Chris Komai

ckomai

Chris Komai es un escritor independiente y especialista en relaciones comunitarias, quien ha estado involucrado en Little Tokyo durante cuatro décadas. Fue Oficial de Información Pública del Museo Nacional Japonés Americano por más de 21 años, donde manejó la publicidad para los eventos especiales, exhibiciones y programas públicos de la organización. Antes de eso, Komai trabajó para el diario japonés-estadounidense The Rafu Shimpo durante 18 años como escritor deportivo, editor deportivo y editor en idioma inglés. Además, Komai es miembro de la Junta del Consejo Comunitario de Little Tokyo y de la Junta de la Asociación de Seguridad Pública de Little Tokyo. Ha sido miembro de la Junta Sindical de Atletismo Nisei del Sur de California para las ligas de básquet y béisbol durante 30 años. Obtuvo el grado de bachiller en idioma inglés de la Universidad de California en Riverside.

Última actualización en abril de 2014

food en

Crónicas Nikkei #11—¡Itadakimasu 3! Comida, Familia y Comunidad Nikkei

JANM Sashimi Potluck Lunches: Extended A Pre-WWII Tradition

Por Chris Komai
4 Oct 2022

Most people appreciate that anyone who works for a reputable nonprofit organization is unlikely to get rich. But the intangible rewards for those who feel the satisfaction of helping to fulfill a worthwhile mission often surpass the limited monetary compensation. And if you’re lucky, you might gain access to tangible benefits unique to the Japanese American nonprofit community. As someone who worked for the Japanese American National Museum (JANM) for over 20 years, I witnessed a series of remarkable summer Nikkei grassroots benefits: the sashimi lunches. While potlucks including fre...

lea más

sports en

Appreciating Wat Misaka

Por Chris Komai
7 Feb 2022

Appropriately, as the National Basketball Association (NBA) celebrates its 75th anniversary, it included Wat Misaka as an important figure in its history. This might seem remarkable since Wataru “Wat” Misaka’s playing career consisted of only three games with the New York Knickerbockers. But Misaka’s mere presence on a roster in 1947 made him the first person of color to play in the Basketball Association of America (BAA), the predecessor to NBA, in the same calendar year that Jackie Robinson integrated Major League Baseball. Historically, because America’s lo...

lea más

media en

Kikan: The Homecoming: Film Spotlights the Emotional Turmoil Japanese American Families Suffered Through During World War II

Por Chris Komai
24 Sep 2021

In Kerwin Berk’s short film, Kikan: The Homecoming the most dramatic moments occur around a dining room table when no one is speaking. The Ito family, trying to absorb the loss of their only son Ken (Ken Takeda) at the end of the war in Europe, is confronted with the reality of his death when a fellow 442nd Regimental Combat Team veteran Jimmy Ibata (Ryan Takemiya) unexpectedly shows up at their home in San Francisco. As the film depicts, Ken’s dying wish is that Jimmy return an heirloom: a pocket watch. It is a request that Jimmy tries desperately to deflect and deny...

lea más

identity en

Assembling My Grandfather’s Story, Piece by Piece

Por Chris Komai
21 Jul 2021

All of my grandparents passed away before I was born. My mother Kay lost her parents to tuberculosis just as World War II began and my father Khan’s mother died in the 1930s. His father Toyosaku Komai is the only one to live into the post-war era and he died in 1950. Because of that, I never had a sense of who my grandparents were when I was growing up. However, through connections of the family business and other circumstances, I have been the recipient of information about Toyosaku from any number of resources over the years. Trying to form a picture of my grandfather’s pers...

lea más

sports en

Matsuyama Wins Major Gold Tournament, But Collin Morikawa Beat Him To It When He Won PGA Tournament in 2020

Por Chris Komai
13 May 2021

Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama’s recent capturing of the Master’s Golf Championship at the venerable Augusta Country Club in Georgia is one of the greatest individual achievements for an athlete from Japan. What’s interesting for me is that while I was happy for Matsuyama, his victory was not as impactful as previous Japanese sports achievements once were to me. The reason in this case is Collin Morikawa and a new generation of Japanese American athletes. First, Morikawa is a young professional golfer whose father Blaine’s family has roots in Hawaii. Collin, whose...