J-Sei’s 10th Annual Family Festival – Sunday, Sept 26

J-Sei’s 10th Annual Family Festival – Sunday, Sept 26

by | Sep 9, 2021 | Classes & Events

J-Sei’s Family Festival

Sunday, Sept 26 – Virtual Program

Take part in our intergenerational event in honor of Keiro no Hi, Respect for the Aged Day.

  • Invite your elders, family, neighbors, and friends to participate with you!
  • Don’t miss our local Asian flair Pop-Up  [Details below].
  • Pick-up your bento & enjoy a short visit from 11 am – 2 pm.
  • Join us online for our Virtual Celebration at 3 pm.

Sunday, Sept 26th – 11 am – 2 pm

When you come for your pick-up, enjoy a short visit to get an extra treat from

Always Aloha Shaved Ice Co.

J-Sei Curry Rice with Hikari Farms Rakkyo – pickled Japanese scallions  $8

Pick up a Hikari Farms condiment jar to enjoy at home.

Listen to smooth tunes by Sentimental Strummers.

See a weaving demo by Koko Baker.

FEATURED SPECIAL

J-Sei Curry Rice with Hikari Farms Rakkyo  $8

(Order in advance or available at walk-up.)

HOW TO ORDER

Family Festival Pre-Order is now CLOSED.

Click on the button below to order, you can choose 1, 2, 3 bento or more of the noodle dishes from our local chefs at $18/bento.  You can also order J-Sei Curry Rice with Hikari Farms Rakkyo at $8 for a quick bite. Indicate the quantity of items,  select a pick-up, add up the cost, and follow the payment link.

Pick up between 11 am – 2 pm at J-Sei, 1285 66th Street, Emeryville (at Hollis St).

Virtual Family Festival – WATCH NOW!

Virtual FAMILY FEST – 3 pm

In celebration of J-Sei’s 50th Anniversary, the online program continues the theme of “Our Community, Our Legacies”.

Learn about Hikari Farms and a visit by chefs Yuji Ishikata and Brian Ishii.

Meet artists Kay Sekimachi and Lucy Arai as they chat about art and legacy, and the current exhibition “Geometries – Kay Sekimachi” at BAMPFA on view through October.

Hear from the great grandchildren of Issei writers from “Our Recollections”, translated essays produced by the East Bay Japanese for Action in 1986.

Enjoy performances by Minyo no Odori, J-Sei Sings, Daruma no Gakko, and Sentimental Strummers.

 

Don’t miss ALWAYS ALOHA SHAVE ICE

Sun, Sept 26, 11 am to 2 pm

J-Sei, 1285 66th Street, Emeryville

 

FAMILY FESTIVAL POP-UP MENU – Pre-order Sales is CLOSED

MY FRIEND YUJI

Influenced by memories of his grandmothers cooking and inspired by community, Chef Yuji offers inventive dishes and a fresh take on Japanese food for the soul.

Pork Tsukemen $18

Futomen Noodles, Bone Broth, Chashu, Bonito, Ajitsuke Tamago, Nori

OX + TIGER

Filipino Japanese inspired pop-up by Hitomi Wada and EJ Macayan that intertwine their heritage and cultivate flavors that express their experiences.

Mentaiko Pansit  $18

 Garlic Noodles, Spicy Cod Roe, Shiitake, Nori Sarsa, Annatto Crumb, Onsen Tamago

 

EL CHINO GRANDE

Christopher Yang and Marcelle Gonzales Yang offer a casual pop-up influenced by the street food of Taiwan and travels to  Asia and Hawaii.

Taiwanese Beef Noodles  $18

Red Braised Beef, Egg Noodles, Sichuan Chili XO, marinated Gailan

Kay Sekimachi: Geometries at BAMPFA

Kay Sekimachi: Geometries at BAMPFA

by | Sep 9, 2021 | Classes & Events

Fri, Oct 8, 1pm – Kay Sekimachi:Geometries – J-Sei group tour

Join us for a group visit to see “Kay Sekimachi: Geometries” exhibit at BAMPFA, the UC Berkeley Pacific Film Archive Museum. We will meet at BAMPFA, 2155 Center Street (at Oxford St), easily accessible by BART. The group ticket price is $8  Please RSVP to jill@j-sei.org with “Kay Sekimachi tour” in the subject line.

“Kay Sekimachi: Geometries” includes more than fifty objects that highlight the artist’s material and formal innovations across her career. First recognized for her woven monofilament sculptures, made between 1964 and 1974, Sekimachi has since used linear, pliable elements—monofilament, thread, and paper, among other materials—to create experimental objects that fold together art and craft, found and made, and Japanese and American artistic traditions.

Born in San Francisco and growing up in Berkeley, Kay Sekimachi studied at the California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland from 1946 to 1949. In 1949 she took up weaving on the loom and became so adept at the labor-intensive process that she is often referred to as a “weaver’s weaver.” Today, almost fifty years after she began to work in fiber, Sekimachi is recognized as a pioneer in resurrecting it as a medium of artistic expression.

Sekimachi uses the loom to construct three-dimensional sculptural forms. In the early 1970s she used nylon monofilament to create hanging quadruple tubular woven forms to explore ideas of space, transparency, and movement. Inspired by her ancestral homeland of Japan, Sekimachi repeatedly returns to that ancient culture for ideas.

“Sekimachi eschews color in order to reinforce the sculptural qualities of her forms and emphasize the natural properties of her chosen materials. Enamored with antique Japanese paper, she has created a series of standing geometric postlike forms that suggest ancient totemic figures.” –Smithsonian American Art Museum

 

Dementia in the AAPI Community

Dementia in the AAPI Community

by | Sep 9, 2021 | Classes & Events, Other News

Sat, Nov 20, 10 am – Dementia in the AAPI Community presented by UCSF CARE 

Note: Change in date from Oct 9th due to speaker  availability.

Learn about Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias amongst Asian American Pacific Islanders (AAPI). How prevalent is dementia in the AAPI community?  What are the causes and how can we better address the needs?  CARE (Collaborative Approach for Asian and Pacific Islanders Research and Education) is a program of UCSF. Their primary goal is to pave the way for the meaningful inclusion of AAPI in clinical and caregiving research across the lifespan.  Find out how you can help support the work that benefits community care of our elders. RSVP on Eventbrite

“You took care of me, and now it’s my turn to take care of you. My name is June Yasuhara. I was born in San Jose where I have lived all my life. I am the primary caregiver to both my Japanese parents who have dementia. My mother, Eiko, who is 83 was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 2017. She is originally from Japan and came to the United States when she was a teen. My dad, James, is 87 and he was diagnosed with mixed dementia in early 2019. . .” [Continue to learn more.]

Sundays with author Alden Hayashi

Sundays with author Alden Hayashi

by | Sep 9, 2021 | Classes & Events

Sundays with author Alden Hayashi – Two Nails, One Love

Two Nails, One Love is a semi autobiographical novel about an estranged mother-son relationship that evolves and eventually heals as the son realizes just how much his life has been affected by his mother’s traumatic past. The novel covers broad themes of discrimination (both racial and LGBTQ), ethnic identity, and immigration.  Join us for one or both conversations.

Sun, Oct 17, 4 pm – JA history talk hosted by Brian Niiya, Densho – RSVP for Oct 17 here.

Sun, Oct 24, 4 pm – LGBTQ talk hosted by Stan Yogi,  Okaeri-LA – RSVP for Oct 24 here.

Alden Hayashi has worked for more than 30 years in the publishing industry. He has been a staff writer/editor at the Harvard Business Review, the MIT Sloan Management Review, Scientific American, and several other magazines. He has now turned his focus to writing fiction. A short story —”Finding the Right Keiko“—was published in The Baltimore Review (Winter 2021), and his first novel—Two Nails, One Love—has recently been published by Black Rose Writing (Sept 2021).

The program is co-sponsored by You Know You Are Japanese American When (Facebook Group), J-Sei, Densho, and Okaeri-LA.

To purchase the book, please visit Eastwind Books.  

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

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

by | 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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chiura Obata: Art and Life Inspired by Nature

Chiura Obata: Art and Life Inspired by Nature

by | Sep 4, 2021 | Classes & Events

Sun, Oct 17, 2-3:30 – Chiura Obata: Art and Life Inspired by Nature 

Co-presented as part of Ashby Village Arts and Culture Series

World-renowned American artist and distinguished UC Berkeley professor, Chiura Obata (1885-1975), is considered by many today one of the foremost California landscape painters of the 20th century.

His seminal work depicting the High Sierra was created nearly 100 years in 1927, and was captured vividly in the book Obata’s Yosemite. Obata’s art and his philosophy of gratitude and reverence to “Dai Shizen”– Great Nature — continues to resonate with admirers both new and old.  As people today search for inspiration and healing as stewards of our planet, a fresh look at Obata’s art and life afford lessons for everyone. “Paintings must give to others the kinds of feeling about Nature that Nature gives us. If we pass this along, not just to art lovers but to everybody, our friends, our community, our country, it is the best possible promise for peace in the future.”

His granddaughter Kimi Hill has consulted on numerous books and exhibitions about her grandfather, including a recent retrospective at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. As family historian Hill also edited the book Topaz Moon: Chiura Obata’s Art of the Internment which tells the story of the Obata family, one of the thousands of Japanese-Americans stripped of their homes and livelihoods and incarcerated during WWII.

RSVP to info@ashbyvillage.org with “Chiura Obata” in the subject line.

Automated AI captioning will be available at this event.