Upcoming Events
Topaz Stories Exhibit
The Topaz Stories team and Friends of Topaz Museum are excited to announce that a new exhibit of Topaz Stories will be held at J-Sei from September 22-December 13, 2024!
While a few of the stories in this exhibit were displayed in the Utah State Capitol in 2022, all are being exhibited in California for the first time. The stories provide intensely personal accounts of the forced removal; daily camp life; the dispersal of the Japanese American community through the resettlement program; the heroism of Nisei solders with families incarcerated behind barbed wire; the challenges of returning to California after the War; and the impact of the camp experience on survivors and subsequent generations, decades later.
Join us at J-Sei for the following programs associated with the exhibit!
(All events are hybrid and free and open to the public. J-Sei, 1285 66th St., Emeryville, CA. Website: j-sei.org)Sunday, Sept. 22: “Children of Topaz: Stories and Art” with Dana Shew and special guests (10:30-11:45 am). Register here.
Thursday, Oct. 3: “Dispersed: The WWII Scattering of the Japanese American Community.” Stories by Jun Dairiki, Jean Hibino, Mitsi Nakamizo Fuchigami, and Joseph Nishimura (2-3:30 pm). Register here.
Sunday, Oct. 13: “The Lost Sketches of Topaz: Ella Honderich’s Topaz Years” by Cynthia Wright, Ella’s granddaughter (2-3:30 pm). Register here.
Thursday, Nov. 7: “Soldiers’ Stories” by Eugene Takei, Tracy Takayanagi Hui, and Ruth Sasaki (2-3:30 pm). Register here.
Saturday, Nov. 23: “Wartime Friends and Allies of Japanese Americans,” stories by Frank Kami, Jonathan Hirabayashi, Doris Yagi, and Jon Yatabe and Ruth Sasaki (2-3:30 pm). Register here.
Thursday, Dec. 5: “Return to California: Stories of Postwar Resettlement” by Kaz Iwahashi, Michi Mukai, Harue Minamoto, and Meri Mitsuyoshi (2-3:30 pm). Register here.
SOLD OUT! Topaz Art Pilgrimage 2024
Join us for the Topaz Art Pilgrimage, May 2-4 in Salt Lake City and Delta! Registration open now!
Pictures of Belonging: Miki Hayakawa, Hisako Hibi, and Miné Okubo
Dr. ShiPu Wang, Professor of Art History, UC Merced, will discuss his new exhibit, Pictures of Belonging.
Long-Overdue Reparations for African Americans: Why Japanese Americans and other AAPIs Should Care
Don Tamaki, JD, will discuss the final report from the California Task Force to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans.
Desert Wind and Strings: A Concert of Traditional Japanese Dance and Music
Join us for a concert by koto musician Shirley Muramoto, her students, and guest artist, Bando Hiroshichiro in honor of the musicians who continued to perform traditional Japanese music while imprisoned in Japanese American WWII incarceration camps.
The concert will feature newly restored koto and shamisen instruments that have not been played since their owner’s family departed Topaz camp. The audience will also hear the music of a restored shakuhachi whose owner was interned in the Fort Lincoln Department of Justice internment camp in Bismarck, North Dakota. Kabuki dancer and teacher Bando Hiroshichiro will perform a Nihon Buyo traditional dance that was well known to the Issei generation.
Limited seating available. RSVP at Eventbrite here: https://DesertWindAndStrings.eventbrite.com
This concert will be held in-person at J-Sei: 1285 66th Street, Emeryville, CA 94608
Miné Okubo's Eyes: A Life in Colors
ShiPu Wang, curator of the Chiura Obata retrospective and professor of art history at UC Merced, returns to J-Sei to talk about his new exhibition, Miné Okubo’s Eyes: A Life in Colors, the first survey of Okubo’s seven-decade career for the Center for Social Justice & Civil Liberties in Riverside since 2012. This event is free of charge. RSVP at eventbrite here: https://MineOkubo.eventbrite.com?aff=oddtdtcreator
This program will be held virtually and in-person at J-Sei: 1285 66th Street, Emeryville, CA 94608
Haruko Obata: A Life of Flowers
The life and art of pioneering Bay Area issei ikebana sensei, Haruko Obata (1892-1989). A new illustrated presentation by her granddaughter, Kimi Hill, author of Topaz Moon: Chiura Obata’s Art of the Internment. This event is free of charge. RSVP on eventbrite here: https://HarukoObata.eventbrite.com?aff=oddtdtcreator
This program will be presented virtually and in-person at J-Sei: 1285 66th Street, Emeryville, CA 94608
Hayward Japanese American Memorial Art Monument Visit
Friday, August 11, 10:30 am.
Visit the Japanese American Memorial Art Monument recently installed at the Hayward Heritage Plaza. Meet project organizers Robbin Kawabata and Victor Fujii from the Eden Township JACL, and artist Patricia Wakida. The memorial is located at the site where 600 Japanese Americans boarded buses to the Tanforan detention center in May 1942. Optional lunch/picnic in the park. https://www.edenjapanesecc.org/monument-site-page
Meet at Hayward Heritage Plaza 835 C Street, Hayward at 10:30am.
Sponsored by Friends of Topaz Museum. No RSVP required.
Ireichō
Duncan Ryūken Williams, director of the USC Shinso Ito Center for Japanese Religions and Culture, author of American Sutra: A Story of Faith and Freedom in the Second World War, and ordained Soto Zen Buddhist priest, will give a presentation on Irei: National Monument for the WWII Japanese American Incarceration, the multi-faceted project that addresses the erasure of the identities of individuals of Japanese ancestry who experienced wartime incarceration. This project includes the Ireichō, a sacred book of names now on display at JANM.
RSVP jill@j-sei.org with “Ireicho” in the subject line. This lecture will be held virtually and in-person at J-Sei: 1285 66th Street, Emeryville, CA 94608
Sashiko & Senninbari-Knot Doodles: Workshop (all ages welcome)
Participants will learn about sashiko and senninbari, as stitching traditions of Japan, and how to sew them. Each participant will sew small sashiko and knot doodles using traditional materials to make a 4” x 6” composition that will be mounted in a frame and 5 mini-doodles that will be mounted onto blank notecards with envelopes.
Threads of Camp: Sewn from Japan to the United States
Lucy Arai will present photographs of surviving objects and artwork that illustrate life behind barbed wire fences, as she illuminates how threads were used in camp with stories of how sewing, knitting and crocheting were more than the means to provide warm and durable clothing, bedding and items to make barracks into homes where Japanese Americans were forced to live during WWII.
Stitching Paper: Quilting Japan and America by Lucy Arai
June 18 - July 9
An Exhibit, Artist Talk, and Workshop
Lucy Arai creates art with a confluence of traditions and innovations. She uses temari (Japanese embroidered balls) and sashiko (Japanese tradition of running-stitches) to fabricate structures, to articulate details in forms, and to respond to the deposits of ink and indigo pigments on handmade papers. Sashiko is the Japanese tradition of unshin, sewing running-stitches, to strengthen, layer, and connect fabric to protect and warm the body, and for utilitarian needs. Sewing frequently took place in quiet moments of solitude or in the company of family and friends, giving thread the power to heal, transmit lore and traditions, and interconnect ancestors with generations of the past, present, and future.
The gallery will be open M-F, from 1 to 4 pm, and by appointment. J-Sei: 1285 66th Street, Emeryville, CA 94608
Seen and Unseen: What Dorothea Lange, Toyo Miyatake and Ansel Adams’s Photographs Reveal About the Japanese American Incarceration
Elizabeth Partridge, award-winning children’s book author, will discuss her new non-fiction book, “Seen and Unseen,” illustrated by Lauren Tamaki. “Seen and Unseen” received the most distinguished informational book for children in 2022 by the ALA, as well as the 2023 Bologna Children’s Award for Photography.
Event to be held in-person and virtually at J-Sei:
1285 66th Street, Emeryville, CA 94608
Please RSVP to Jill Shiraki : Email jill@j-sei.org with “Seen and Unseen” in the subject line.
SAVE THE DATE! 80th Anniversary of Wakasa's Murder
For more details and to register, visit: Wakasa 80th
Koto and Trumpet Concert
Come enjoy a free family concert at Delta High School on May 16 at 6:30 performed by Topaz descendants Shirley Muramoto and Mark Inouye! Shirley is a traditional Japanese koto player, skilled in both classical and jazz styles. Mark is the principal trumpet player for the San Francisco Symphony and a jazz player who has been a soloist in symphonies across the country. Bring the whole family to what is sure to be a great event!
Topaz Stories Opening Reception
Join us at the Utah State Capitol in Salt Lake City on Friday, April 22, 2022 from 4-6pm for a reception highlighting the Topaz Stories exhibit. Events will be held at the Utah State Capitol rotunda and the 3rd floor mezzanine. The Utah State Capitol is located at 350 North State Street in Salt Lake City. All Friday events at the State Capitol are free to the public.
The exhibit will be on display until December 31, 2022.
Sahomi Tachibana: American Legacy of a Japanese Dancer
Born in Mountain View, California in 1924, Doris Haruno Abey began studying traditional Japanese dance at age seven. Incarcerated with her family at Tule Lake and Topaz camps, this Japanese American teen began performing and teaching young children from behind barbed wire.
Over a career that spanned eight decades, this master dancer performed on Broadway and in 45 states; she started her own dance company, teaching countless students on both coasts. After moving to Oregon, Sahomi continued to perform and teach until the age of 95, retiring just two years ago. In 2021, Sahomi received the Emperor’s Commendation Order of the Rising Sun, Silver Rays -- Japan’s highest civilian honor.
This year, Tachibana will donate the papier mache sword she used in her camp Kabuki performances to the Topaz Museum in Delta, Utah.
Join us for a virtual event: Sahomi Tachibana: American Legacy of a Japanese Dancer on March 3 from 5-6 PM, hosted by documentary filmmaker Lauren Kawana, featuring archival footage of Sahomi dancing at Jacob’s Pillow, and talks by Sahomi’s daughter, students and Japanese American Kabuki performer, Bando Hiroshichiro on the legacy of this living treasure of Japanese Dance. This virtual event is presented by the Friends of Topaz Museum & NextGen: Geijutsuka.