In Japan, they call it terebi—broken-English slang for television. Unfortunately, news of the recent catastrophe has occupied terebi lately, but during better times both NHK and the TV Japan programs they license makes for exciting television viewing.

Since most NHK shows are broadcast without English subtitles, I watch them carefully before searching the Internet or asking my Japanese friends to fill in any gaps.

The exception is NHK’s yearly taiga dorama(drama) series. Based on historical figures played mostly by pop stars, these weekly shows have run since the 1960’s. The subtitled versions are broadcast locally on Saturdays although interpretations are sometimes unintentionally hilarious. For instance, in one 16^th century scene, a character used the word “teenager”.



Aside from its comic moments, taiga dramas also offer history lessons, although it’s hard to tell sometimes if a real-life character was actually heroic or villainous. For instance, in Shinsengumi (2004), leader Kondo Isami is portrayed sympathetically. An elite police force that patrolled Kyoto in 1863, the Shinsengumi’sallegiance was to the Tokugawa Shogunate that organized them. In the series, Kondo is presented as extremely loyal even though his feelings increasingly side with the Emperor’s–that all foreigners be expelled from Japan. When Kondo is executed, it’s heartbreaking. But in last year’s taiga series, Ryomaden, about Japan’s first naval hero, Sakamoto Ryoma, Kondo comes across as a bloodthirsty, ruthless thug obsessed with assassinating Ryoma. Even the actor who played Kondo in Ryomaden wasn’t as fresh-faced as the one in Shinsengumi–Katori Shingo. The front man for the J-pop group, SMAP  (pronounced smap-u), is also famous for his ability to insert his entire fist inside his mouth.

The next year, 2005, Yoshitsune was broadcast. Based on the 12^th century Genji heir who was raised by his rival Heikei stepfather (after killing Yoshitsune’s father), this is one of Japan’s most famous stories. The best scene has Yoshitsune dressed like a woman attempting to cross a bridge when the big, burly Benkei challenges him to fight. When Benkei loses, he becomes Yoshitsune’s vassal.

In 2008, swords were traded in for sex and Atsuhime arrived. Played by Aoi Miyazaki, the princess Atsu is beautiful, graceful and smart. A Satsuma Clan member, Atsuhime is married off to the 13^th Tokugawa Shogun and frets over it until she starts playing go with him every night—beating him while discussing politics. Her wise husband is encouraging and when he dies prematurely, leaves orders that she be given a voice in Tokugawa policies.

Then, in 2009, came the mother of all taiga and my favorite, Tenchijin. Starring a parade of eye candy actors, this tale of the Uesugi Clan’s Kanetsugu and how his message of love challenged powerful families like the Takeda, Oda, Sanada, Date, Tokugawa and Toyotomi is pure performance.

Japanese telebi dramas offer up plenty of eye candy.

Last year’s Ryomaden starred the pony-tailed pop singer and guitarist, Fukuyama Masaharu, as the samurai credited with equalizing all classes and brokering a deal between enemy Clans Satsuma and Choshu during the reign of the last shogun, Yoshinobu.

Any way you look at it, or pronounce it, terebi is fun!

AG: I was born and raised in Seattle with all it’s multicultural and Pacific rim influences. Both of  my parents are born of cultures that are different from those they were raised in. My father is Croatian, Italian and French but was born in Egypt and came to the U.S. as a boy. My mother is Cajun, English and Irish born in Louisiana but raised around the world including Japan and Germany. They met at the original Nordstrom’s store in Seattle…

RCNW: You’ve been exhibiting your artwork since the young age of fifteen, how did you become so interested in art at such a young age?

AG: I was always indulged and given any art materials I was attracted to a child. However I was never told how to use them, what media not to mix, what techniques to use with them, how not to be an artist…This freedom, I feel, helped me cultivate a strong artistic center within myself  at a young age.  As I became a teenager certain women artists touched my life and helped elevate me, such as  Sherry Markovitz and  Louise Hoeshen Goldberg, both are family friends. But without a doubt the most influential person on me is Molly Norris. She was the first person to exhibit my work, to gently guide me…like some sort of fairy godmother with a paint brush instead of a magic wand.I am eternally indebted to Molly.

RCNW: How would you describe your technique and approach to art?

AG: My approach to art is very much self developed and therefore open to change at any moment. I think in some ways it is the same as when I was a child. In my preteen years I was absolutely obsessed with fashion design, a true weekly devote of Elsa Klensch’s show Style. I would sketch dresses, filling cheap sketch books in one sitting with 100′s of fancy ladies. Now when I look at my large paintings of rows and rows of kokeshi, it’s not much different. It’s how I use my materials and what media I use that tends to vary now more than my approach.

RCNW: Japanese kokeshi dolls are a signature component in many of your paintings.  How did the kokeshi doll become such an important piece to your work?

AG: Like the combining of my parents cultures and ethnicities that made me, I draw inspiration from blending seemly different things to find something undiscovered. For example, my kokeshi-cactus, it is a synergy of the New Mexican landscape and my kokeshi’ from Japan by way of the Northwest. My current paintings that I am working on are inspired by finding the similarities between the desertscape and the beachscape. These pieces came out of a curiosity to bring both of them closer together.
Recently I was invited by the Japanese American National Museum in L.A. to contribute to their ‘Year of the Labbit’ show this year. Artists were asked to decorate a vinyl toy called a Labbit. Mine is a “Pinata Labbit”. It plays upon the shape of the pop culture phenomenon and the archetypal shape of the donkey pinata- again Japan meets Mexico, which isn’t that what America is? A hybrid of cultures?

AG: Initially my mom’s kokeshi collection from her childhood years in Japan had a great pull on me. She never let me play with them since for her they were more collection than toy.  I began to paint long rows of kokeshi on wood panel so that I could interact with them in some way. When I asked my mom  how she would play with these hard wooden, limbless dolls as a child (which for me were so unlike the western babydoll with it’s needy flaying chubby arms) she told me she would  to place them with their couple counterpart. They were arranged and rearranged.

To me this relationship with the kokeshi resonated with my own childhood at the time. My parents divorce took 8 years to finalize so the idea of perfect placement, coupling, arrangement and rearrangement…where themes in life I could talk about by letting the kokeshi become my language. Later the kokeshi evolved in my art to become me.

RCNW: What is your definition of art?

AG:I can’t define art for anyone. We all have the space to do that for ourselves. I can comment that I believe an artist is born an artist. To become an artist can’t be learned,. Those who are taught to be an artist usually end up as teachers. I’ve never had any desire to teach. I probably can’t define art because I’m not a scholar.

Golden Series, Black Cactai

RCNW: Tell us about your Golden Series Paintings.

AG: Golden Series took me quite a while to come to. After living in the Southwest for a good long time I finally got to a place artistically where the land, cultures, plants all just POPPED! The result were these strange kokeshi-cacti.

My husband, daughter and I all enjoy off-roading in the desert for different reasons. My husband enjoys the challenge of driving in the sand and on rock, the solitude from urban life. I enjoy seeing the landscape from a private insiders view, off the beaten path, it’s so exclusive. I become extremely inspired while on our family adventures within the quiet of my inner world. My daughter Nola (who is almost 4 years old) and I both LOVE rock hunting…we pick-up fossils, crystals, agates, pottery shards, bones, antlers like they are Easter eggs!
It took a while for the Golden Series to come out of these explorations and for me to see the desert as more lively than dormant. Now the desert and I have a love affair.

RCNW: You are a wife and a mother in addition to being an artist.  How do you find the time and space to produce artwork?

AG: When I got pregnant I was fiercely determined to not stop making art just because I was becoming a mother. For some women to stop making art is OK but for me it is imperative  to be creating all the time. Otherwise I feel agitated, out of balance. Once I remember seeing an Oprah episode where a woman said ” I was an artist…but then I had kids”. I thought to myself OH HELL NO!
So I planned ahead making studio time a priority. I have an in home studio. I always end my studio time by setting up for my next session, making notes to myself. For the first 3 years of Nola’s life “studio time” was also know as “nap time”. Above all  I only clean the house on Sundays.

RCNW: Other than producing art, share with us something else that you enjoy?

AG: I really dig collecting. All my reoccurring dreams at night are about searching for things; rummaging through boxes, going through old coat pockets in dreamy thrift stores, sifting through rocks in magical tidal pools, pouring over jewelry at an imaginary Flea Market. So I tend to enjoy doing those same thing in my waking life too I have a collection of Bakelite jewelry.

For me a creative domestic experience just happens as a result of being a creative person. Fashion, home decorating, birthday parties for my daughter, love letters to my husband- anyway I can express myself I do.  With the exception of cooking. I love to eat but hate to cook!

Thanks for taking the time to share with us Lex!

To inquire about Alexandra Gjurasic’s fabulous artwork, contact riceculturenw@gmail.com.

Sat, April 2 – 12noon – 6pm
Seattle University, School of Law, Korematsu Center
1112 E Columbia, Seattle, WA

Join leaders from your own community for a Free Leadership Development session and open networking!

Although the Asian Pacific Islander American population is increasing each year in the Puget Sound region, we only hold a mere 2-3% of elected and appointed positions. Major decisions affecting our lives are made daily yet our voices are not at the table.

Attend this half-day training to learn how you can address this lack of parity by stepping up to become a public leader. Hear from community leaders as they share their stories, learn how to build your resume, and find out what it takes to run for office.

Seattle University School of Law, Korematsu Center.
1112 E Columbia, Seattle, WA
Number 30, Sullivan Hall
Directions: http://www.law.seattleu.edu/x3615.xml

11:30 am Doors open
12:00 pm – 4:00 pm Program
4:00 pm – 6:00 pm Reception

Please RSVP on Facebook and/or via email at kzammit@progressivemajorityaction.org.

Co-Hosted by: APACE (Asian Pacific Islander Americans for Civic Empowerment), Progressive Majority Action Fund

Sponsored by: Progressive Majority Action Fund, Korematsu Center, People of Color for Progress

Event name: 21st Annual Walk for Rice

Venue name: Seward Park, 5902 Lake Washington Blvd S, Seattle

Short event description: A fundraiser that benefits the Asian Counseling and Referral Service Food Bank, which feeds nearly 5,000 unduplicated low-income individuals each year. It’s the second most-used food bank in King County and the only food bank to regularly distribute staples of the Asian Pacific American diet. Visit www.walkforrice.org to register as an individual, join a team or donate.

Event day and date: Saturday, June 18, 2011

Event time: 8 a.m. to noon.

Price: FREE
Web site: www.walkforrice.org
Email for public use: events@acrs.org
Phone for public use: 206-695-7551
Type of event: Community; Benefit; Walk

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Through April 30, 2011

SIS Productions presents the Premiere of
Sex in Seattle 19: The One That Got Away
April 1 – 30, 2011

SIS Productions presents Sex in Seattle 19: The One That Got Away at Richard Hugo House (1634 11th Ave., North of Pine St. on Seattle’s Capitol Hill). The show runs April 1 – 30, 2011, playing Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm and 10pm. Tickets for the 8pm shows are $15 for general admission, $12 for students/seniors/actors. Tickets for the 10pm shows are $10 for general admission, $6 for students/seniors/actors. Group rates are also available. Call(206) 323-9443 or email tickets@sis-productions.org for reservations and information or see our website at www.sexinseattle.org. Advance tickets may be purchased at Brown Paper Tickets ~ call 1-800-838-3006 or go to their website at http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/156456

SIS Productions celebrates its 10th Anniversary with its penultimate episode! Tess, Chloe, Elizabeth and Jenna have finally found true love. Or have they? Thoughts of the one that got away can interfere with even the happiest of relationships. And how can reality ever compete with the person of one’s dreams? Newcomers and long-time fans will want to catch Sex in Seattle before it goes away! Don’t miss the country’s longest-running quirky romantic comedy about contemporary Asian American women, their lives and their loves.

Audiences over the past 18 episodes have shared the following accolades: “Funny as hell!”  * “Wow ~ very funny & different!”  * “LOVED IT!!!” ? “I was totally blown away. It was certainly the best show I’ve seen all year.”  * “Thanks for making my visit to Seattle worth every cent” (Denver resident)  * “This episode showed great depth, yet was even funnier than ever!”  *  ”The script was so original, funny, and creative – our stomachs started hurting because we were laughing so hard.” * “This is the best thing I’ve seen in Seattle!”  * “We just love SIS and every one seems to get better and better!”  * “They are so addicting!” * “cute and clever” * “We really liked the use of video?they were awesome!”

Rated “PG-16″ for sexual innuendo and saucy situations.

Sex in Seattle 19: The One That Got Away is written by Kathy Hsieh, directed by Miko Premo and produced by Lorna Chin, Kathy Hsieh, Lisa Marie Nakamura, Miko Premo & Roger Tang.

Featuring: Leilani Berinobis, Henry Drew, Gordon Hendrickson, Tom Falcone, Kathy Hsieh, Chau Luu, May Nguyen, Caleb Slavens and Moses Yim!

SIS Productions is a production company that strives to create, develop and produce quality works that involve Asian American women, their themes, and Asian American issues. SIS Productions encourages opportunities and support for Asian American women to be involved in all aspects of the production of artistic endeavors.

Sex in Seattle is a dynamic, groundbreaking episodic theatre show that aims to:
* Portray contemporary Asian Americans in a truer light, reflecting our diversity and uniqueness of being both Asians and Americans.
* Believably address and explore the issues of womanhood ~ sexuality, struggles, identity, relationships, perceptions, and more, using humor and drama.

Special Events:

SIS Productions is excited to announce some very special events that will take place during the run of Sex in Seattle 19: The One That Got Away.

OPENING NIGHT GALA: Join the Sex in Seattle cast for a gala reception and opening night party after the 8:00 pm performance and before the 10:00 pm performance on Friday, April 1. Admission to the gala is free with an opening night ticket to the show.

Sex in Seattle Q & A’s: Plan for them on Fridays (April 8, 15, 22 and 29) between the 8:00 pm and the 10:00 pm performances for a lively chat with the cast on the dynamics of race when it comes to dating! Ask the questions you’ve always wanted to ask!

Special thanks to the Seattle Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs and 4Culture King County Lodging Tax for their support of our 2011 season.

Bios
Leilani Berinobis (Tess Matsudaira) lives in North Seattle and played Tess in Episodes 8, 9, 12-14 and 16 and 17. Favorite roles include: Tien in Ghostwritten (Seattle Repertory Theatre); Feste in Illyria (Redwood Theatre); Lady Thiang in The King and I (Coeur d?Alene Summer Theatre); touring around western Washington as Mother in Baseball Saved Us (5th Avenue?s AMT Program) Chesty Prospects in Saucy Jack & the Space Vixens (BS Productions); Bloody Mary in South Pacific, Sister Sophia in Sound of Music, and Wen Yu in Making Tracks (Village Theatre).
Lorna Chin (Executive Producer / Producer) was born in Honolulu, HI and resides in West Seattle.  She has been a co-producer since Sex in Seattle, Episode 1 in different capacities.  She volunteers at the Make-A-Wish Foundation and raises funds for the animals at Woodland Park Zoo. Lorna graduated from the University of Puget Sound in 1997.

Henry Drew (Kenneth Sheng) lives in Lynnwood and previously played Kenneth in the SIS staged reading reruns and in Episode 16, 17 and 18. In addition to his work with SIS, he’s also performed in ReAct Theatre’s Six Degrees of Separation and The Seven Chinese Brothers.

Tom Falcone (George Weiss Varone) lives in Shoreline and is back with SIS for his second show. Tom spent the last six years in New York City where he recorded many voiceovers for radio and TV, performed with the sketch comedy group Chocolate Cake City and helped create Third Eye Theatre, a not-for-profit theatre company in NYC. Prior to living and working in New York, Tom spent several years in San Francisco where he performed in the hit show Tony and Tina’s Wedding. Tom currently works as a professional voiceover artist and performs with The Nines, a Seattle-based improv troupe.

Wendy Hammatt (Lighting Designer) was the lighting designer for Episodes 7, 8, 15, 16, 17 and 18 and lives in South Seattle. Wendy has also designed lights for Grand Night for Singing, Rough Crossing, Bedroom Farce, Journey’s End and many more.

Gordon Hendrickson (Nathan Wychovsky) makes his stage debut for Sex in Seattle, after directing Episode 3. He is an actor, director and singer with a long line of credits with theatres such as Repertory Actors Theatre, where he has done Closer, S.A.M. I Am, Barefoot in the Park, Schoolhouse Rock Live!, Rabbit Hole and many others.

Kathy Hsieh (Co-Conceiver / Playwright / Executive Producer / Producer / Elizabeth Ko) is an award-winning actor, writer and director. As an actor she has worked with the Seattle Rep, Book-It, ACT, Intiman, Taproot, ReAct, Freehold, Living Voices and more. Her scripts have been produced by the Northwest Asian American Theatre, Vancouver Asian Canadian Theatre, featured at the Seattle Fringe Theatre Festival, 14/48, and for the National Asian American Theatre Conference at Mixed Blood Theatre and The Guthrie. Her script B4 was selected as part of the International Centre for Women Playwrights? Chicago Her-rah Festival and won Honorable Mention in New York?s New Works of Merit Playwriting Contest. She was also featured in The Dramatist Magazine as ?50 to Watch.? By day she works for the Mayor’s Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs. Most recently she was seen in several ?blink-and-you?ll-miss-me? guest spots on TNT?s Leverage, a couple of commercials, the independent film Nothing Against Life, and the NBC movie In My Shoes. She is a proud member of Sandbox, TPS, and on the planning committee for The Gregory Awards.

Chau Luu (Chloe Kong) lives in Eastlake. This is her first show with SIS Productions. She has acted with the Pork Filled Playeris and KPROductions. She is a local actress/model who travels between Seattle and Portland working on industrial, print, and commercial shoots for such companies like Avon and Microsoft. In addition, Chau practice kung fu and also performs the Lion Dance with her martial arts school.

Lisa Marie Nakamura (Executive Producer / Assistant Producer) was born in Seattle and lives Vashon Island. She has been a co-producer since Episode 1 and was the fight choreographer in Episodes 2, 3, 10 and the encore staged readings of Episode 2, co-creator for Episodes 9-14 and played Tess in Episode 15. Lisa has acted, fought and choreographed fights all over the Northwest. She has toured with Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes for Book-It Repertory Theatre?s Book-It All Over! Education & Community Outreach Program and also worked with ReAct, Joe Boston Productions, Pork Filled Players and NWAAT.

May Nguyen (Jenna Sheng) is thrilled to be a part of Sex in Seattle again!  Episode 19 marks her fourth turn as Jenna.  May was recently spotted with the sketch comedy troupe Pork Filled Players in the cabaret, Spam-O-Rama.  She not only performed but wrote some sketches as well!  Upcoming gigs include another, bigger show with Pork Filled Players in the month of May and a reading of her new series of one acts later in the year.

Miko Premo (Producer/director) was born and raised in Seattle and currently resides on Capitol Hill. Miko has directed and performed in episodes of Sex in Seattle, directed Cowboy Versus Samurai and costumed BFE and appeared as Lana in The Theory of Everything. Miko is a graduate of New York University and she acts, directs and costume designs. She has worked with various theatres around town including Pork Filled Players, Sight Nine Theatre Company, Exchange Theatre, Theater Schmeater, West Seattle Kids Theatre and ArtsWest, where she directed The Judas Kiss by David Hare.

Caleb Slavens (Adam Jensen) is in his second show with Sex in Seattle. He has been acting in and around Seattle for the last four years now (Redwood Theatre, Renton Civic, Northstar Theater) and just recently finished working in Greenstage’s Romeo and Juliet (Benvolio).

Roger Tang (Producer/Video/Sound Design) lives in Shoreline and has been with SIS since 2004 as a designer, producer and Literary Manager; his play, Shadowed Intent has been seen in SIS?s Insatiable 5 this fall. He is a producer, and is artistic director of the Pork Filled Players, Seattle?s oldest sketch comedy group. He edits the Asian American Theatre Revue ( HYPERLINK “http://www.aatrevue.com“ www.aatrevue.com), the web?s top resource for Asian American theatre, and is known as the ?godfather of Asian American theatre.? He will be a featured panelist at the third National Asian American Theatre Conference in Los Angeles this June.

Rick Wong (PR Photographer) was born in Seattle, lives in Rainier Beach and has worked with Sex in Seattle since 2001. Rick freelances as a photographer and teaches at Seattle Central Community College. His photos have been exhibited at the Paris Air Shows, the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum, the Wing Luke Asian Museum, Seattle Central Community College, the King County Arts Commission, and featured in national magazines and books such as Sunset, KoreAm and America 24/7. His work was featured in the Museum of Chinese in the Americas’ exhibit Have You Eaten Yet? in New York City and on ?CBS Sunday Mornings?.

Moses Yim (Colin Kameoka) is back with SIS again after playing Colin in Episode 7 and 18. Born and raised in Seattle, he caught the theatre bug while in high school. He currently resides in Shoreline.

FACTS:

WHO:            SIS Productions

WHAT:   Sex in Seattle 18: The One That Got Away

WHEN:   April 1 to 30, 2011, Fridays & Saturdays at 8 pm AND 10 pm

WHERE:          Richard Hugo House, 1634 11th Avenue (11th Avenue, North of Pine Street on Seattle?s Capitol Hill)

TICKETS:        8 pm Performances: General Admission: $15 | Student/Senior/Actor: $12
10 pm Performances: General Admission: $10 | Student/Senior/Actor: $6
Advance tickets may be purchased at Brown Paper Tickets ~
1-800-838-3006 | www.brownpapertickets.com.
Seating is limited ~ reservations or advance tickets are strongly encouraged
206-323-9443 | tickets@sis-productions.org
Group rates are available ~ 206-323-9443 | groupsales@sis-productions.org

INFO:   SIS Productions:  206-323-9443
sis@sis-productions.org
www.sis-productions.org | www.sexinseattle.org

CONCEIVED BY:                   Kathy Hsieh & Moi with a little help from Daniel Arreola
ORIGINALLY CREATED BY:  Kathy Hsieh, Serin Ngai & Amy Waschke
WRITTEN BY:                     Kathy Hsieh
DIRECTED BY:                    Miko Premo
FEATURING:             Leilani Berinobis
Henry Drew
Tom Falcone
Gordon Hendrickson
Kathy Hsieh
Chau Luu
May Nguyen
Caleb Slavens
Moses Yim
STAGE MANAGERS:         Marilyn Gonzalez?                                       Stacey Hansen
LIGHTING DESIGNER:              Wendy Hammatt
SOUND/MEDIA DESIGNER:           Roger Tang
PROPERTIES DESIGNER:            Lisa Marie Nakamura
THEME SONG COMPOSER:    Nathan Wade Anderson
PR/MEDIA PHOTOGRAPHER:  Rick Wong
GRAPHIC DESIGNER:               Wendy Polidori
PRODUCERS:                      Lorna Chin
Kathy Hsieh?    Miko Premo
Roger Tang
Lisa Marie Nakamura

Where: UC Berkeley

Info: http://ieas.berkeley.edu/cjs/hapajapan.html

The Center for Japanese Studies, along with the Hapa Japan Database Project and All Nippon Airways, will host the Hapa Japan Conference on April 8th and 9th, featuring specialists in the study of mixed-race Japanese history, identity, and representation. Topics range from the history of mixed-race Japanese in the 1500s, part-Japanese communities in Australia, to the exploration of identity and representation through story-telling, films, and a photo-exhibit.

*RiceCulture NW’s film editor, Yayoi Lena Winfrey was invited to attend this event!  How exciting!

Tickets: New Vision Award Recipient Jero, A Conversation & Mini-Concert

Enka Superstar Jero: A Conversation and Mini-Concert
April 8th, 2011
8:00 – 9:15pm
UC Berkeley Wheeler Hall

Free and open to the public

The Center for Japanese Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, is proud to announce that Jero, the Japanese-African-American enka singer, has been selected as the winner of the 2nd annual Berkeley Japan New Vision Award. The Center will host an invitation-only award ceremony at 5:00pm on Friday, April 8, at the Doe Library Morrison Room on the UC Berkeley campus followed by a public on-stage interview and mini-concert at 8:00pm in Wheeler Hall.

Part Japanese and part African American, Jero (born Jerome Charles White) is enka’s rising star ever since his hit single Umiyuki burst onto the charts in 2008. His albums, Yakusoku (2009), Covers(2008), Covers 2 (2009), and Covers 3 (2010) have been widely acclaimed as he has revived interest in this music genre. Winner of the 2008 Best New Artist Award at the Japan Record Awards and the 2011 Berkeley Japan New Vision Award, he has also regularly appeared on Japanese TV and commercials as well as performing at the prestigious New Year’s Eve Kôhaku Utagassenconcert twice.

The Berkeley Japan New Vision Award was established in 2009 to award an individual who has, in recent times, dramatically transformed our vision of Japan. Singing traditional Japanese ballads in an American idiom, not only has Jero rekindled an interest in enka among the younger generation of Japanese but he has also opened up the possibilities for fluent Japanese-speakers from around the world breaking into the entertainment and other industries in Japan. Given his mixed-race background, he has also become a symbol for the acceptance of a more multiethnic society for 21st-century Japan.

In 2009 the inaugural award was presented to Clint Eastwood for his Flags of Our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima, which depicted one of the most horrific WWII battles in the Pacific from both the American and Japanese points of view.

by Yayoi Lena Winfrey

For Seattle resident Eliachi Kimaro, childhood visits to her father’s East African homeland were heavenly. On Tanzania’s majestic Mount Kilimanjaro, she and her brother frolicked while their Korean mother mingled with local women. An idyllic playground, those Chagga tribal lands were perfect for kids.

When her parents decided to move permanently back to the coffee farm where her father grew up, a now-adult Kimaro accompanied them to record the event. Mindful of her family’s cultural roots, she hoped for a keepsake to later share with her own multi-generation-multiracial child. Yet, her father’s homecoming, as Kimaro’s documentary attests, nearly becomes her undoing.

To celebrate the move, Kimaro’s father has a traditional Chagga hut built in the yard of their expansive home. Circular in shape, the hut symbolizes equality—the compulsion to contribute and share is encouraged by participants sitting in a circle with “god” at their center. Unfortunately, its message of egalitarianism will come decades too late for the female members of Kimaro’s Tanzanian family.

For one dozen summers before she filmed her documentary, Kimaro spent time with her father’s kin but never alone with the women. On this visit, she purposely seeks them out to hear their stories. But their tales of exploitation and oppression are almost too painful for her to bear. As a domestic violence counselor, Kimaro is dismayed to learn that the women have suffered gender-based atrocities. Reeling from the exposure of their horrifying secrets, Kimaro doubts her ability to continue filming.

But she does, and her finished movie features her gentle, wonder-filled voice and deft hand. Besides the usual archival footage and family photos found in most personal documentaries, there is also some intriguing dialogue between her parents—both highly educated career professionals working for the International Monetary Fund and World Bank.

It’s truly a study in contrast to witness the tenderness that Kimaro’s father displays towards her mother while dismissing his sisters’ subjugation as “cultural”. Interestingly, the woman he marries is as feisty as his sisters are docile.

As for Kimaro’s spirited mother, she discusses with great relish her Korean family’s reaction to her marrying an African.

“I told them the name Kimaro, and they thought, “Japanese?,” she says slyly. “I said, no, East African, and alarm bells went off.”

Strong, smart and sophisticated, Kimaro’s mother could provide enough material to fill up a film all by herself. And, like her independent daughter, she tackles societal ills with robust opinions.

Visually enchanting, A Lot Like You takes us on a journey not unlike the trips we’ve shared with our own dysfunctional families. Part feminist agenda, part multicultural studies and part tearjerker, this movie is totally about relationships with relatives and the delights and disappointments that only they can render. In that way, Kimaro’s film is a lot like you…and me, too.

Screenings are currently held periodically at various local venues as well as at film festivals. Check out the movie’s website to stay updated about showings:

http://www.alotlikeyoumovie.com

President Obama officially nominated Commerce Secretary Gary Locke as ambassador to China on Wednesday, making Locke the first Chinese American to act as Washington’s envoy to the Middle Kingdom.

If confirmed by the Senate, Locke will replace Jon Huntsman after he steps down on April 30th. The Republican Huntsman is expected to weigh a presidential bid.

In his announcement, Obama said, “”More than 100 years ago, Gary’s grandfather left China on a steamship bound for America, where he worked as a domestic servant in Washington State. A century later, his grandson will return to China as America’s top diplomat.”

‘When he’s in Beijing, I know that American companies will be able to count on him to represent their interests in front of China’s top leaders.”

Locke is used to shattering boundaries – he was not only the first Chinese American governor of Washington, but also the first Chinese American Commerce Secretary. As governor, Locke made many trips to China (the state has a close economic relationship with China), and has also been lauded for his role in the rise in US exports to China.

“I’m going back to the birthplace of my grandfather and father, and I’ll be doing so as a devoted and passionate advocate for America, the country where I was born and raised,” said Locke in a statement. “I’m eager to continue that work in China, and to help you, Mr. President, manage one of America’s most critical and complex diplomatic, economic and strategic relationships.”