Connecting Across Generations: Bringing the Japanese American community together through conversations & food.

Saturday, September 7 @ 12:00 pm – 2:00 pm 

J-Sei 1285 66th St, Emeryville, CA

We will enjoy food together and have the opportunity to meet others in the community! This is a time for us to connect, engage in intergenerational conversations, and be in community.

Don’t forget to fill out this RSVP form! If you have questions please email: jill@j-sei.org. All are welcome!

Participating Orgs: Berkeley JACL, J-Sei, JAWA UCB, Young Professionals Network, UC Berkeley Asian American Research Center, JAYA, Berkeley Nikkei Student Union, Okaeri NorCal, Berkeley Buddhist Temple

We look forward to seeing you there!

Fall 2024 Workshop

Taste of Mokuhanga: Japanese Woodblock Intro Workshop

Friday, Sept 20th — 1 to 4 pm  [New date]

Join us for a 3-hour introductory Japanese Woodblock Print workshop. Participants will be introduced to the art of Japanese woodblock printing called Ukiyo-E technique. Tomoko Murakami, a Japanese-born printmaking artist, will demonstrate the carving and printing processes.

Participants will create small Ukiyo-E prints while learning to carve their woodblocks! All materials are provided, and all levels are welcome.

Class fee: $25 (includes materials)

Reserve your space by clicking on the button below.  Please check the box for “Write us a comment.” and indicate who will be taking the workshop. If this is your first time taking an in-person class at J-Sei, please register here.   

Old Leupp – An Archaeology Collaboration to Study the Indian Boarding School and Citizen Isolation Center

Monday, September 23rd, 12 to 1 pm

A noon-time lecture at J-Sei

A team of archaeologists of Diné and Nikkei members, Davina Two Bears, Jun Sunseri, and Koji Lau-Ozawa, are studying the history and landscape surrounding the Old Leupp Indian Boarding School and the Leupp Citizen Isolation Center, located in Northeastern Arizona. Davina Two Bears is Diné and originally from Birdsprings, Arizona, a community adjacent to Leupp. Kojun “Jun” Ueno Sunseri is shin-issei, born in Tokyo with biological paternal roots from Ueno and emigrated at five years old to the United States to be raised in other cultures in Southern California and eventually adopted. Koji Lau-Ozawa is a sansei/yonsei from San Francisco. His grandparents, along with great-grandparents, aunts and uncles, were all incarcerated at the Gila River Incarceration Camp where he focused his first major research project.

Due to the history of the site, the team has approached the project slowly with care. They began this project by first entering into agreements with communities around the Old Leupp site including Birdsprings and Leupp, as well as local schools. They also received input from some of the descendants of Japanese Americans imprisoned at Leupp.

In June 2024, after receiving Community support and protective blessings, they completed their first season of fieldwork at the Old Leupp site, employing non-invasive archaeological methodologies to document structural and artifactual features which are visible on the surface and through multispectral imaging. Combining high precision mapping equipment, UAVs, and meticulous survey strategies, they recorded a large number of features and artifacts which promise to expand our understanding of life at Old Leupp and deliver on at least one community mandate regarding safely planning for the reintegration of the site back into contemporary community life.

The team looks forward to sharing some of their initial results as well as seeking mentorship from community members as we work on analyzing our results and co-crafting our next steps.

RSVP to jill@j-sei.org with “Old Leupp” in the memo.

You are welcome to bring a lunch.  Or if you would like to order a J-Sei lunch to-go, please contact kathleen@j-sei.org

Leupp Boarding School (Museum of  Northern Arizona Archives), Mess Hall at Leupp Isolation Center (Henry Ueno photo from Embrey et al), National Park Service Confinement and Ethnicity, NPS History.com

On Memory Care and Family: I Go Gaga, My Dear

A film screening and talk with director Naoko Nobutomo (online)

Sunday, August 18 Pacific Standard/Monday, August 19 Tokyo

Film Screening: 3 pm — Film Talk: 5 pm PST [Aug 19, 9 am Tokyo]

For those who RSVP’d, here is the: ZOOM LINK

The first theatrical feature I Go Gaga, My Dear by veteran television director Naoko Nobutomo is a personal documentary chronicling the enduring love, resilience and struggles of her nonagenarian parents in Kure, Hiroshima as her mother’s Alzheimer’s-related dementia gradually worsens. With a great abundance of footage taken over several years, Nobutomo interweaves direct documentation with intimate home movies of her parents, including their support during her battle with breast cancer. I Go Gaga, My Dear opened in one small Sapporo cinema and eventually expanded to 70 screens nationwide for over three months. [2019. 102 min. Directed by Naoko Nobutomo.]  Join us for a film screening and a conversation with filmmaker Naoko Nobutomo. 

This film is next for part of the Japanese American Caregiver series, a collaboration with J-Sei, Kimochi, Yu-Ai Kai, with support from the Alzheimer’s Association of Northern California and Northern Nevada Chapter. 

RSVP to receive a ZOOM link.

Artist Reception – Saturday, June 15, 1 to 3 pm

J-Sei Gallery, 1285 66h Street, Emeryville

Exhibit Hours: Mon, Thurs, Fri 1 to 5 pm, and by appointment

Visiting J-Sei on a Thursday afternoon, you might happen upon a light-filled room with murmurs of soft conversation and gentle encouragement, amidst the quiet focus of seniors practicing the art of Watercolor Painting with Wendy Yoshimura.   Come witness a varied and expansive breadth of creative works by eighteen artists that express a glimpse of color, light and joy.

I want to teach my students how to enjoy painting. – Wendy Yoshimura

 Wendy sees color and light that are not apparent to us. She sees beauty in things. She helps us to see things in a different light. – Vicky Jennings

Wendy is always encouraging. She shows us how to bring out the best in our work. Wendy can help people who have never painted before to have the confidence to explore.  – Nobuo Nishi

I learn a lot about technique from Wendy, but she also has a very free spirit and an artistic spirit. I learn from her spirit. She lets us fly freely.  – Daisy Tsujimoto

 Featured Artists: Tsutomu Yoshida, Vicky Jennings, Chiharu Nakagawa, Naomi Onaga, Karen Allen, Bill Lee, Connie Chan, Nobuo Nishi, Marla Kamiya, Pat Tong, H. Cathy Crystal, Joyce Kawahata, Bea Dong, Kyoko Ono, Daisy Tsujimoto, Haruko Emoto Fuchs, Yasuko Sugimoto, and Suzanna Leach.