.  They were often made from repurposed fabric and hand stitched.

BORO (rags, tatters).  Due to economic hardships, the peasants of 17-19th century Japan had to extend the life of their clothing and textiles with patches of fabric reinforced with SASHIKO, (running stitches.).

Today, these pieces have become highly revered, not only for their utilitarian purposes, but as artistic expressions as  they embody the Japanese concepts of WABI SABI (seeing the beauty in the imperfect, the impermanent) and MOTTAINAI (waste not).

Our Komebukuro bags will be boro-inspired. Workshop fee is $40 (includes some materials).  Participants are asked to bring their own 1/8 or 1/4 yard of fabric, can be recycled or repurposed.

RSVP to jill@j-sei.org with “Boro” and preferred date.

Multigenerational Movie Watch: Lu, Over the Wall

Sunday, March 8th, 3 pm 

From visionary anime auteur Masaaki Yuasa, comes a joyously hallucinogenic but family-friendly take on the classic fairy tale about a little mermaid who comes ashore to join a middle-school rock band and propel them to fame.  Kai is talented but adrift, spending his days sulking in a small fishing village after his family moves from Tokyo. When his classmates invite him to play the keyboard in their band, their practice sessions bring an unexpected guest: Lu, a young mermaid whose singing causes humans to compulsively dance – whether they want to or not.

Winner of the Grand Prize at the prestigious Annecy Animation Festival, and premiering in English as an official selection of Sundance 2018, Lu Over the Wall is a toe-tapping, feel-good demonstration of Yuasa’s genre-mixing mastery that will leave you humming long after you leave the theater.  

Imagine Nikkei Village Cinema seeks to create a multigenerational space at J-Sei to come with family and friends to watch a movie, join a conversation, and participate in a hands-on activity with people of all ages – children, youth, adults, elders.

Rockin’ The Boat, Flashbacks of the 1970s Asian Movement

Meet Author/Photographer Mary Uyematsu Kao

Saturday, January 24, 2026

Never-before-seen photographs tell the story of the beginnings of Asian America in the 1970s from immigrant generations in Chinatowns, Japanese American youth and multigenerational community activism from California to New York.  Personal reflections from those photographed bring the reader into the experiences of the times. Born in Altadena, a suburb of Los Angeles, activist and photographer Mary Uyematsu Kao attended UCLA during the struggle to establish Asian American Studies on campus. Having worked at the Asian American Studies Center at UCLA for 30 years, she is well known for her graphic design work for AASC Press publications, including the Amerasia Journal.

Kao will be joined in conversation with activist Shoshana Arai. The event is co-presented by Eastwind Books of Berkeley and J-Sei.  

RSVP on Eventbrite.