National Japanese American Historical Society (NJAHS) hosts the Japantown Cultural Tourism Initiative featuring Summer Youth Leadership Interns. The interns, coined N’interns, created their own digital stories reflecting their experiences as Japanese Americans. “Breaking Perspectives” encapsulates the unique and distinct lenses through which they view their lives. “Voices Never Raised,” by Tina Chong, a senior at Scripps College in Southern California, is a personal reflection of her grandfather, Hachiro John Togashi’s life and his experiences as a member of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team; “The Sound of Truth,” by Devin Yoshikawa, graduate of Sacramento State University, interprets the atmosphere of social justice movements in metal music; and “The Shin-Nisei Experience,” by Stephen Yoshizawa, a sophomore at UC Berkeley, reflects on his life as a son of first generation Japanese immigrants of the 1980s. Instructing the N’interns was Lina Hoshino, independent film producer of Leap of Faith: How Emanji Temple Was Saved, and Caught in Between. The N’interns spent a three-day intensive workshop on film editing, photoshop, scripting, voice recording, and photographing. “It was a fun, creative process exploring our lives and our identities”, according to Devin Yoshikawa.

The digital storytelling product is a part of the 9 week summer internship which also includes researching and conducting walking tours of San Francisco’s Japantown and library archives management, fieldtrips to neighborhoods, and $20 a day in Japantown YouTube broadcast. Devin and Stephen are college students from the Nikkei Community Internship sponsored by Japanese Community Youth Council. Assisting the program participants is video technician is 2008 N’intern Scott Yamada who will be attending University of the Pacific in the fall. The N’intern program is funded in part by the San Francisco Japantown Foundation, Hotel Kabuki, and NJAHS members. “Breaking Perspectives” will be screened on Saturday, August 7th, 2010 at 11am – 12noon at the NJAHS Peace Gallery. Q&A session with the N’interns follows the presentation. The event is free. Light refreshments served.