By KENJI G. TAGUMA
Nichi Bei Times

He was a naturally gifted teacher of Japanese cultural arts, a practitioner of a variety of traditions from the ecological tranquility of bonsai and ikebana, to the boisterous shigin singing and martial art of kendo, to the booming and vibrant beating of the taiko drum.

By ALEC YOSHIO MacDONALD
Nichi Bei Times Contributor

“In literary terms, this story is what would be called a saga, because it’s a story about a decisive moment in the formation of a people. It has many heroes and should make us all proud.”

The UCLA Asian American Studies Center, as an official U.S. Census Information Center (as a co-partner with National Coalition for Asian Pacific Community Development), is providing this 2007 statistical portrait of the Asian American populations produced by the U.S. Census Bureau for Asian Pacific American Heritage Month.

14.4 million
The estimated number of U.S. residents in July 2005 who said they were Asian or Asian in combination with one or more other races. This group comprised about 5 percent of the total population. California had the largest population (4.9 million) of people of this group.

When President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 in February 1942, sending 120,000 persons of Japanese descent to U.S. concentration camps during World War II, nearly 8,000 of them from the San Francisco Bay Area were first sent to Tanforan Racetrack in San Bruno, Calif.

At the Tanforan Assembly Center — surrounded by barbed wire and where families lived in horse stalls amidst the smell of manure — 50 new lives entered into this world between May and October 1942.

Nichi Bei Times Report

They helped to establish community organizations. They helped to reinforce the Japanese culture and language in succeeding generations of Japanese Americans. And, they continue to assist their fellow Nikkei seniors.

For their lifetime of accomplishments, a select group of 11 Japanese American seniors from as far south as San Jose and as far east as Sacramento were honored at the 20^th annual Senior Appreciation Brunch, which was as usual a part of the annual Northern California Cherry Blossom Festival. The heartwarming event was held on April 22 at the Miyako Hotel in San Francisco’s Japantown.

By KATHY AOKI
Nichi Bei Times

There is more than meets the eye to Pika Pika, located in the Kinokuniya Mall in San Francisco’s Japantown.

By BEN HAMAMOTO
Nichi Bei Times

As years pass and the fifth generation is emerging, the Japanese language becomes increasingly distant to the average Japanese American. Still, certain words endure; mostly words for food like gohan and shoyu, but also words for concepts that do not exist in English such as gaman or enryo. These are words for intimate things, unique to the Japanese American experience.

By KATHY AOKI
Nichi Bei Times

Brigham Cody Walker, a linebacker for the 2006 Ivy League Champion Princeton Tigers, graduates from the university in June but will continue playing football, at least for the summer. The 21-year-old Yonsei has another stint in the international football tournament in Japan.