NikkeiWest--Northern California Japanese American Newspaper

By J.K. Yamamoto--The Nikkei Community Internship (NCI) Class of 2010, having completed eight weeks of work in the three Japantowns, was recognized at a closing luncheon on Aug. 13 at the Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California (JCCCNC) in San Francisco.

Funded by the California Japanese American Community Leadership Council (CJACLC), the internship started 2002 with the Japanese Community Youth Council (JCYC) in San Francisco and Little Tokyo Service Center (LTSC) in Los Angeles as the lead agencies.

JCYC Executive Director Jon Osaki explained that the CJACLC is made up of “representatives from organizations throughout the state of California … who work on issues affecting the Japanese American community … A lot of our emphasis is on what the community will look like in the future, and one of our primary initiatives is this one, the Nikkei Community Internship program …

“I’m in my 14th year as executive director of JCYC, and when I started back in the mid-’90s and I interacted with people from the community … I got a lot of people telling me that young people today are just not that interested in the community. They are just not that interested in getting involved with our organizations and they’re definitely not interested in working at our organizations. I’ve heard that time and time again.

“Well, my experience being involved with working with young people on an everyday basis is obviously very different. It was my firm belief that if we created the right opportunities for young people, then they would answer.”

Although JCYC and LTSC were unsure how many students would apply when the program was launched, “I’m happy to say that that first year we were not only full but we had to turn people away, and every year since we have gotten more and more applications for this program … There are more young people who want to contribute to this community than we can support through this program. I think that’s a testament to the young people in our community,” said Osaki.

This year’s interns, he added, “are interested in continuing their involvement in this community and getting a deeper understanding of what the leaders of the community do ... They would like their student organizations to establish more formal partnerships with organizations in their area … They want more opportunities to have their own space, their own activities in our community on a regular basis. They talked about musical performances, they talked about spoken word … I’ve been working with a group of them to make that happen in the future.”

One of the immediate benefits of the program is that many alumni are now working for Japantown community organizations, Osaki noted. “That’s not to say that this program is just about feeding our non-profits, but … that to me demonstrates that this opportunity makes a difference. I think if you talk to each one of them, [they’ll say] if they didn’t have this opportunity, they may not be where they are today.”

‘We Were Being Listened to’

Emily Furutani, who worked on the Nisei College Diploma Project as an intern at the JCCCNC, said that although she was initially nervous about interacting with the other program participants, “I did end up meeting a great group of people. I think through this program you really do meet your best friends. We all have very similar beliefs and ideals, and it was great to finally be able to come together with a group of JAs that felt the same way.”

She did not know the JCCCNC staff when she started, but “immediately it felt like semi-home to me ... I fit in really well. The only thing was I couldn’t really use hashi (chopsticks), so they kind of made fun of me about that. But other than that it was great and working at the Japanese Cultural Center was nice.”

In particular, NCI alumni like Courtney Okuhara and Jeffrey Chu helped the interns with the diploma project, Furutani said. “Without them it would have been insane, and they really guided us and helped us a lot with our problems. While they were like our supervisors, they were also like our friends. It was really nice to be able to be comfortable with them.”

Furutani also liked the days when the interns met over 20 community leaders. “We actually voiced our opinions, and instead of hemming and hawing about what we had to say, they really did take into consideration the ideas that we had, so that was really nice to know that we were being listened to.”

In addition, the retreats “challenged our preconceived notions of the community … challenged us to try to think in new ways, to really bring the community back to life. … to see where it’s going to go in the future,” she said. “Another thing that I learned was preservation. I think during opening retreat, I heard that word like 10-plus times … I agree that we really need to preserve the community because what we have right now is great, but we’re not all going to be here 20-30 years down the line. I think that we need to prepare right now for the future.”

The San Jose Experience

Megan Sawamura and Sami Michishita did a joint presentation on their internship in San Jose Japantown. It was structured around themes — the history of Japantown; education; health and human services; business and economic development; governance and advocacy; arts, culture and spirituality; media and communication; and planning for the future. They interviewed people on these topics and posted what they learned in a blog.

In addition to Japantown, the two went on tours of such institutions as NBC Bay Area, the San Jose Mercury News, Mexican Heritage Plaza and City Hall. They also worked on a community-wide calendar and attended meetings of such organizations as the API Justice Coalition and Japantown Community Congress of San Jose (JCCsj).

Sawamura said that she “learned about the issues San Jose Japantown is facing” and was able to observe non-profit organizations “and see how they come together to form the San Jose Japantown community.” She found that the JCCsj is run by a “truly unique” group of people.

Michishita gained some new insights: “For example, we learned how to move three full four-drawer metal filing cabinets across a room. They’re very, very heavy ... We learned that none of the community leaders has time to sleep. That’s why they have couches in their offices.”

One of the most popular places in Japantown is Lotus Preschool, Sawamura said, noting that there is a long waiting list. “So if you’re planning on getting your child in … you’d better put them on the list the day they’re born.”

On a more serious note, Michishita learned about the “incredibly rich history” of Japantown and found that the small businesses are “preserving this community and keeping it strong.” She cited a San Jose Mercury News report stating that “the family-owned businesses and the tight-knit feel here in San Jose are really what made it such a prosperous and thriving community.”

Sawamura praised the “dedication and diligence everyone of all generations puts into the community, not just the leaders, to maintain the goal of preservation.”

The two discussed their generational differences and perceptions of the program.

“I, as a Shin-Nisei (child of recent Japanese immigrants), finally feel more Japanese American than before,” said Michishita. “I’ve gained a better understanding of the differences between Japanese and Japanese American cultures and hope that eventually those two communities will come together ...

“I may not have ever grown up playing basketball or calling inari-sushi a ‘football,’ but I still consider myself part of the Japanese American community. This goes to show we can’t really define the Japanese American identity.”

“For me as a Yonsei, through this internship I had an opportunity to explore more deeply into my own culture and identity being raised in the Japanese American community,” said Sawamura. “Working with Sami, I had a chance to learn more about the Japanese-speaking community and how different it is from my own …

We learned to be open to the different identities within the Japanese American culture as well as surrounding communities.”

‘You Are the Future’

Todd Kushigemachi, who worked at JACL’s Pacific Southwest (PSW) District office in Little Tokyo, said that he has been told “an infinite number of times” that he is “the future of the Nikkei community.” “The first time I heard it, I thought it was a bit of a cliché …. In the course of this internship, I realized that really is the case.”

He first heard about NCI while serving as a reporter intern at the Pacific Citizen. This year, he was mentored by PSW Regional Director Craig Ishii and his staff. “Craig struck me as quite a character when I first met him … The first conversation I had with him, we had a very heated debate about the ‘Star Wars’ series … So that was my first impression of him and I saw him as a silly guy, but when I actually got to work with him in the office, I realized what a passionate person he was about the community and how energetic and excited he was about it. I saw that throughout the office at PSW, a lot of young people who were excited about it.”

Kushigemachi learned about the Downtown Regional Connector, “a public transit issue that could be a potential threat to the Little Tokyo community,” and worked on Project Community, “a program for high school students to learn about what it means to be Japanese American, learn about Little Tokyo and what they can do in the future … To see people who are younger than me get really excited, get into the workshops … was really an inspiration to me.”

Quoting President Theodore Roosevelt as saying that American politics was in a state of “fossilization,” Kushigemachi commented, “It’s important that we look at our history, but I also think that sometimes it’s easy to look at things as history just to abandon it … and just think about it and do nothing else. Within PSW, I realized that you can be really excited about Japanese American identity. It’s something that’s constantly evolving.”

‘Learning New Things’

Mark Hara, who interned at the Japanese American Cultural and Community Center (JACCC) in Los Angeles, had a similar story about his boss, Robert Hori, board and donor relations director. “He asked me if I knew how ninjas swam. I replied that I didn’t. Then he proceeded to give me a detailed explanation about how they have to hold their swords in a certain way when they swim. He told me about his research on this topic …

“But here we are 10 weeks later at the end of a very memorable internship. I believe that in order to experience life, one must be constantly learning new things, meeting new people and opening their minds to different ideas. In a job, you can do everything your boss asks you to do and you can complete every task that’s put in front of you. But in the end, what did you get out of it? What’s the point of it? … NCI not only placed me in an environment at the JACCC where I could be the most useful but has also helped me understand about the non-profit side of organizations, a side that is too many times overlooked.

“Even through all the busy work that I did … making labels, sending out letters, inputting data into the computer … I was still learning every step of the way. Learning the difficulties of our economy, learning how non-profits don’t receive a lot of grants and funding. Learning how hard these people in non-profits work every single day and appreciating all that they do for our community.”

Quoting John Wooden as saying, “Failing to prepare is preparing to fail.” Hara said that NCI “has begun to prepare a generation of leaders to assimilate into our JA community. Everyone at NCI has different personalities, interests and goals. I think because of NCI they have all gotten together and found a common ground that we can all share — respect for those who have come before us to build Japantowns that we can enjoy today … All of the work and sacrifices that our ancestors have gone through to build these Japantowns can easily fade away if we do not do our part to preserve its legacy for future generations to enjoy …

“NCI has shown me how much I love Little Tokyo. And isn’t that the real goal of NCI? Learning about leadership and all the other things is great for the future, but isn’t the true goal to get young people pumped up about preserving the community that they have come to love so much?”

Expanding the Program

JCCCNC interns Masao Taylor and Jared Wong, who served as emcees, thanked George Tanaka of Union Bank for his company’s sponsorship of the program, and gave special recognition to Mickie Okamoto of LTSC and Erika Tamura of JCYC for being the main coordinators. Sophie Horiuchi-Forrester of Yu-Ai Kai was honored for overseeing the San Jose program.

Kaz Maniwa, chairperson of CJACLC and of JCCCNC, announced that Okamoto, an NCI alum and the program’s only staff member, was “going on to a new challenge, to teach English to Japanese in Japan … Her duties were to keep the organization and council together and she helped prepare agendas, she got the minutes out, she kept everyone on their toes. I think that her commitment to the community is unquestioned and she’s done a remarkable job.”

Alan Nishio, CJACLC Historic Preservation Committee chair, said of the interns, “I think you’ll see these names coming up over and over again when we talk about where our community is going. I think it’s an exciting time, it’s an exciting program. We had 20 interns this year, which is by far our largest class …

“I was able to help interview some of the Southern California interns, and it is so sad that we have about 50-60 interns for eight slots. I want to say that any Nikkei college student who wants to spend two months involved and engaged in our community to learn more about what is important, I’d like to give one to every person that is interested in spending their time next summer doing that. What prevents us is being able to have the kind of funding to be able to expand this program ...

“I just hope that we can continue to have this and for Year 10 it would be nice to have 40 interns instead of 20 [and] to be able to continue to expand this to other cities … This is a program that really does have an impact on the future of the community.”

For more information, visit www.nikkeicommnityinternship.com or e-mail This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Profiles of the other interns

Masao Taylor

Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California

I first became involved with the JCCCNC when I participated in the Shinzen program from 2004-2007. The program really influenced my perspective on my JA roots and how important the JA community actually was to me. This greatly motivated me to become active in the JA community, where I have played basketball, participated in YBA, and participated in Japantown events already.

When the chance came up to apply for the NCI program, I jumped at the opportunity. I have always been a participant in the Japanese American community but I have never taken an active leadership role, which I wanted to pursue through NCI. Through the NCI program and interning at the JCCCNC, I have learned how important it is for my generation of JA youth to take up the leadership of our future communities because of our aging population.

The responsibility of keeping this community alive and thriving that has for so long been carried out by the Sansei and Nisei is going to have to be passed on to younger generations of JA youth. The future of the community is on our shoulders. We as college youth are now armed with the knowledge of how to build a brighter future of the communities we have grown to understand and love.

Devin Yoshikawa

National Japanese American Historical Society

Through the NCI program, I have enjoyed learning about the inner workings of the three remaining Japantowns. It has been interesting to learn about the dynamics of the community-based organizations within them and the community leaders who are working to maintain them. Simply getting to know the other interns has been a very rewarding experience. Even though we were able to meet with many significant community leaders, each of the interns have and will make major contributions to the community as well.

I was placed at the National Japanese American Historical Society. One of the projects that we worked on included a digital storytelling video workshop where we expressed our individual identities in a short film. Another project was called “$25 a Day in Japantown,” where we recorded a fun day visiting the many shops in Japantown.

Casey Ikeda

Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California
California Nisei College Diploma Project

My first summer in San Francisco was filled with fog, the ocean breeze, and a wealth of new experiences. I’ve never been an active participant in the Japanese American Community and looking back I don’t think I’ve really had a JA friend growing up. So the NCI program and working at the JCCCNC was filled with first times. First time editing videos, first time setting up lights, and first time I’ve connected to a JA community other than my family.

The Nisei College Diploma project has been a lot of work, but it has been very rewarding. I have loved sitting down with the Niseis, not only from a Yonsei’s perspective, but as a U.S. history major the opportunity to sit down with these Niseis is invaluable.

Corey Yamamoto

Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California
California Nisei College Diploma Project

During my time working at the Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California, I was privileged to work on the California Nisei College Diploma Project alongside three other interns. Our team video-documented the oral histories of the Niseis who were forcibly removed from their college education during World War II. Unfortunately, I was never able to sit down with my grandparents and talk to them about their life experiences. This project, in some sense, has enabled me to revisit my past and learn so many details about our history as Japanese Americans.

In addition, the bonds that have been created amongst the interns have grown exponentially. Starting out as complete strangers, our ties to each other now seem as that of family. Though we may never see each other after the internship is over, we will still have the memories of the great times we had working, hanging out and connecting with the Japanese American community.

The NCI program has given me the opportunity to meet with community leaders, which has opened my eyes to the intricacies and the importance of the    community.  The NCI program has opened many doors for me and soon I will have to choose which door to walk through. Though many of us may not have a future in the non-profit world, I do believe that it is important for us to give back to the community that has provided so much in my cultural upbringing, heritage and adolescent life.

Blake Tamaki

Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California
California Nisei College Diploma Project

If we go to college to learn, meet young girls, and acquire important life skills, then NCI is the JA version of this. If it were a university, it would be no less than the Ivy League level. I was placed in a wonderful hands-on internship in which I got to share and record the tribulations of Nisei who received their honorary degrees.

It was a pleasure working with the staff and meeting community leaders on retreats and intern days. Before NCI, I had a vague understanding of the hard work these dedicated people do for the community. Now, I possess knowledge passed down to me and gained close friends in my own generation. In addition to hands-on training on life skills, technical training, and work experience, I now have a stake in the future of our community.

Stephen Yoshizawa

National Japanese American Historical Society

The NCI internship was one of the best experiences of my life. What was so great about this internship was the fact that it was not the conventional trivial cubical job — rather, it was an interactive, exciting, and most importantly, enriching experience that was relevant to my identity as a JA.

The interns met with several community leaders every week and worked on unique, hands on projects at their respective non-profit organizations. I, along with Devin Yoshikawa, were interns at the National Japanese American Historical Society. Our primary project was the digital storytelling project, in which the interns were given free creative control to reflect on their experiences as Japanese Americans through a topic of their choice. My project, titled “The Shin-Nisei Experience,” reflects on my life as the son of Japanese immigrants after World War II — how my family’s experiences in America differs from other Nikkei families who faced discrimination and incarceration.

The NCI internship has allowed me to reconnect back to my Japanese roots and discover many aspects of the Japanese American experience that I never learned about. The internship has also given me the opportunity to collaborate with other brilliant NCI interns and has opened my eyes to how lively and motivated the Japanese American youth are towards the preservation of Japantown. I have developed both personally and professionally in the last nine weeks, and in the future I hope to get more extensively involved in the Japanese American community.

Jared Wong

Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California

Thanks to the NCI program, I was able to spend my summer weeks in one of the most exciting, hectic, awesome places in San Francisco Japantown. In the programs department, I was tasked with numerous jobs like updating class information, interviewing instructors, setting up a workshop from start to finish, and publicizing the center. Despite the long walks around Japantown in the freezing S.F. weather distributing flyers, I’ve learned from the entire JCCCNC staff how much work it takes to run such an important facet of the Japanese American community.

However, meeting the various leaders of the JA community made me realize how much more work our generation needs to put in so our ideas and our future will come about. But working and meeting the other NCI interns from all over California has given me hope for this vision as well as 18 great friends that I can connect to and simply hang out with.

The work experience, friends, memories and inspiration I have gained from this internship have given me a completely new outlook on what Japantown and the Japanese American community can do. No matter what paths we may take in the future, the NCI program has given us the option and the tools to really make a difference.

Michelle Mitsuda

Japanese Community Youth Council

While my fellow NCI interns are still busy at work during Week 8, I am sitting here reminiscing about my past seven weeks at the Japanese Community Youth Council’s Tomodachi Teen Summer Camp Program. The sleeping in and relaxing is a relief; however, there is no place I’d rather be than back with my teen group.

The JCYC Tomodachi Teen Program is a nine week summer camp for kids entering 7th-9th grades. The program offers biweekly field trips, as well as teaches the kids responsibility and leadership skills through assistant counseling days. As one of the supervisors, I not only participated in many fun field trips, but also had the ability to assist on workshop days, facilitating discussions on prepubescent issues, ranging from bullying to self-esteem.

The relationships I established with the kids in Teen Group are ones that I will cherish forever. It may sound cliché, but in the short seven weeks, I honestly bonded and became very much attached with my teen groupers. I will never forget their countless questions about friendship, academics, the opposite sex, and the many trials of growing up. The experience has inspired me to pursue teaching or counseling in the future.

The Nikkei Community Internship has opened my eyes to how much the Japanese American Community has influenced my life. The opportunity to network with so many prominent people of Japantown has been an invaluable experience, providing much inspiration to continue to be active within the JA community in the years to come. My goal for this summer was to learn new ways to stay active within the JA community after college and I believe this has been fulfilled.

The NCI program has made me realize that as young adults, we have the power to influence our community for the better with new ideas and innovations. It is up to our generation to take up leadership roles in our community in order to ensure the same opportunities are available to future generations, and I’m sure all of us have been inspired to do so.