Preserving California’s Japantowns Symposium
June 9, 2006
9:00am - 4:30pm
Miyako Hotel, San Francisco's Japantown

This one-day symposium will bring together experts and practitioners of historic and cultural preservation, community development, and documentation of historic sites to discuss the unique opportunities and challenges of preserving California’s Japantowns.

It will highlight the importance of developing strategic plans toward preserving the tangible and intangible assets of our community’s heritage and resources, and will encourage individuals to learn about tools that can be used toward preserving our communities. Sponsored by the California Civil Liberties Public Education Program (CCLPEP) and the California State Library, this event will also offer 2004-2005 CCLPEP preservation grant recipients an opportunity to present the current progress and outcomes of their cultural and historic preservation work.

Community leaders from the three remaining Japantowns – San Francisco, San Jose and Los Angeles – will address the unique opportunities and challenges currently facing each individual community, as well as the common threads that tie these communities together. Participants will engage in panel discussions and interactive workshops on the latest in preservation tools and techniques, discussing topics such as documenting the history, culture, stories and sites that comprise past and present Japantown communities, and how Japantowns can benefit from cultural heritage tourism and other community benefit agreements. A reception will be held following the symposium, celebrating the vitality of our Japantowns through music, food, and other festivities.

Proposition 40, the 2002 Resources Bond Act, was approved by California voters in March 2002, allocating $267.50 million for historical and cultural resource projects. $1 million of this money was earmarked by Governor Gray Davis to support cultural preservation projects in California’s three Japantowns. Representatives from the San Francisco, San Jose, and Los Angeles Proposition 40 projects will speak at the symposium to discuss how the funds have been used for cultural preservation in their communities.

This event is being organized by Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California (JCCCNC) in partnership with the California Japanese American Community Leadership Council (CJACLC) and the support of the California Preservation Foundation, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and the California Cultural & Historical Endowment.

Join us in engaging our communities to learn about the cultural and historic preservation of our Japantowns. Symposium fees are $25 advance registration (by May 19), $40 general registration (by June 5), and $10 student/senior registration. Registration fees include a continental breakfast, boxed lunch, and light reception.

For general information or questions, contact Naomi Funahashi at nfunahashi@jcccnc.org or (415) 567-5505. For registration, call JCCCNC at (415) 567-5505 or visit www.californiajapantowns.org.

About JCCCNC
Envisioned by the Japanese American community, JCCCNC will be an everlasting foundation of our Japanese American ancestry, cultural heritage, histories and traditions. The JCCCNC strives to meet the evolving needs of the Japanese American community through programs, affordable services and administrative support and facilities for other local service organizations. The JCCCNC is a 501(c)(3) non-profit community center based in San Francisco.

About CCLPEP
The California Civil Liberties Public Education Program (CCLPEP) was created in 1999 as the result of the passage of the California Civil Liberties Public Education Act (AB1914 and AB1915) sponsored by Assemblymember Mike Honda. The legislation creates the California Civil Liberties Public Education Program, CCLPEP. Its purpose is to provide competitive grants for public educational activities and the development of educational materials to ensure that the events surrounding the exclusion, forced removal and incarceration of civilians and permanent resident aliens of Japanese ancestry will be remembered and so that causes and circumstances of this and similar events may be illuminated and understood. The CCLPEP has funded $5.5 million over the past six years in more than 160 projects. For more information about the CCLPEP, visit www.library.ca.gov/cclpep.