Arts & Entertainment

The National Japanese American Historical Society's upcoming exhibit, "Re-envisioning Community: Hapa Issues Forum, 1992-2007," will be on display from April 12 to 31 in the NJAHS Peace Gallery, at 1684 Post St. (between Laguna and Buchanan) in San Francisco Japantown.

A look back at HIF's history through photographs, documents, and artifacts, the exhibit is intended to draw attention to the work of the organization's members and to uphold their mission to celebrate the growing diversity within Japanese America and the API community at large.

To launch the exhibit, past HIF activists are organizing an opening panel presentation and reception on Sunday, April 13, from 2 to 4 p.m. in the gallery. (The Cherry Blossom Festival will be held in Japantown this weekend, so attendees are asked to plan accordingly.)

In 1992, UC Berkeley students Eric Akira Tate, Steven Masami Ropp, and Greg Mayeda founded HIF, an organization that sought to give individuals of mixed race a more prominent role within the Japanese American community while expanding the very concept of what it meant to be Nikkei.

Before long, HIF was championing this kind of inclusiveness in other Asian American communities, and in time came to stand more broadly as a leading advocate for people of multiracial descent everywhere.

Although most strongly active in the Bay Area, at one point basing its headquarters out of the Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California, the organization also managed to establish several satellite chapters throughout the state.

It eventually received nationwide recognition for its efforts, lobbying successfully for a "check all that apply" option in the 2000 U.S. Census, leading a delegation to the International Nikkei Youth Exchange in Peru, and receiving a JACL National Youth/Student Vision Award.

In recent years, however, the organization found itself unable to sustain a desired level of programming and participation, and officially marked its own disbanding with a commemorative event in September 2007.

Gallery hours are 12 noon to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. For more information, call (415) 921-5007 or e-mail njahs@njahs.org.

by JAMES WOODARD
Hokubei Mainichi

Shunichi Nagasaki’s new film is a must-see for martial arts fanatics as well as period drama lovers. “Kuro-Obi” (Black Belt) premieres at the San Francisco Film Festival on Friday, April 25, at 8:45 p.m. at the Sundance Kabuki Cinema, Post and Fillmore in San Francisco’s Japantown.

The film is set in 1932 Japan during the establishment of Manchuko, as militarism sweeps over the country. The story follows three karate students who, under the tutelage of their wise and ancient sensei, train exhaustively at their small, forested dojo in relative peace. That is, until they are confronted by the local military police, kempeitai, who are demanding that all martial arts schools be surrendered to them.

As the teacher attempts to defuse the situation, one of his students, Choei (Yuji Suzuki), is slashed with a katana by the head officer of the police. The ambitious Taikan (Tatsuya Naka) challenges the officer to a match in the dojo. The officer is more than happy to oblige, hoping to cut down each of the students in order to take their dojo and land.

Giryu (Akihito Yagi) is reluctant to engage them, as his teacher has taught him to not use karate as an attack, but to disarm. But Taikan is eager to test his skills on the young soldiers armed with swords that rush to fight for their commander.

After Taikan kills one of the cops, his sensei rebukes him, and orders Giryu to fight the commander in his stead — only using what he has been taught to use. He disarms and humiliates the commander in a series of moves that look effortless and unbelievable at the same time.

The incident has left a strain on the teacher, who soon dies without naming a successor to his dojo, putting in jeopardy the passing of his kuro-obi — a black belt so worn that the cotton looks white.

As each student meditates on the situation, Choei, whose arm was severely injured in the earlier attack, is left with the burden of holding the belt and choosing a successor. Will it be the ambitious Taikan, who looks forward to testing his mettle against all comers, or the passive Giryu, whose kind heart and unwillingness to fight put him at odds with many of those who look up to him?

This movie is beautifully filmed, with some incredible footage of each student practicing forms, breathing and sparring. Outside of the film, each of the students is a world-class karate master. None of the action sequences involve special effects or other silver-screen trickery. What you see is what you get.

And what you get is a thoughtful film about two men striving to follow the path of their teacher, albeit on different paths, as the country around them falls to war hysteria.

The action in the film has been compared to the likes of Bruce Lee’s films, which sought to bring martial arts out of the standard, ridiculous fight scenes common in many action films. This film follows a similar path, showing the emotional conflicts and human dynamics between two long-time friends who are at disparate odds with each other over who will inherit the kuro-obi.

“Kuro-Obi” opened in Japanese theaters in fall of 2007. The San Francisco International Film Festival marks its U.S. premiere.

The film will be screened at the Sundance Kabuki Cinema at the following times:

Friday, April 25, 8:45 p.m.
Sunday, April 27, 1:30 p.m.
Tuesday, April 29, 1:30 p.m.

For more on the 51st annual SFIFF, visit www.sffs.org or call (925) 866-9559.

An open rehearsal of a new play by Philip Kan Gotanda, #5 The Angry Red Drum, will be held on Friday, April 18, at 8 p.m. at Intersection for the Arts, 446 Valencia St. (between 15th and 16th streets) in San Franciscoﾕs Mission District.

An Open Process Series will follow on Saturday, April 19, at 8 p.m.

Two long-time supporters and developers of Gotandaﾕs work, the Asian American Theater Company and Intersection for the Arts with resident theater company Campo Santo, are working together to create two opportunities to experience this new play as it comes into creation.

After the play is workshopped on April 18, the Open Process Series on April 19 include a discussion with the collaborators about the piece.

Writer and director Gotanda will be joined by movement director Erika Chong Shuch (artistic director of a dance theater company The ESP Project and movement director and choreographer of Gotanda's A Fist of Roses and Under the Rainbow); and musical director and vocalist Dwayne Calizo (artistic director of Mama Calizo's Voice Factory and ESP Project company member).

The cast includes: Samantha Chanse (former program director of Kearny Street Workshop and creator/performer of the recent solo play Lydia's Funeral Video); Daveed Diggs (African American Shakespeare Company actor who was recently featured in the Grounded! Festival at Intersection); Donald E. Lacy Jr. (long-time Campo Santo member, legendary DJ on KPOO, and creator and star of the solo play Color Struck); Randy Nakano (Asian American Theater Company veteran); and Danny Wolohan (Campo Santo favorite and previous Gotanda actor, recently featured at Aurora Theatre, ACT, and Berkeley Rep).

Set in an apocalyptic world, the play uses mythology, memory, mysticism, fate, and fraternity to address the effects of war and loss on our psyches and culture.
#5 The Angry Red Drum is a multi-layered theater experience implementing a live music score, choreography and ensemble acting.

Gotanda's plays include A Song for a Nisei Fisherman, The Dream of Kitamura, The Wash, Yankee Dawg You Die, Fish Head Soup, Ballad of Yachiyo, Yohen, Day Standing on Its Head, Sisters Matsumoto, The Wind Cries Mary, Floating Weeds, and After the War.

As a filmmaker, he wrote and directed The Kiss, Drinking Tea and Life Tastes Good.

Admission to both events is $5 to $15, sliding scale. For more information, call (415) 626-2787 or visit www.theintersection.org. The reservations hotline is (415) 626-3311.

This project is made possible by the Wallace Alexander Gerbode Foundation; Magic Theatre New Works Initiative; Multi-Arts Production (MAP) Fund, a program of the Creative Capital Foundation; National Endowment for the Arts; San Francisco Arts Commission; the San Francisco Foundation; Theatre Bay Area New Works Fund; San Francisco Hotel Tax Fund/Grants for the Arts; and the Zellerbach Family Foundation.

The 51st annual San Francisco International Film Festival kicks off April 24 with some of the best and brightest features, documentaries and short films from around the globe.
The festival runs from Thursday, April 24, to Thursday, May 8, screening films at the Sundance Kabuki Cinemas, Castro Theatre and Landmark Clay Theatre. East Bay screenings will be at the Pacific Film Archive on the UC Berkeley campus. Following are the featured films from Japan, with descriptions by SFIFF staff:

･ "Big Man Japan" (Dainipponjin), West Coast premiere, Japan, 2007 (113 minutes). Directed by Hitoshi Matsumoto. Presented with support from the Consulate General of Japan in San Francisco and in association with SF Indiefest.

Things aren't going so well for Mr. Daisato (co-writer/director Matsumoto), employee at the Department of Baddie Prevention. Speaking to a documentary film crew about his mundane life, he bemoans the estrangement of his wife and daughter, the increasing dementia of his formerly famous grandfather and the low ratings of his televised battles with baddies. See, our (super)hero is a sixth-generation member of the Dainipponjin ("The Great Japanese"), a rarefied breed who defend Japan from various villains scourging the land.

As his health starts to suffer from the high voltage exposure he needs to attain fighting stature. However, criticisms of his efforts increase. Locals blame him for destroying property and getting fat and throw rocks through his office window. So when a truly vicious bad guy hits Japan, it's anyone's guess whether or not Daisato will be up for the job.

Matsumoto, a superstar comedian in his native land, showers "Big Man Japan" with color and verve, satirizing talking head-style documentaries, the omnipresence of sponsor placement and the ephemeral nature of popular culture along the way.

Referencing Japanese monster movie classics while reveling in amusingly juvenile humor, and building to an unforgettable climax populated with numerous baddies and heroes, Matsumoto has created an immensely pleasurable, amusingly outrageous future cult classic.
Born in Amagasaki in 1963, Matsumoto began his career on Japanese television in the hit comedy "Downtown" with costar and collaborator Masatoshi Hamada. He followed that with appearances in several more popular series, including the winningly titled "Hey! Hey! Hey! Music Champ." In 1998, he wrote and published a book of short stories called Visualbum. "Big Man Japan" marks his directorial debut.

At the Sundance Kabuki on Friday, May 2, at 11 p.m.; Wednesday, May 7, at 4:15 p.m.; Thursday, May 8, at 5:15 p.m.

･ "Black Belt" (Kuro Obi), U.S. premiere, Japan, 2007 (95 minutes.) Directed by Shunichi Nagasaki. Presented with support from the Consulate General of Japan.

At last, a thinking person's martial arts movie. Or, in other words, a well acted, deliberately nuanced drama about the moral dilemma of a young man forced to choose between his principles and his obligation to defend the helpless. Plus a few broken heads.

Trouble develops in Japan's late Showa dynasty (1932), in the wake of that country's invasion of Manchuria, when a company of kempeitai military police arrogantly disrupts the karate studies of three young men, Taikan (Tatsuya Naka), Giryu (Akihito Yagi) and Choei (Yuji Suzuki), at the rural dojo of their wise old master (Shinya Ohwada).

Convinced that the students' skills can help in battle, the army wants to conscript them into service as fight instructors.

Screenwriter George Iida and veteran independent filmmaker Nagasaki ("Dogs," "A Tender Place") are obviously skeptical about Japanese militarism in the first place, but leave it to bashful Giryu to set things straight when the hideous army commander widens the scope of his depredations beyond able-bodied fighting men to include innocent local villagers.

The fact that actual karate masters portray the three main characters guarantees that when justice prevails it looks like it actually hurts. No wires, no stunts, no elaborate sound effects.

The no-frills fisticuffs are quick and brutal. Stunt coordinator Fuyuhiko Nishi's authentic fight choreography is matched by cinematographer Masato Kane-ko's dazzling establishing shots of the lush greenery of Kyushu. The film's true subject, though, is the moral calculus of violence, and when, if ever, it should be used.

In his 28-year career, versatile writer/director Nagasaki (born in 1956) has made everything from indie martial arts dramas in Super-8 to J-horror (Shikoku, 1999) to complex psychological thrillers. He began making major international waves in 2006 when his "Heart, Beating in the Dark" (2005), a remake of his 1982 film of the same name, opened the Rotterdam Film Festival as part of a 13-title retrospective.

At the Sundance Kabuki on Friday, April 25, at 8:45 p.m.; Sunday, April 27, at 1:30 p.m.; Tuesday, April 29, at 1:30 p.m.

･ "Glasses" (Megane), West Coast premiere, Japan, 2007, (106 minutes). Directed by Naoko Ogigami. Presented with support from the Consulate General of Japan and in association with the Japan Society of Northern California.

The lapping of waves, the tart sweetness of shaved ice and the meditative pleasures of ﾒtwilightingﾓ all await visitors to Ogigami's "Glasses," a Zen comedy that wryly observes a bespectacled teacher's vacation at an eccentric island resort.

When Taeko (Satomo Kobayashi) first checks into the Hamada Inn, she can only surmise she's arrived somewhere peculiar. The owner (Ken Mitsuishi) intentionally draws bad maps when giving directions to his beachside getaway because he likes the lack of business. Fellow guest and glasses-wearer Sakura (Masako Motai) leads people through daily "merci exercises" and takes to kneeling at Taeko's bedside every morning to greet her when she wakes.

Ogigami scrutinizes yet doesn't quite adopt Taeko's inquisitive if reserved reaction to her idiosyncratic surroundings. The stark soundtrack, meanwhile, which sets a recurring mandolin melody next to a variety of ambient sounds, suggests a change on the horizon, as Ogigami exploits the island setting to explore a longing for idyllic escape from the traps and trappings of modern urban society.

Born in Chiba in 1972, Ogigami studied cinema at the University of Southern California while working on commercials and short films. She returned to Japan in 2000, where her self-produced debut feature, "Yoshino's Barber Shop" (2004), found partial funding from a Pia Film Festival scholarship. She has since directed "Love Is Five, Seven, Five!" (2005) as well as the limited-release commercial hit "Seagull Diner" (2006). "Glasses," her fourth feature film, won the Manfred Salzgeber Award at the 2008 Berlin Film Festival.
At the Clay on Friday, May 2, at 3:30 p.m.

At the Sundance Kabuki on Sunday, May 4, at 6 p.m.; Thursday, May 8, at 5 p.m.

For ticket purchases or other film times and events, visit the San Francisco Film Society website at www.sffs.org, or the festival website at http://fest08.sffs.org.

by ATSUYO HIRAMOTO

In the Kyoto dialect, the word hannari conveys a sense of composure and gorgeousness coupled with elegance and brightness.

This is the main theme of the film "Hannari: Geisha Modern," the first documentary to be made with the cooperation of Kyotoﾕs geisha district. This film, which shows the daily lives of Kyoto's geisha, screened at the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco on March 27.

Producer and director Miyuki Sohara, a Japanese filmmaker working in Hollywood, filmed interviews of all sorts of people associated with this art, such as geisha and maiko (apprentice geisha), geisha house proprietresses, teachers of classical Japanese dance, and traditional craftsmen.

No other film on geisha has achieved such an intimate view of Japan's oft-misunderstood traditional entertainers. Sohara felt passionately about the subject, saying, "As a Japanese woman, it pains me that geisha are so misunderstood. I want people throughout the world to know who they truly are."

This film shows the true nature of the entertainment quarter, which has a 300-year-old tradition and is little known even to most Japanese.

Nowadays, young Japanese women who are drawn by the allure of the geisha contact geisha schools via the Internet. But not all geisha hopefuls can become maiko.

They must master classical arts such as Japanese dance, shamisen, and the tea ceremony. Only one that can endure this rigorous mental and physical training go on to become a geisha - a professional artist of hospitality and true entertainer.

"To Convey the True Culture"

Sohara, who hails from Miyazaki, used to work in Japan as a TV and radio announcer. In 1999, she went to the U.S. and then in 2001 began a career in acting in Los Angeles.
She appeared on television and in movies playing roles as geisha and was shocked by how misunderstood the geisha were.

When the film "Memoirs of a Geisha" opened, the Los Angeles Times referred to the Miyako Odori of Gion, a geisha performance created in 1872, as an event celebrating the Rape of Nanking. In actuality, this is a special dance performed by geisha every spring, and Sohara was angered by this insulting misinterpretation.

Also, when working on the film "The Last Samurai," she visited Kyoto and met many maiko and geisha. She was moved by their courtesy and the beauty with which they carried themselves. It was then that she made up her mind to make a film that correctly conveys the rich culture of the geisha.

The film was completed in November 2006. The first screening was in Beverly Hills, and despite its independent status, the film fared impressively with weekend box-office ratings ranking eighth in the nation.

The film was also shown in Japan, and the prestigious Roppongi Hills screening was attended by people associated with the imperial family and by ambassadors from over 40 nations.

Shooting for an Oscar

When asked about her future goals, Sohara said, "When the film aired in 2006, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences invited us to submit our film. We hope to show the film in the U.S. so that it will be eligible for next yearﾕs 81st Academy Awards."

"In order to do that, we need to make a digital version of the film, which will cost about $100,000. We are asking for private and corporate sponsors to help us with donations."

There is an element of urgency. If the film cannot be digitized by the end of April, it will not be considered by the academy, so the project is in dire need of donations.
Donations for the film, which is scheduled to be shown in San Francisco this autumn, can be made through the website by credit card. Depending on the amount of the contribution, donors can have their names shown in the end credits and on the website. In addition, donations can be eligible for tax exemption.

Visit www.hannari.info for more details.

SAN JOSE — The Chinese Cultural Garden Foundation and the Institute of Sino-American Studies presents the fourth Opera in the Park concert on Sunday, April 27, at 3 p.m. in Overfelt Gardens Park, 368 Educational Park Dr. in San Jose.

Crossing cultures and genres in an intimate setting, this musical journey showcases renowned Bay Area artists — soprano Kristin Clayton, mezzo-soprano Zheng Cao, tenor Kenji Tashiro and pianist Andrew Fleischman — in an afternoon performance of songs and arias by Fauré, Mahler, Canteloube, Offenbach and San Francisco composer Jake Heggie alongside Rodgers and Hammerstein songs and Chinese works, among others.

Opera in the Park in the Chinese Cultural Garden, which began in 2003 under the artistic direction of Zheng Cao, is a free gift to the community. The concert is made possible through the support of Pauline Lowe, the Institute of Sino-American Studies, and the City of San Jose Department of Parks, Recreation and Neighborhood Services, and is funded in part by a grant from Arts Council Silicon Valley.

Admission is free. Attendees should bring lawn chairs and hats. Free parking is available in the main lot on Educational Park Drive at Schulte Drive. For limited VIP seating, call (408) 258-3231 or e-mail opera@chinesculturalgarden.org.

Clayton created a sensation when she sang the world premiere of Jake Heggie and Terrence McNally’s “At the Statue of Venus” for the grand opening of Denver’s Caulkins Opera House, and she later repeated the piece in a concert in São Paolo.　She was also recently heard at Houston Grand Opera in the successful premiere of “Mr. Heggie’s Last Acts” in the role of Beatrice, which was created for her.

Clayton began her career at the San Francisco Opera in the San Francisco Opera Center’s prestigious Adler Fellow Program and has been heard in numerous roles at the company, including her debut as Julie in Susa’s “The Dangerous Liaisons,” Nedda in “Pagliacci,” an appearance in “Hérodiade” by Massenet as the Young Babylonian, Wellgunde in “Das Rheingold,” a Wood Nymph in “Rusalka,” and Echo in a critically acclaimed production of “Ariadne auf Naxos.”

She appears frequently in orchestral concerts and made her debut with Michael Tilson-Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony in a semi-staged version of Leonard Bernstein’s “On the Town.”

Cao began her professional career at the San Francisco Opera as an Adler Fellow, appearing in numerous roles, and returns to the company next season to star in the highly-anticipated world premiere of “The Bonesetter’s Daughter,” composed by Stuart Wallace and based on the novel by Amy Tan who is also the opera’s librettist.

Much admired for her portrayal of Suzuki in “Madama Butterfly,” Cao has sung the role at Le Grand Théâtre de Genève, Washington Opera, Pittsburgh Opera, and San Diego Opera. She later returned to San Diego to sing the role of Siebel and has appeared at Michigan Opera Theatre, Kentucky Opera, and Washington Opera as Rosina in Rossini’s “Il Barbiere di Siviglia.”

At Los Angeles Opera, Cao has performed the role of Penelope in “Il Ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria” by Monteverdi and Zerlina in “Don Giovanni,” a role she has also sung at Opera Pacific, where she made her debut as Niklaus. At Houston Grand Opera she debuted in Janáček’s “Kát’a Kabanová,” singing Varvara.

Born and raised in Tokyo, tenor Tashiro studied vocal music with Kunie Imai in Tokyo, Don Everette Graham at the University of Louisville, Carmo Barbosa at the Universidade de São Paulo, and Michael Paul in New York. He has also studied Italian, French and Spanish repertoire with renowned coaches Julio Alexis Muňoz at the Conservatoire de Madrid and Sabrina Trojse in Rome.

Tashiro recently performed recitals in Tokyo, Madrid, and Rome. Currently, he is focusing on Italian and Japanese art song and has upcoming performances scheduled in Rome with Archetipo Ensamble (Teatro Ghione), at the Ischia Summer Festival, and at the Capri Music Festival in Italy with Sabrina Torjse.

Blending the art of multicultural storytelling with music and dance, “Ghosts and Girls” is a world premiere of a story from a kabuki, “The Legend of the Morning Glory,” featuring a monodrama by noh/kyogen-trained Brenda Wong Aoki, hip-hop dancer KK Aoki Izu, Tokyo-based natori master shakuhachi artist Christopher Yohmei Blasdel, gagaku-trained jazz musician Mark Izu, and female drummers Maze Daiko.

Performances take place at the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco’s Kanbar Hall, 3200 California St. at Presidio, on Friday, April 25, at 8 p.m. and Saturday, April 26, at 2 p.m.

Tickets are $25 general, $22 for members, and $15 for students and are available through the JCCSF box office, (415) 292-1233, or on-line at jccsf.org/arts. For more information on Aoki’s work, visit the website at www.firstvoice.org.

“The Legend of the Morning Glory” was written for the first time at the beginning of the 1800s by Chikamatsu Tokuzo, a kabuki playwright and Osaka brothel owner, but he died before it was staged.

Although Chikamatsu was the first to “write” the story, it was already a famous kodan (traditional storytelling that began in the 17th century) performed by the traditional storytellers of Japan, many of whom were women.

The haunting love tale tells of a girl, the daughter of a powerful samurai, who falls in love with a boy from a poor family. When the boy’s love poem about the morning glory blows into the girl’s boat, she is forever determined to marry him, turning down each of the rich suitors her father has lined up for her.

Finally she runs away, determined to marry the boy. Unaccustomed to the world outside her father’s castle, she makes a living as the Morning Glory, an itinerant storyteller famed for her tale of lost love.

In the end, the two lovers meet one last time at a lonely inn on the banks of the Oi River.

Blasdel, a shakuhachi performer, writer, and lecturer on Japanese/Asian music and artistic director of International House in Tokyo, began the shakuhachi and studies of Japanese music in 1972 with Goro Yamaguchi. He received an MFA in ethnomusicology from Tokyo University of Fine Arts in 1982 and received his professional name “Yohmei” from Yamaguchi in 1984.
Performing in Japan and around the world, Blasdel maintains a balance between traditional shakuhachi music, modern compositions and cross-genre work with other musicians, dancers, poets, and painters.

His discography includes “Breath Play,” “Visionary Tones” and several CDs of traditional and contemporary music. He has composed and performed music for NHK documentaries and various films, and is the author of The Shakuhachi: A Manual for Learning (Ongaku no Tomo-sha, 1988), said to be the foremost English-language book about the instrument.

Blasdel also holds a second-degree black belt in aikido.

Janet Koike is artistic director of Maze Daiko, an all-women drum ensemble that combines rhythm and movement into an exciting performance style.

As a vital part of San Jose Taiko, her work has been a highlight of the group’s national concert tours from “Arsenio Hall” to Carnegie Hall.

Blending traditional San Francisco Taiko Dojo training with custom-built techno taiko, Koike performed with D’CuCKOO at the Cleveland Bicentennial and Macy’s Passport with Cirque du Soleil.

Koike has performed in Hong Kong at the New Dimensions Festival with Izu and Aoki, toured Indonesia with Keith Terry’s Body Tjak, and performed with Jennifer Berezan, Kenny Endo, Ondekoza’s Marco Lienhard, Anthony Brown and the Asian Jazz Orchestra, and Theatre of Yugen.

She is a founding member of Rhythmix, a dynamic world music ensemble that showcases a blend of high-energy percussion, distinctive vocals and ethnic grooves, performing original music on an array of instruments from the countries of West Africa, Cuba, Japan and the Middle East.

Founded in 1995, First Voice’s mission is to create and develop the stories and music of people living between worlds by presenting work that interprets the pluralistic nature of the American experience from a unique Asian American cultural perspective.

First Voice provides a structure for the collaborations of co-artistic directors Izu and Aoki, two prominent Asian American artists whose work since the 1970s has centered on creating contemporary American art by adapting non-Western theatrical, musical, and spoken-word traditions.

Their annual Ghost Festival, presented at the JCCSF, features original work as well as that of other artists working “at the crossroads,” mixing cultures, ethnicities, and media. Through the Ghost Festival, they pay tribute to ancestors while creating culture to be passed on to future generations.

They continue to present past work in repertory, at home in San Francisco and on tour in the U.S. and throughout the world. And they continue to produce numerous spoken-word and jazz recordings, and a publication imprint.

Aoki’s book, Mermaid Meat, and Izu’s new recording, “Threading Time,” featuring gagaku master Togi Suenobu, will be released at the performance.

Kashu Suiseki Kai will hold its 42nd annual suiseki exhibit on Sunday, April 13, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Palo Alto Buddhist Temple, Issei Hall, 2751 Louis Rd.

Suiseki is the art of appreciating a stone in its natural form. The stones are traditionally displayed on carved wooden bases. The exhibit is free and open to the public.

by LEFTERIS KAFATOS
Hokubei Mainichi

This year’s Cherry Blossom Festival features a wide array of traditional artisans from Japan, including Takako Tsugawa, who works with traditional embroidery and cloth dyeing, and Sakiko Kawase, a maker of leather handbags and accessories.

The two exhibited their work in San Francisco Japantown’s Kinokuniya Building on April 12 and 13 in front of Kinokuniya Bookstore on the second floor.

This is Tsugawa’s first time to visit the U.S., and the pieces she is displaying for the festival were created with a springtime theme.

She makes everything from business card holders to wall decorations that incorporate traditional Japanese paper or washi. She also makes family crests and embroiders patterns onto kimono and obi with flower patterns, often using fine golden thread.

In fact, Tsugawa makes her own thread, kneading the string on the spot by hand.

The elegance and refinement of the fine threading belies a simplicity to this Japanese art. Tsugawa says, “Beginners are welcome to stop by and try their hand. It’s difficult to explain embroidery, so the best way is to try it yourself.”

Indeed, visitors could be seen at her table, threading light-colored threads into beautiful flower patterns.

Next to Tsugawa’s table was Kawase, an artisan who works from her studio, called Fukurogura. She uses leather to make handbags and accessories and often displays her creations in Tokyo.

This is Kawase’s third time to attend the annual event. For this year’s festival, she is displaying a wide array of pieces, from eyeglass cases and coin purses to stylish leather purses. She also made wall-hangings that feature beautiful images drawn with lacquer paint flecked with powdered gold. Some examples can be seen at www.geocities.jp/fukurogura.

When asked about the tradition of her art, Kawase said that she was in the process of reinventing herself, not only as an artist but as a representative of Japanese culture: “I’m in the process of changing how I approach my art in hopes of showing the beauty of tradition to younger generations.”

Last year she began creating collaborative pieces with Tsugawa, as seen in stylish suede handbags that incorporate cloth patterns from traditional obi and kimono. Kawase also works with Japanese knots, which is one of the many skills visitors can learn under her tutelage at her table.

Tsugawa and Kawase will be displaying their work on Saturday and Sunday, April 19-20, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. during the second and last weekend of the festival. Visitors can enjoy the elegant displays and demonstrations while creating their own Japanese accessories free of charge.

For more information on the festival, call (415) 563-2313 or visit www.nccbf.org.

OAKLAND - "Inalienable: Youth Voices From World War II and Post-9/11" will be presented on Saturday, April 12, from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Oakland Museum of California, 1000 Oak St. (at 10th Street).

Co-hosted by the Enemy Alien Files Consortium and Partners and the Oakland Museum of California Education Department present, the program will feature multicultural, intergenerational dialogues, personal stories, video and cultural performances on challenges to civil liberties during wartime.

"Listen to the stories of civil liberties and human rights violations experienced by immigrants of Japanese, Italian and German descent in the U.S. and from Latin America, identified as 'enemy aliens' during World War II, alongside stories by Arab, South Asian, Muslim, Latino, African, Asian Pacific Islander and other youth today, impacted by post-9/11 policies and practices," said a consortium spokesperson.

"Learn about the hidden internment stories of World War II and post-9/11 and current efforts to secure government accountability and redress."

The consortium has launched www.enemyalienfiles.org, a new website and educational resource portal for curriculum guides, DVDs, publications and classroom activities.
The consortium consists of:

Members - American Italian Historical Association-Western Regional Chapter, German American Internee Coalition, Japanese Peruvian Oral History Project, National Japanese American Historical Society.

Partners - American Muslim Voice, Campaign For Justice: Redress Now for Japanese Latin Americans!, Council on American-Islamic Relations, National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights.

Major funding is provided by the California Civil Liberties Public Education Program.
For information, contact NJAHS at (415) 921-5007 or njahs@njahs.org.