By AKIKO MINAGA
Nichi Bei Times Contributor

A celebrated director, actor and performer, Alan Muraoka is probably best known for his role on the nationally syndicated show "Sesame Street" as Alan, the proprietor of Mr. Hooper’s corner store. However, on Saturday, Sept.15, Muraoka — along with Christine Toy Johnson and Hazel Anne Raymundo — will bring "Asian Americans on Broadway � Heart and Music" to the Palace of Fine Arts Theatre.

A dedication ceremony to unveil the creation of the Tanforan Assembly Center Commemorative Garden will be held on Saturday, Sept. 29, at 9:30a.m. at The Shops at Tanforan in San Bruno. The public is welcome to attend.

DAVIS, Calif. — UC Davis has been awarded a five-year, $3.9-million federal grant to launch a national research center focused on mental health issues facing Asian Americans.

By ANSHO MAS UCHIMA and MINORU SHINMOTO
Nichi Bei Times Contributors

James Tetsuo Hirai was promoted to Brigadier General in 2001, and was assigned as an assistant commander in the 4^th Infantry Division, Fort Hood, Texas. Then, he served as deputy commandant of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas from 2002 to 2004. From there, he was assigned as Commanding General U.S. Army Alaska at Fort Richardson, Alaska.

By Kathy Aoki
Nichi Bei Times

Rev. Harry Gyokyo Bridge doesn’t mind the pressures that anyone working in a ministerial position has to accept.

"One of the things I learned while I was working at Starbucks — before I knew I wanted to be a minister — was that I like people," said Bridge. "Nice people, difficult people — for some reason, I just like people. This was an interesting thing to learn, because I used to be very shy. But being here in Lodi and working as the resident minister has shown me even more that I like people."

The Takeo Okamoto Community Leadership Award committee and the Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California (JCCCNC) on Aug. 31 announced the winners of the 2007 award. Daisy Uyeda Satoda of San Francisco and Masaru (Mas) Hashimoto of Watsonville are the co-recipients of the 2007 Takeo Okamoto Community Leadership Award.

By BEN HAMAMOTO
Nichi Bei Times

For as long as its existence has been known to the West, Asia has been the object of superficial fascination. The past couple of decades have seen a particularly strong cycle of interest in Asian imagery, with Japanese anime and street fashion both up trending. There's a lot of talk about how "hot" Asia is these days, though its mostly discussed uncritically outside of the ethnic studies set. The new film "Silk, directed by Francios Girard ("The Red Violin"), is about a man who travels to Japan and comes back with a serious case of yellow fever (not the hemorrhagic illness).

By FRED OSHIMA
Nichi Bei Times Contributor

The annual Labor Day North & South Japanese American Baseball Tournament in Lodi turned into an All-Southern California diamond deal as the powerful defending champion Gardena FOR Knights successfully maintained their lofty crown by turning back their cross-town rival Los Angeles Pirates 14-4 in the final.

Correction

Accuracy is fundamental in journalism. In the Aug. 23 edition of the Nichi Bei Times Weekly, the following quote was incorrectly attributed to Karen Yoshitomi, the Japanese American Citizens League’s Pacific Northwest District regional director:

“The direction given by my district was to oppose the original motion and any modifications made to it.” She said that a significant part of her constituency is military service people from Ft. Lewis, where Watada is currently stationed, who settled in the area. “They have very strong feelings about Lt. Watada and what he did, and what his rights are and what they are not. I don’t think a lot of those people have sympathy for Lt. Watada… according to some of them, when you are in the military, your rights are different from that of a civilian… so they believe he is already getting a fair trial.”

Yoshitomi, however, was not at the meeting. The quote should be thus attributed to Elaine Akagi, JACL Pacific Northwest District governor, who was speaking on behalf of her district. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.