Cultivating remembrance: An interview with filmmaker Kenneth Kokka

Fiona Potter

The phrase “Richmond, California, 1942” might call to mind the patriotic bustle of naval shipyards and the stoic biceps of Rosie the Riveter, but this would obscure another story: that of the Japanese American residents who were forcibly removed from their homes and businesses in this coastal town and sent …

Japanese American National Museum Store Online

Blossoms and Thorns: A Community Uprooted: New documentary portrays a vanishing industry

Fiona Potter

Richmond, California, in the year 1942 calls to mind the bustle of naval shipyards and a whirlwind of housing construction. A semi-rural town before World War II, the city was forever changed by the war and the thousands of defense workers who migrated there to work in various wartime industries.

Reflections of a Summer Intern

Fiona Potter

When I first applied to the Nikkei Community Internship, I don’t think I really knew what I was getting myself into. The idea of connecting with my family’s culture in a way that also benefited the community was appealing to me, but I didn’t really think into it much more …