By ANGELA KIMI HICKMAN
Nichi Bei Times Contributor

"Goin' to the chapel and we're gonna get married..."

The familiar chorus, sung by the soon-to-be-wed couple and their guests, flowed into the room. It announced their presence like a personalized wedding march. But instead of an actual Chapel of Love, guests made their way through the media crush into San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera's office.

By GREG ROBINSON
Nichi Bei Times Contributor

My first queer Japanese American heritage column, which appeared last year, focused on a small number of visible, self-affirming gay and lesbian figures, notably George Takei, Tak Yamamoto, Joy Masuhara and Kiyoshi Kuromiya. (One might also now list writer/poet Dwight Okita of Chicago, whose recent book "The Prospect of My Arrival" finished in the top three for the Amazon.com "Breakthrough Novel" Award).

The reason for this selection was that most often, even when gays and lesbians have received a measure of tolerance, it has been on the — largely unspoken — condition that their difference remain hidden, so as not to make others uncomfortable. As Yale law professor Kenji Yoshino, himself an openly gay man, most provocatively put it in his book "Covering," it is not so much being queer or Asian American that remains stigmatized as acting out, such as by proclaiming one's identity or protesting discrimination. Thus, Japanese Americans who use their Japanese first names, or same-sex partners who hold hands in public (let alone marry) arouse particular hostility.

LOS ANGELES — Four more Japanese Americans killed in action during the Korean War were found and will be added to the Japanese American Korean War Memorial in the Republic of Korea (ROK), announced Tohoru Isobe, president of Japanese American Korean War Veterans (JAKWV).

This brings the total of Japanese Americans killed in action (KIA) during the Korean War to 251.

By ANTHONY YAZAKI
Nichi Bei Times

Emily Murase recently launched her bid to become the first Japanese American on the San Francisco Board of Education. She spoke at a kick-off event at the Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California on June 10, where she was surrounded by her family and supporters.

Murase highlighted the importance of a good education as well as issues that she saw as the key to improving the public school system in San Francisco.

By ALEC YOSHIO MacDONALD
Nichi Bei Times

"I went to law school not to be a lawyer," confided Frank Wu. "I went to law school because I wanted to change the world, I wanted to stand up and speak out — and when you're a lawyer, people pay more attention."

A few hours after sharing these words with the Nichi Bei Times, Wu proved that his strategy has worked out well. Commanding the attention of about 500 people in the grand ballroom of San Francisco's Westin St. Francis Hotel, his particular brand of standing up and speaking out made for a fitting keynote address at Chinese for Affirmative Action's 2008 Celebration of Justice awards dinner on June 11.

By REV. GERALD SAKAMOTO

The monk Mokuren (Maudgalyayana) was a student of Shakyamuni Buddha who lived in India 2,500 years ago. The Ullambana (Obon) sutra relates an incident in Mokuren's life that has been the basis of Obon as it is observed in China and Japan.

In this sutra Mokuren discovers his recently deceased mother in an after life realm of hungry ghosts. Horrified by his mother's circumstances he sought the Buddha's advice to relieve his mother's anguish. The Buddha's instructions were to make food offerings to the sangha, his fellow monks, on the fifteenth day of the seventh month.

By KATHY AOKI
Nichi Bei Times

She never planned to study classical Japanese dancing in Japan but started at a young age.

"My mother never took Japanese dancing lessons but she liked it," said Madame Michiya Hanayagi. "That's why I began taking dance lessons from age six."

Today, Hanayagi is a revered and respected Japanese classical dance instructor with more than 50 years experience teaching both children and adults this beautiful style of dancing.

By KRISTEN SATO
Nichi Bei Times Contributor

Those who visit the Obon festivals on the Peninsula this year can look forward to yet another annual summer treat filled with food, games, and a colorful array of Japanese heritage displays and activities.

Buddhist churches in Mountain View and Palo Alto have already begun preparations for their Obon festivals and bazaars that will take place in late July and early August. Bazaar-goers can look forward to experiencing the spirit of Obon no matter which festival they choose to visit.

By LISA MASAI
Nichi Bei Times Contributor

A successful Obon festival requires careful planning and dozens of volunteers. Here we profile a few of the many indispensable individuals who have contributed their talents for decades in the Central Valley cities of Stockton and Lodi.

Their backgrounds vary — but a singular theme expressed was an enthusiasm for inclusion. Their contributions, whether through translation, music, or dance, aim to bring generations and cultures together. Their sentiments are well-suited for the Obon season — which has come to signify the gathering of family and community.

By JEFF ASAI
Nichi Bei Times Columnist

The heat, the familiar songs, and a few hundred people doing the "tanko bushi" dance around a yagura. Friends and familiar faces at every turn. For me, this isn't Obon in San Jose like every other year; it's the Bon festival in Asuka, Japan.

Bon in Japan is a time when families get together. It is one of two times in the year (the other being New Year's) that many people return to their hometown. Families get together and light a fire to welcome the ancestors back to their home. Many families visit and clean the family grave and pay respect to family that have passed away, and a Buddhist priest visits homes to do sutra chanting.

By KENJI G. TAGUMA
Nichi Bei Times

The San Jose Buddhist Church Betsuin's annual Bon Odori has by far the largest number of dancers in Northern California. Last year, a record more than 900 danced in multiple rings on Japantown's Fifth Street on a Saturday night, with more than 600 dancing the next day.

Leading the dancers on the yagura, or raised platform, is Reiko Iwanaga. As the daughter-in-law of the late Rev. Yoshio Iwanaga — who brought the Bon Odori to mainland America — she has a special legacy to uphold.

SACRAMENTO — After an intense competition, Chef Tomoharu Nakamura of Sanraku Four Seasons in San Francisco emerged as the Best of Show winner at the SushiMasters competition in Sacramento on June 10, which brought together six of the best sushi chefs in the state.

By THE KAERU KID
Nichi Bei Times Columnist

I recently visited SF. Readers might be asking, what are you going to tell me about my own turf that I don't already know? Residents of a city often take things for granted and do not visit local attractions, except when taking visitors to places like Golden Gate Bridge, Fisherman's Wharf and Chinatown. For example, many New Yorkers have never visited the Statue of Liberty or the Empire State Building, so even though you are a Bay Area resident, you may not have seen or done things described here.

By APRIL ELKJER
Nichi Bei Times

Laura Kina's colorful canvasses pop in the pop culture sense and reference contemporary issues like mixed race and identity. Hapa art can be hard to find, but Kina's work takes on the subject of multiraciality, community and perception whole-heartedly with her solo shows like the Bollywood movie poster-style "Hapa Soap Operas" series (2003) and 1967 Supreme Court case Loving v. Virginia-inspired "Loving" series (2006). Her most recent work "Aloha Dreams" (2007) explores pattern, color, figuration and abstraction while delving into such slippery topics such as immigration/migration, heritage tourism and Orientalist fantasies.

By NATSUKI OKA
Kyodo News

NEW YORK—HALCALI, a Japanese female hip-hop duo that performed in New York for the first time in early June, is eager to make further strides on the international music scene.

The duo, consisting of two 20-year-olds from Tokyo, made their name when some of their tracks were used as theme songs for a popular TV animation series a few years ago.

By KERWIN BERK
Nichi Bei Times Columnist

A .293 batting average at this time of the year is good — it's very good.

A .293 batting average puts a player among the top 20 hitters of either league.

A .293 batting average gets a player on the verge of stardom.

And, a .293 batting average this late in the season is also a prolonged slump.

A slump?

How could .293 be a slump? Most players would make a deal with the devil, sell their obachans, give their right arms and wear women's underwear ("Bull Durham") to hit .293.