To Arrange Flowers (Ikeru) is to Live (Ikiru): Seifū Arimura

By Keiko Fukuda
Translated by Minoru Nishida

Avoiding fixation to my own teaching methods: Gathering interest by attending lectures

The Iemoto of Ikenobō is on its 45th generation, now with over 500 years of history. Perhaps becoming an instructor is something that is passed on from our parents’ generation. Arimura-san, who originally began instruction in the southwestern district and now teaches around Costa Mesa in Orange County, also has a mother in Kagoshima who was an Ikenobō instructor.

My Nisei Week, Our Nisei Week

By Bobby Okinaka

Saturday, August 16

On Saturday morning I arrived early at the Japanese American National Museum. Yonezawa-san was already there. He is the president of the Miyagi Kenjinkai. Miyagi Prefecture is famous throughout Japan for the Tanabata Festival in Sendai. On the seventh day of the seventh month, the streets of Sendai are lined with colorful decorations called fukinagashi. Yonezawa-san and the Miyagi Kenjinkai made five fukinagashi that we were going to use to decorate the central hall of the museum. The Kenjinkai boss was especially excited to share a part of his culture with the Nisei Week festival-goers.

Motivos para comemorar: ações do Centenário

Por Alexandre Uehara

Ufa! Com certeza essa é a palavra que muitas pessoas envolvidas nas atividades do Centenário da imigração japonesa disseram e estão dizendo após o mês de junho. As cerimônias oficiais que contaram com presença de ilustres personalidades, como o príncipe herdeiro Naruhito, não finalizaram as comemorações, outros eventos ainda estão programados, mas também há muitas pessoas sentindo-se aliviadas com a tarefa, ou parte dela, realizada. É momento de parabenizar a todos, na ampla acepção da palavra, pelas realizações, pois a difusão das comemorações ultrapassou os limites da comunidade de imigrantes e descendentes de japoneses. Sente-se, como no caso de São Paulo, que a imigração foi japonesa, mas as comemorações foram amplas, reportagens, propagandas comerciais, documentários entre outros, contagiaram o cotidiano de ampla parcela da sociedade brasileira.

Journal Entry # Count to 10: "Now what did I do?..."

By Neal Yamamoto

A weekly visual journal/cartoon about an easily-annoyed fourth generation American of Japanese descent. This week, five ways an Asian mom gets even.
Check back every weekend for subsequent entries...

Resisting Incarceration in Concentration Camps

By Hideo Yonenaka

Hideo Yonenaka was one of the panelists in a presentation titled “Stories of Resistance: Consciousness, Conscience, and the Constitution” at the Enduring Communities National Conference on July 3-6. 2008 in Denver, CO. –ed.

On May 8, 1942, I moved from South Palo Alto in Santa Clara County, California, to East Palo Alto in San Mateo County to be with my grandmother, who was then ill.

Between May 9 and September 1943, I was detained at the Tanforan Assembly Center in San Bruno, California, just south of San Francisco. I was angry about being incarcerated on May 9 because that was the day before the high school track and field finals, and here I was about to lose my freedom.

アメリカで日本食レストランを身近にした男 －ロッキー青木－

橋本　裕美子

アメリカ人に知っている日本食レストランを挙げてもらうなら、「ベニハナ」と言う人も多いだろう。鉄板焼きレストラン「ベニハナ」は、都市部に住むアメリカ人の多くになじみのあるレストランだ。このレストランの創業者は、言わずと知れたロッキー青木氏。慶應義塾大学在学中にレスリングの日本代表としてアメリカ遠征後、ＮＹで屋台のアイスクリーム販売で成功したのをきっかけに、東京・日本橋で洋食店「紅花」を開いていた両親を説得、1964年にマンハッタンで始めたのが、鉄板焼きレストラン「ベニハナ・オブ・トーキョー」である。オリエンタル調のミステリアスな店内インテリア、大きな鉄板を囲んだ客が、ナイフとコテを器用に操るシェフに目の前でサービスしてもらうというスタイルは、パフォーマンス好きのアメリカ人にエンターテイメント型ダイニングとして受けた。「ベニハナ」は、現在90店舗以上（フランチャイズ含む）、南カリフォルニアだけでも10店舗あるという（※１）。

1001 Cranes

Excerpt from a new novel for young readers
By Naomi Hirahara

(The following is an excerpt from Naomi Hirahara’s middle-grade novel, 1001 Cranes, which tells the story of Angela Michiko Kato, a 12-year-old girl who has to spend a summer with her grandparents in Gardena, CA while her parents are going through marital problems.)

Chapter Ten The Great Gambaru

That night I go to bed early. Early, early at eight o’clock.

Nueva exposición parte 1

Un nuevo ciclo, un nuevo experimento
Por Victor Nishio Yasuoka

No soy artista; soy publicista que estudió en el Instituto Peruano de Publicidad - IPP, como muchos otros Nikkei peruanos. No me desenvuelvo en el ambiente artístico limeño pero me dedico a crear piezas artísticas... más por curiosidad y por aprender de materiales, colores y emociones, no técnicas, sino las que desarrollo mientras voy creando.

Journal Entry # 1-800-555-Artist: "Me Artist, You Buy..."

By Neal Yamamoto

A weekly visual journal/cartoon about an easily-annoyed fourth generation American of Japanese descent. This week, learn how to be an artist in four easy steps.
Check back every weekend for subsequent entries...

The Heart of Flowers is Universal: Ms. Youka Shiba

By Keiko Fukuda
Translated by Minoru Nishida

Comforted and calmed by flowers: Relationships born through flowers

The history of Ikenobō is synonymous to the history of ikebana. Acclaimed as the “roots of ikebana,” Ikenobō has a longstanding tradition of over 500 years. The current iemoto (grand master), Sen’ei Ikenobō, represents the 45th generation. Ikenobō has evolved from simple arrangements of flowers in the tokono-ma (living room alcove) of Japanese houses, and now has three established styles called tachibana, ikebana, and jiyu-bana (free-form).