NEW EXHIBITIONS
NOW & THEN: Life in Community Art with Richard Tokeshi, Leon Sun & Leland Wong
@ NJAHS Peace Gallery, SF Japantown
October 15 – December 31, 2024
An exhibition, which explores new works and old favorites of San Francisco Nihonmachi’s Community Artists.
Come explore! Our time-honored artists of J-Town Richard Tokeshi, Leon Sun and Leland Yee herald their diverse cultural heritage, share their personal and spiritual journeys through life and celebrate a deep sense of community of now and then. Their works of art reflect on what’s happening in the streets and in the world.
FOR PROGRAMS
PAST EXHIBITIONS
American Bon Odori: Dancing in Joy and Remembrance
@ NJAHS Peace Gallery, SF Japantown
July 1 – September 30, 2024
This summer and early fall, come visit this new exhibit commemorating the 125th anniversary of the Buddhist Churches of America.
Curated by Dr. Wynn Kiyama and Jane Suiei Naito, and hosted by the National Japanese American Historical Society (NJAHS)
Vibrant, colorful, and joyous—Obon dancing (Bon odori) is a kaleidoscope of movement and rhythm, deeply rooted in Japanese Buddhist traditions. In the 1930s, Reverend Yoshio Iwanaga first introduced Bon odori to Buddhist communities up and down the American West Coast. Since that time, Bon odori has remained an important Japanese American tradition, persisting through the difficult wartime “camp” years and the postwar years, and evolving into the 21st century. “American Bon Odori: Dancing in Joy and Remembrance,” celebrates the legacy of Rev. Yoshio Iwanaga, Obon dance teachers past and present, and all who have entered the dance circle.
Incorporating archival photos, rare pre-war and wartime film clips, and artifacts, a soundtrack of familiar Japanese folk dance tunes “American Bon Odori” chronicles the history and significance of Obon dancing (“Bon odori”) in the continental United States, from the 1930s and the mass incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II, through the postwar era and into the 21st century. Principal curator, Dr. Wynn Kiyama, has written extensively on Bon odori for Discover Nikkei, Wheel of Dharma, and Portland State University’s Digital Archive. Assistant curator, Jane Suiei Naito, is a member of the BCA Archive Committee and a Sogetsu Ikebana instructor.
For Programs:https://www.njahs.org/events/american-bon-odori-dancing-in-joy-remembrance/
Register for workshops here: https://forms.gle/tQBuM2QS2bp1wJxq7 and Group tours Click here .
Mark Shigenaga photo Isao Isago Tanaka photo, featuring Reiko Iwanaga, BCA 75th Commemorative Committee
November 2023. Ending June 30, 2024
The Go For Broke Spirit, Photography Exhibit by Shane Sato
– 10th Year Anniversary of MIS Historic Learning Center
NJAHS is excited to announce the newest exhibit at the Military Intelligence Service Historic Learning Center: The Go For Broke Spirit – Presidio, by photographer Shane Sato. It explores the “untold” histories of the Nisei and Japanese American veterans of World War II and beyond.
The series of portraits features Nisei and Japanese American veterans, dressed in military uniforms similar to the ones they once donned during the war. The juxtaposition between their age and their vintage dress offers viewers a chance to “see into the past” and “equate these men, in the twilight of their lives, to the vets who fought in WWII” (Sato, The Go For Broke Spirit). Each portrait captures the feelings of these men, and what it might have been like fighting for a country that imprisoned their family and friends, the racism they endured for looking like the enemy, and their ultimate triumph.
Sato aims to inspire the audience through the triumphs of the Nisei, and also show the complex range of emotions these men must have felt fighting for this country . . . a country that did not fight for them.
The Go For Broke Spirit now also includes Japanese Americans who fought after WWII, in the Korean, Vietnam, and Gulf Wars. Simultaneously, it provides awareness to the Japanese American War Memorial Court in Little Tokyo, CA., and the MIS Historic Learning Center in the Presidio of San Francisco. Through his portrait series and gallery exhibitions, Sato hopes that everyone will remember the diversity of the American soldiers who served this country, as well as those Japanese Americans who gave their lives for this country’s freedom.
Sato’s accompanying photo book, which has two versions, are on sale in store and online, with a special discount when you purchase both. To order online, click the link below:
The Go For Broke Spirit: Portraits of Courage by Shane Sato
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2023 PAST EXHIBITIONS
Nihonmachi Street Fair T-Shirts, Designs by Leland Wong
@ NJAHS’ Post Street Peace Gallery, August 2023 to December 2023
Founded in 1973, the Nihonmachi Street Fair was hatched as an idea to provide leadership and mentorship opportunities for the youth of J-Town and to honor the cultural heritage that was, at the time, at risk of being displaced. Since then, the annual event has grown from a small four-booth affair to a two-day event that drew over 30,000 attendees in 2023.
What makes this street fair a uniquely San Francisco event is the broader cultural context participants can experience in addition to traditional Asian-Pacific influences. The Fair continues evolve to reflect the city it celebrates while staying true to its original mission: Engage and develop young Asian American leaders through the development of building community that celebrates our culture and diversity.
The Nihonmahi Street Fair is produced, staffed, and organized by volunteers. Each year we encourage the next generation to take part, providing an opportunity to not only give back but also take what they’ve learned working next to their mentor and applying it to their community.
The look of the Nihonmachi Street Fair from 1974 – 1998 was created by local community artist, Leland Wong. His concepts and vision for each poster design captured what was happening in our community and sometimes in the world. These beautifully silk-screened posters were also a community effort where many Street Fair volunteers assembled in Leland’s garage to help screen his work of art. The poster images were applied to the coveted Nihonmachi Street Fair T-shirts. For those of us who were lucky to receive one meant a badge of honor to be part of an important community celebration that continues today.
Open until the end of 2023, swing by and experience almost five decades of street fair history and memories.
Enemy Alien Files: Hidden Stories of WWII
ON TOUR
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Queer Reflections
Queer Reflections
June 2023 to August 5, 2023
NJAHS invites visitors to examine how we see and remember this Summer in the Peace Gallery, on Now until August 5, Queer Reflections asks about or memories, perceptions and what we see in ourselves an others.
Featuring Midori (美登里) and Tina Kashiwagi the exhibit examines perception and memory.
Two scrolls from Midori’s Evoco Project are artifacts of memory created in originally with an incident, the creation sometimes public often private where guests are asked to enjoy the moment and creation as live performance is transformed into scrolls that represent both the moment, and the memories of that moment.
Tina Kashiwagi’s search for mt. fuji renders abstract what is normally a cliched image of Japanese tourism culture, Mt. Fuji at once iconic of Japan, symbol of the culture of Japanese tourism and its shifting of the rest of Japanese culture. In this video piece Kashiwagi uses the technology through which we now consume culture to render distorted one of the most recognizable landscapes on the planet, and asks us what are we actually looking at?
Threads of Remembrance
January 2023 to June 15, 2023
Threads of Remembrance: Asian American Quilts of Memory at Peace Gallery
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New Interactive Installation @ MIS Historic Learning Center -Feb 2023
REDRESS, RECKONING & RECOVERY
On the 35th anniversary of the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, a digital exhibit and interactive reflection booth at the MIS Historic Learning Center, Presidio of San Francisco
presented by the National Japanese American Historical Society funded by a grant from the National Writing Project- National Endowment for the Humanities -A More Perfect Union
