COMING EVENTS
Nidoto Nai Yoni: Voices of the Past and Present
IslandWood Conference a Big Success
On October 16, IslandWood partnered with the Bainbridge Island Japanese American Community and Densho Project www.densho.org to remember the experiences of persons of Japanese ancestry (two-thirds of whom were U.S. citizens) who were incarcerated during World War II. This afternoon conference brought together personal stories of Japanese American life on Bainbridge Island during and following World War II. Memories included three sessions focussed around first-person accounts of the impact of being removed from the island to detention facilities, the stories of the young men who served in the U.S. military during the war, and how this shaped the Japanese American community and our society.Among the distinguished speakers were BIJAC president Dr. Frank Kitamoto and other BIJAC members; Tom Ikeda, Executive Director, Densho: Japanese American Legacy Project; Ranger Roy Matsumoto, U.S. Army Ranger Hall of Fame and Merrill's Marauders veteran; Ibrahim al-Husseini from the Arab American Community Coalition; and King County Executive Ron Sims.
Thanks to IslandWood, all the participants and the large audience for making this event successful.
VASHON INTERNEE'S BOOK AN ENLIGHTENING READ
Thanks to Cindy Harrison[cindyh@krl.org] at the BI Public Library for the reading, last October 23, by Mary Matsuda Gruenewald who shared her memoir -- Looking Like the Enemy: My Story of Imprisonment in a Japanese-American Internment Camp. The book, her first, gives readers an up-close-and-personal look of her expereiences as 17 year old internee from Vashon Island. If you haven't read it, please do so at your earliest opportunity.
David Guterson has a quote on the book's cover:
"Looking Like the Enemy makes a valuable contribution to the literature of the Japanese American internment. In telling one family's story, Mary Matsuda Gruenewald suggests to us not only the tenor of the times but a pervasive emotional and psychological condition. This narrative of imprisonment is painfully honest. It reminds us that historical wrongs are infinitely nuanced as they reverberate through the lives of human beings."
August 6, 2005
REUNION PICNIC
The bi-annual Bainbridge Island All-Island Reunion Picnic 2005 was held on Sunday, Aug. 6 at Battle Point Park and was a huge success. There was plenty of delicious food (including lots of chicken dishes) and a lot of new faces. Thanks for coming and sharing. See you in 2007!
BIJAC EVENTS
January 2, 2005
MOCHI TSUKI 2005
This much-awaited annual Bainbridge Island annual event was held at IslandWood on Sunday, January 2, 2005 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. After the steamed rice was pounded in a mortar called usu, it was formed into balls by volunteers from all parts of the community. Many hands were required and our thanks to to those of you who helped out! [Photos from the event have been temporarily remmoved from this site; we'll get them back up as soon as possible.]
• ANNUAL TERIYAKI DINNER with Taiko drummers was held on March 19, 2005, Sakai School, Sportsman Club Road.
September 13, 2003
MATSURI 2003 A BIG SUCCESS!
To share and celebrate Bainbridge Island’s cultural richness, the Bainbridge Island Japanese American Community invited everyone to the second annual Matsuri (Japanese festival) on Saturday, Sept. 13, 1-6 pm at the Woodward Middle School at 9125 Sportsman Club Rd. PHOTOS of the 2002 and 2003 Matsuri events are elsewhere on this site.
A new Bainbridge Island tradition, this popular event included hands-on demonstrations of traditional Japanese arts and culture including origami (paper folding), shodo (calligraphy), sumi-e (ink painting), gyotaku (fish prints), katakana (phonetic writing), ikebana (flower arranging), tanabata (story-telling), kingyo tsuri (goldfish catching) and Japanese toys and games. Amy Nakata and Bev and Bill Glasser helped guests to don kimono and have their PICTURES taken -- cute!
There were live performances by the acclaimed Seattle Kokon Taiko Drum group and the Peninsula Women’s Club Japanese dancers. Also, demonstrations of Japanese martial arts (judo, aikido and battojutsu) were featured. As the grand finale, everyone was invited to participate in a traditional odori, a conga-line-like dance. [For background on these arts and activities, see our CULTURE page.]
Other highlights included a historical display of the Bainbridge Island Japanese-American Community "Kodomo No Tame Ni—For the Sake of the Children," and conceptual plans for the proposed national Japanese-American memorial "Nidoto Nai Yoni—Let It Not Happen Again." There was also a table where BIJAC T-shirts, Japanese snacks and the video "After Silence" were offered for sale.
The festival’s menu included yakitori (roasted chicken, yakisoba (stir-fry noodles), fresh vegetables, Japanese coleslaw, roasted sweet corn green tea, apple juice and a desert of green-tea icecream. Samples of the food were taste-tested by lucky members of BIJAC, and were pronounced Oishii! (Delicious!).
Tickets were $12 for adults, $9 for children (12 or under) and seniors (65 or older) and were available for sale at Bainbridge Gardens, Eagle Harbor Books, Town and Country Market and in the Silverdale Mall
Thanks to Amy Nakata and Michiko Olsen, co-chairs of the Entertainment Committee, Ron Nakata and his team from Town & Country Markets who did a superior job with the food, and to all the volunteers who worked so hard to make the event the success it was!