Week 4: Arts, Culture, & Spirituality

We began another busy week focusing on the arts and culture with an interview with Roy Hirabayashi, co-founder and managing director of San Jose Taiko. I grew up playing taiko for fun and as more of a leisure activity at the Mountain Buddhist Temple so it was very interesting to see how the San Jose group had formed and has become such a strong and powerful group. It was the 3^rd American taiko group to form in 1973 after groups had been created in San Francisco by Seiichi Tanaka and at the Senshin Temple in LA by Reverend Mas Kodani. Reverend Abiko, was actually at San Jose Betsuin at the time and wanted to start something like Rev. Kodani had done in LA. Roy was studying over at San Jose State and also was pretty active in the community. Although he had never played taiko before he thought that it would be a good way to organize the youth in the community and share this culture as well. Together with the YBA, San Jose State students, and other community members, they were able to start it up. Today San Jose Taiko has grown and expanded to provide for youth programs, workshops, and even goes on tours. They have a collective leadership style to create their songs but were criticized for their creativity by traditionalists. Because they used more of a Japanese American style and used wine barrels to make drums, it was very different then the traditional Japanese style of taiko. However, although they have Americanized this art quite a bit, they do have a concern of taiko groups starting without a basis of the origin and understanding of the roots. Therefore, Roy says that San Jose Taiko makes sure to talk about taiko and show the community a little about their culture at every performance. One of the main barriers they face over the years is the generational challenge, and because it is such a collectively based effort, having people step up for leadership positions. Another new big project is their planned purchase of Okida Hall. Roy says that they would like to really keep their ties with the JA community and being able to own the building, which was once a theater and performance venue, will be a great way to try and bring back that historical and communal significance. San Jose Taiko continues to remain a big part of the arts and cultural aspect of the community with its growing popularity as a “high-level music performing ensemble.”

On Tuesday we went over Ikebana Arts, located at the new Miraido Village over on 6^th street to meet with Kika Shibata. Not only is she a successful businesswoman, but a renowned Sogetsu instructor. Having been teaching in the United States for 44 years, this will be her 11^th year here in San Jose’s Japantown after opening Ikebana arts. She told us how this tradition is passed down from generation to generation and how she first had learned from her mother. Although this art form had originated in Japan, living in American Mrs. Shibata says that she may have a little bit of a different way to express her free style ideas seeing and experiencing it in a different cultural setting.

Next Reiko treated us to lunch with Yosh Uchida, whom they call the “Godfather of Japantown.” Mr. Uchida has done so much for the community and is also very well known, being the first Asian faculty member hired at San Jose State University and for his building of the new Miraido apartment complex. Another major accomplishment is being an Olympic Judo Coach and his work to successfully bring Judo to the Olympics in the first place. He also worked with American Airlines to bring the first flight to Japan and his face can be found in the Hall the Fame at the HP Pavilion. During lunch Yosh had so many interesting stories to tell us about growing up, the wartime, resettlement, and the hardships that he faced while working in the medical field. We also found out that he loves In-N-Out burger. I wish we had a little more time to just sit down and talk with him because it seems like he has done so much and is still looking good!!

After lunch we drove over to the Mexican Heritage Plaza and met with Elisa Echeverria, the transition manager at the plaza. She showed us their beautiful facility and theater that they rent out to the public but are really trying to create an arts and cultural school for children. Their vision is to have a place for kids to go after school that will be open to the community so the youth can have a place to further their learning in the arts and cultural fields. They will be housing some classes from the Alum Rock school district while their campus goes under construction in the meantime and hopefully they will be able to open up their center shortly after that. Seeing the Mexican Heritage Plaza, which is also owned by the city, can give us an idea of what may possibly be able to be created over on the 6^th street lot here in Japantown. A place where we can get the youth more involved as well as fostering the Japanese arts and culture could be a good idea to look at, especially as we are trying to preserve the important ideals of San Jose’s J-town.

Wednesday we went over to the Art Object Gallery and talked with Ken Matsumoto, both artist and owner of the gallery. Mr. Matsumoto was first introduced to the art world attending Catholic School as a child. He said that it gave him a foundation where he first became interested in painting and soon after found his true calling in sculpture. In 1996 he opened the studio in J-town because of the great opportunity of location. In 2000 he opened the gallery, which added another aspect to his workplace. One of the challenges to having both a studio and gallery is that running the gallery takes time away from the “magic” or inspiration that could be coming to him while in the studio. He likes being able to touch a person’s life with his artwork and it is the little things that are significant because they take you back to certain memories like a time machine.

Then we went over to Notre Dame High School where Hector Armienta runs his Opera Cultura Summer Conservatory Program. There he directs middle school aged students in putting on a musical at the end of the 2-week camp. What is interesting about his program is that he tries to get kids from all different backgrounds to come together. About half the students are on full scholarships while the others pay the tuition. As a NEA grant recipient I feel that Hector has done an amazing job get these kids together and forming such a great program. We had the chance to sit in and watch part of their rehearsal and they sounded so good after only 6 days of rehearsing!!

Although she has been leading us around all week, we finally had a chance to sit down and talk to Reiko about her own specialty of Odori. Although it is a traditional dance form that has been sustained through camp life, she sees a decline in interest in today’s community. However, Bon Odori still remains a popular hit at all of the Obon festivals—Reiko being the head instructor here for San Jose. She likes that the Bon Odori features simple steps so that everyone can join in. We all had the chance to participate in this at the Obon festival last weekend.