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

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

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.