By KENJI G. TAGUMA
Nichi Bei Times

SAN JOSE — A historic Japantown midwifery helped to start the lives of countless Nisei, but on the night of Nov. 27 the building that once gave life was consumed in a fire that also took it away.

The Northern California Cherry Blossom Queen Program Committee is seeking enthusiastic, community-minded, young Nikkei women to participate in the 41st annual Northern California Cherry Blossom Festival Queen Program.

By BEN HAMAMOTO
Nichi Bei Times

Since the sale of several major properties, the future look of San Francisco Japantown has been a big question on the minds of many community members. On Nov. 26, a preview came in the form of a presentation on the J-pop Center — a project that has been in the works long before the sale of the Japantown malls — at that day's Japantown Taskforce meeting. The presentation — by Dennis Henmi, whose Kwan-Henmi Architects is handling the exterior design, exterior architect Jason Tran and interior architect Jay Adams — focused on the building's aesthetic as well as efforts to preserve the site's history.

By BILLIE LEE
Nichi Bei Times Correspondent

SAN JOSE — When Proposition 40 was passed in March 2002, $267.5 million was allocated to historical and cultural resources projects by California voters. Of that amount $1 million was earmarked for the preservation of California’s three remaining Japantowns located in San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Jose. Each of the Japantowns received $333,333 to support cultural and historical projects in their communities.

TOKYO (Kyodo) — Researchers of the 1945 Battle of Okinawa agree that the Japanese military "forced and steered" civilians in Okinawa to commit mass suicide during the only full-scale ground battle in Japan during World War II, an authority on modern Japanese history said Nov. 27.

By APRIL ELKJER
Nichi Bei Times

Mix a $30 million budget, a Japanese crew and actors, a cast of thousands and four months in Mongolia with shots of sweeping vistas and plains reminiscent of Kurosawa or John Ford and you end up with an epic tale of Temujin — soon to be Genghis Khan — in Shinichiro Sawai’s 2007 biopic "Aoki Okami: chi hate umi tsukiru made" (Genghis Khan: To the Ends Of Earth and Sea).

By BEN HAMAMOTO
Nichi Bei Times

San Francisco residents have the opportunity this weekend to see two very different Asian Pacific Islander features, Chris Chan Lee's Asian American noir, "Undoing" and Japanese blockbuster "Midnight Eagle."

"Undoing" is the followup to "YELLOW," the landmark Asian American indie film about a group of Korean American teenagers and a graduation night gone wrong. This film takes place more firmly in the underworld. It follows Sam, a thug played by Sung Kang ("Better Luck Tomorrow," "The Motel") with an old score to settle. He's out to avenge the death of an old friend (Leonard Nam) and get back the girl he left behind (Kelly Hu).

A new addition to the streetscape of San Francisco's Japantown will provide visitors and residents alike with insight into the community's first hundred years of history and culture.