Asian/American Olympic Gold Medalist dies

The late Tommy Kono was a legend in the weight-lifting world.

Reprinted from AsAm News

Tommy Kono

Two-time Olympic gold medalist Tommy Kono has died at the age of 85, reported the New York Times.

The Sacramento-born Kono gained a passion for weight lifting while growing up in an incarceration camp for Japanese Americans during World War II.

Kono set at least 20 world records in the 50s and 60s despite being only 5-feet, 6inches.

He won his first gold medal at Helsinki in 1956 in the lightweight division, then won it in the light heavyweight division in 1960 in Melbourne.

The journal Physical Training featured Kono in an article in 2000.

“Kono competed at whichever of three different weights offered the U.S. the greatest opportunity of defeating the Soviets. The way Kono added weight was by eating six or seven meals a day. To lose weight, he simply cut back to three.”

Kono is a member of the United States Olympic Hall of Fame and the International Weightlifting Hall of Fame.

You can read much more about his life in the New York Times.

Hapas soon to be the majority in the Japanese/American community

Olympic gold medalist Apolo Ono - proud to be hapa.

By Louis Chan
Reprinted from AsAm News

THE FUTURE is now in the Japanese/American community.

By 2020, just four years away, demographers says the majority of Japanese Americans will be multiracial/multiethnic.

A new exhibition now at the Japanese American Museum of San Jose in California runs through the end of the year. It is curated by Fred Liang and Cindy Nakashima who also co-curated an earlier version of the exhibition in 2013 at the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles.

“My parents married in 1965, when it was still illegal in sixteen states, but they married in Ohio, where there were no anti-miscegenation laws,” Nakashima told AsAm News. "My dad is a Nisei, my mom is a White Anglo Saxon Protestant (WASP). They met in graduate school.”

The interracial marriage rate in the Japanese American community is estimated at 66 percent. It wasn’t until the Supreme Court ruled in 1967, (Loving v. Virginia) that anti-miscegenation laws became unlawful. Until then, each state had control over who could and could not get legally married. Many (interracial couples) were forced to leave their home states to get married much the same way gays had to find states where their marriages were legal until a 2015 Supreme Court ruling.

“In our exhibit you see a couple (Gunjiro Aoki and Helen Emery) who went from California to Washington state to be married,” said Nakashima. You also see the marriage certificate of the Nakaya-Mortons, which is in Spanish because they went from Los Angeles to Mexico to be married.”
According to Liang, the hapa experience is multifaceted and Japanese Hapas bridge the Japanese community with other communities.

His grandfather was born and raised in Yokohama as the son of a Chinese merchant and a Japanese-Chinese homemaker.

“My memories of my grandfather were very bi-cultural and it was through him that I became interested in the hapa Japanese experience,” said Liang to AsAmNews.

“Aside from multiracial representation, the exhibition is important because it questions the concept and idea of 'race' and it’s implications on history and society. It also touches on issues such as racial inequality in the United States and overseas. We strongly feel that an open dialogue on multiracial experiences is much needed in the Japanese community.”

JAMSJ board member Bob McKibbin is one of the sponsors of the exhibition. He married into a Japanese/American family and told AsAmNews his children were raised hapa.

“The term hapa is also relatively new to my family. Working on the exhibit opened up my eyes to the depth of history within the Japanese/American community in relations to mixed marriages and their offspring and how extensive it was and is,” he said.

For him, the highlight of the exhibition were the 2nd, 3rd and 4th generational photos submitted by local members of the community to make the exhibition truly “hapa-centric.”

The face of the Japanese/American community is clearly changing. Nakashima compares it to concentric circles with the mixed-race experience overlapping with the Japanese /American experience forming the hapa Japanese/American experience.

“As the Japanese/American community becomes increasingly mixed, being mixed Japanese American might start to become somewhat synonymous with being Japanese American,” she explained. “But what I think is more likely, at least in the short term, is that notions of who and what is Japanese/American will continue to expand as the community becomes more and more diverse.

“It’s important to remember that mixed Japanese/Americans are by no means all Japanese/White. Japanese/Americans have very diverse marriage patterns in terms of race and ethnicity, so many hapas are Japanese/Chinese or Japanese/Chicano or Japanese/Jewish, or Japanese/Black/Native Hawaiian, etc. etc.

“Also, mixed people are quite a bit more likely than “purebloods” to “marry out” – so as the community gets more mixed, there’s an exponential effect.”

Part of the Hapa exhibit at the Japanese American Museum of San Jose.

The Japanese American Museum of San Jose (JAMsj) is open Thursday through Sunday from 12 to 4 p.m. The Hapa exhibit will be up through 2016 with planned changes during that time.

The museum will also be sponsoring programs throughout the year in association with the Hapa exhibit. In conjunction with the J-Town FilmFest, Jamsj will be viewing the film Hafu on May 22, 2016 at 12:30 p.m. The public is invited and encouraged to go to www.jamsj.org to see the latest programs offered at JAMsj. The museum can also be reached during normal business hours at 408-294-3138.

The Japanese Chamber of Commerce of Northern California are the 2016 sponsors for the rotating exhibit area which holds the Hapa exhibit.

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'Rafu Shimpo' in danger of closing

Rafu Shimpo photo

In this 1920 photo, the Rafu Shimpo staff put the finishing touches on the newspaper before deliver.

By Louis Chan
Reprinted from AsAmNews

A NEWSPAPER that has served the Japanese/American community for more than 100 years is in danger of closing.

In an urgent letter to its readers, Rafu Shimpo publisher announced the newspaper has lost $750,000 over three years. This year the deficit is projected to be $350,000.

“If the situation does not improve this year, The Rafu will be forced to close in December of this year,” states the letter to its readers.

“This would mean the end of a tradition that started in 1903, and would mark the extinction of Japanese/American daily vernaculars in the United States.

“The staff and management of The Rafu are passionate about their work. We feel that the Japanese/American community is stronger with an independent news publication. Every story is written with the belief that we make the community stronger by keeping it connected and informed.”

The newspaper has kicked off a subscription drive to pick up 10,000 new subscribers which would bring in approximately $500,000 in new revenue.

The possible closure of the paper is not an idle threat. In 2009, two Japanese/American publications shut down in the same year. Hokubei Mainichi, a bilingual newspaper out of San Francisco closed shop as did the Nichi Bei Times. The daily would reemerge a short time later as the Nichi Bei Weekly. It would no longer publish in Japanese, but continued publishing in English.

In December, the monthly magazine KoreAm Journal printed its final edition. It joined a long line of Asian/American publications that have shuttered including Asian Week, San Francisco Journal, East West, Yolk and A. Magazine.

Rafu Shimpo has been able to survive with help from the Komai family trust which has covered its losses, but the paper's management realizes that is not sustainable for the long run.

Ethnic newspapers report on issues and people that the mainstream media often overlook. It’s important for the community to rally around the Rafu if it would like to see it continue. Subscriptions are just $15 per month or $149 per year. Senior and student discounts are available.

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Sports fan Seiji Ozawa at the Kennedy Center Honors

SEIJI OZAWA is a Red Sox fan. Who would have thought ... that interests as divergent as the all-American pastime and composer Johann Sebastian Bach could be found in a single individual?

After 29 years conducting the Boston Symphony, it makes sense. The Japanese/American conductor is also a fan of the New England Patriots.

The legendary conductor, 79, was honored three weeks ago at the Kennedy Center Honors event in Washington D.C. but the occasion was aired only last night (Dec. 29) on CBS. If you get a chance, you should view it. It was a whale of a show! It made me so proud to be American.

RELATED: Seiji Ozawa Receives Kennedy Center Honors

Ozawa's multiple interviews gave a glimpse of the revered conductor as a regular guy with a wide range of interests and who has lived an extraordinary life. It took place on the red carpet prior to the formal ceremonies and performances. He touches on why, instead of pursuing a career as a pianist, he became a conductor, (ironically because of a sports-related injury). 

He finds time to come out of retirement to occasionally conduct orchestras around the globe.

To honor Ozawa, close friend  cellist Yo-Yo Ma performed Tchaikovsky's "Andante Cantabile." Ma, who was similarly honored in 2011, performs with such "soul." 

Ozawa's fellow 2015 inductees included director George Lucas, actresses Rita Moreno and Cecily Tyson and songwriter Carole King.

For more Asian/American & Pacific Islander news, read AsAm News.

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Seiji Ozawa honored at Kennedy Awards

Seiji Ozawa, 2nd from left in front, was awarded a Kennedy Center Honor,
the first Japanese/American to receive that honor.

CONDUCTOR Seiji Ozawa was honored with a Kennedy Center Award last Dec. 6. He was the first person from Japan to receive the prestigious award last Dec. 6 in Washington D.C. In fact, he is only the second Asian to receive the honor.

The 79-year old was joined by filmmaker George Lucas, singer-songwriter Carole King, actress/singer Rita Moreno, and actress Cicely Tyson as recipients of the 2015 Kennedy Center Honors. The honor recognizes their lifetime artistic achievements for their contribution to the arts over their careers.

“When I look at this year’s outstanding slate of Honorees, I am struck by a powerful common theme— artists as history-makers, artists who defy both convention and category,” said Kennedy Center President Deborah F. Rutter in a statement. “Each Honoree and their career-spanning achievements exemplify a rare quality of artistic bravery.”

“The Kennedy Center Honors recognizes the extraordinary and unparalleled talents of individuals whose impact and genius have left an indelible mark on civilization,” stated Kennedy Center Chairman David M. Rubenstein. 

“Quite simply, our Honorees represent the voices, soundtracks, and stories of our personal lives and memories. Carole King’s heartfelt lyrics and tunes are woven throughout the tapestry of American music; George Lucas’ films have enriched our world with stories of epic adventure; Rita Moreno’s iconic spitfire roles are embedded in the heart of American culture; Seiji Ozawa’s artistic leadership as a conductor has set a new standard for orchestras around the world; and Cicely Tyson’s range of strong female roles on stage and screen have broken boundaries for women of color.”

Seiji Ozawa conducting the Boston Symphony.

Although born in China and raised in Japan, his daughter Siera said her father considers the U.S. to be his home because of the long time he has spent here.

Ozawa was born in Fenytien (now Shenjang), in the Manchurian province of Liaoning, China, during the Japanese occupation of that region. When war broke out, his Buddhist father and Presbyterian mother moved the family to Tokyo.

His mother's decision to raise her children as Christians brought Ozawa into early contact with Western church music. This contact was reinforced by his older brother, who became a church organist. From the start Ozawa gravitated toward Western music and only developed an interest in the traditional music of his homeland through association with cross-over composers such as Takemitsu, after his career was well established.

As a youngster attending school in Japan, Ozawa broke his fingers in a rugby game causing him to shift his emphasis from piano to conducting.

At one point in his career in the 1970s, he was the director of both the San Francisco Symphony and the Boston Symphony. In 1976 he had to drop his San Francisco gig because the bicoastal duties prove to be too taxing. He remained with the Boston Symphony for almost three decades during which he received many international awards.

He gained a reputation of being a bit of a rebel in the symphonic world that is steeped in tradition. He is an advocate of 20th century composers introducing several during his various conducting stints. He also broke from tradition by wearing a white turtleneck with his tuxedo instead of the traditional white shirt and bow tie.

The 38th Annual Kennedy Center awards show will be aired on CBS on Dec. 29 at 9/8c with performances by several artists as diverse as Yo-Yo Ma (the first  and only Asian/American to be awarded the honor) and Aretha Franklin. 

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