What started as a cloudy day with rain predicted turned
into a beautiful day of sunshine and cool weather. JAA's
4th Annual Sakura Matsuri was attended by over 400 people
with special honored guests Commissioner of Parks and Recreation,
Adrian Benepe, Assistant Commissioner, Flushing Meadows
Corona Park, Estelle Cooper, Deputy Consul Mikio Numata
and Councilman John Liu.
Two weeping cherry tress were planted in special recognition
of George Yuzawa and in memory of Shigeru Inagaki for their
special efforts in bringing the Cherry Tree Project to fruition.
In their honor, JAA's 100th Anniversary and Mayor Bloomberg's,
0ne Million Trees for New York City Campaign, JAA also presented
a gift of nine additional cherry trees to the City of New
York. Commissioner Benepe thanked JAA for the twelve trees
and made a joke that there must be some connection with
everyone's names - Ambassador Sakurai, Mayor Bloomberg,
Shigeru Inagaki related to sakura and the growth and blooming
of flowers.
We were pleased that members of the Inagaki Family and the
Yuzawa Family were able to join in the festivities. The
Board of Directors thanked Mrs. Chieko Inagaki for her generous
donation to provide bus transportation, and obento for JAA
members and guests as well as water bottles from Mr. Iwasaki,
Tea from Ito en and Happi coats from Mr. Aida and all of
the volunteers organized by Mrs. Noda. We are grateful that
once again the staff of Flushing Meadows Corona Park was
so helpful in all of the set up and clean up for the Sakura
Matsuri.
Those present enjoyed performances by Taiko Masala and New
York Taiko Kai, JAA Chorus and Kuni Mikami and Shinobu Ito.
INSERT Children's marching group here. Last but not least,
the Hanagasa Ondo Parade was led by Momo Suzuki and her
folk dance group.
Sakura Matsuri Committee: Co-Chairs Yusuke Iwasaki, Hiroko
Onoyama and Suki Terada Ports, members Mike Aida, Masanori
Honda, Shuji Kato, Shigeaki Nakanishi, Earl Shimabukuro,
Gene Yuzawa.
Annual
JAA Scholarship Dinner of
the 38th Scholarship Awards and
the 2nd Honjo Scholarship Awards JAA Scholarship &
Honjo Scholarship
The 38th JAA Scholarship Awards Dinner was held at the Harvard
Club on June 4, 2008. The keynote speaker Dr. Jeanette C.
Takamura, Dean of Columbia University, School of Social
Work, Deputy Consul General and Mrs. Mikio Numata, and Gary
Moriwaki, President of JAA headed the list of 150 guests
and members who attended the event. Twelve high school recipients
(total of $36,000 and two Japan Airlines tickets) and six
graduate school recipients (total of $20,000 from the Honjo
Foundation) were honored.
The ceremony began with a welcoming speech by JAA President
Moriwaki, followed by a speech by Mr. Numata. Dr. Takamura
then addressed the audience, giving us a historical perspective
of the relationship between Japan and the United States
and urging everyone to continue giving support to this relationship
and to the Japanese community.
After dinner, Kenichi G. Kaneko, a Mitsui USA Award recipient,
played jazz selections on his alto saxophone to the delight
of the audience. Dr. Makoto Iwahara, the chairman of the
Scholarship Committee, then presented the awards. Tomoki
Kimura, recipient of the Bingham, McCutchen, Murase Award,
spoke on behalf of the other high school recipients, expressing
his gratitude to JAA and read his poem titled ﾒManifesto
of My Generationﾓ. Erika Oshima concluded the evening as
she represented the Honjo Scholarship recipients and expressed
her appreciation in receiving the award.
The Scholarship Committee consisted of Chairman Dr. Makoto
Iwahara, Michiko Ito Crampe, Frederick Katayama, Gary S.
Moriwaki*, Satoru Murase, Robert Norton, Hiroko Onoyama*,
Susan S. Onuma*, Joe Oshima*, Suki Terada Ports and Katsuo
Takeda*.
JAA Music Awards Selection and Concert of Awardees has
been postponed from June to October in 2008.
The rescheduled date will be announced. We will continue
to accept applications for the JAA Music Award. You can
obtain application forms from JAA Office and at our website
www.jaany.org
Memorial
Day Ceremony
at the Japanese Cemetery
Memorial Day ceremonies were held at 11 AM on May 26 at
the Japanese Cemetery at Mount Olivet Cemetery in Queens.
The affair, sponsored by the JAA with the support of the
New York Buddhist Church and the Japanese American United
Church was conducted by JAA Director Shigeaki Nakanishi
First, Rev. Kenjitsu Nakagaki of the Buddhist Church, read
from the Sutra while incense and flowers were offered to
the pioneers who had contributed so greatly to the present
standing of Japanese and Japanese American society.
Ambassador Motoatsu Sakurai of the Consulate General of
Japan in New York, JAA President Gary S. Moriwaki and members
and Toru Okamoto, principal of the New York Ikuei Gakuen
were among those attending. Teachers and pupils from the
Japanese School of New York in Greenwich and parents were
also present, making a total in attendance of some 150.
Following greetings by Ambassador Sakurai, Rev. Yugo Suzuki
of Japanese American Church, Tomoyuki Mitsui, principal
of Japanese School of NY and President Moriwaki also gave
greetings. JAA President Moriwaki expressed that the day
May 26 is a very important day for JAA because 101 years
ago Dr. Toyohiko Takami established JAA's root, the Japanese
Mutual Society of New York in Brooklyn and "asked people
to find a place to bury Japanese people who passed away
in middle of their dream in New York"
Exhibition
of Japanese and
Japanese American Artists Active
in the New York Area 2008
The 13th annual Art Exhibition (Chairperson Yoko Sasaki)
by the "Japanese and Japanese American Artists Active
in the New York Area" took place for 9 days from May
8 to 16. The 30 artists (two new artists) displayed their
60 art works at the JAA Hall. Supporters include the Consulate
General of Japan in NY, the Japanese Chamber of Commerce
and Industry, Nippon Club, Shukan NY Seikatsu and Yomitime.
The opening reception was held at 5 P.M., on the 8th, attended
by Ambassador Motoatsu Sakurai and Madame Sakurai, the artists
and JAA members and guests. Surrounded by unique international
art works, the attendees enjoyed delicious food and drink,
with much happy conversation.
Artists included Gen Hikage, Shigeno Ichimura, Kunio IIzuka,
Naoki Iwakawa, Takeshi, Kawashima, Risaburo Kimura, Kenji
Kojima, Yukimura Konishi, Momoji Matsumoto, Hiromitsu Morimoto,
Hitoshi Nakazato, Masaaki Noda, Tomomi Ono, Kazuma Oshita,
Seiji Saito, Noriko Sakuyama, Shunji Sakuyama, Kenjiro Sasaki,
Masaaki Sato, Misue Sawano, Hiroshi Senju, Sho Shimotsugu,
Noriko Shinohara, Ushio Shinohara, TOMI, Steve Wada, Kensuke
Wakeshima, Keico Watanabe, Junko Yoda and Toshihisa Yoda.
Sixteen artworks were sold and 50% of the proceeds ($16,590.00)
were donated to the JAA. The donors included Tsutomu Karino,
Keiko Matsuo, Mitsuhiro Mitsui, Kim Mizutani, Sammy Miyamoto,
Katsumi Oneda, Susan J. Onuma, Yayoi Saito, Yoko Sasaki,
Noriko Sengoku, Shin Tokunaga and Akie Topal. On Friday,
May 9, and again on Monday, May 12 Mr. Koji Ichida and Mr.
Tadao Fujimatsu both of whom are JAA directors, conducted
their "Tea Time Talk Show". A pleasant afternoon was had
by 50 attendees.
Corporate and Supporting Membership
New members and Renewals
Corporate members as June 15, 2008
AEON (USA), Ajinomoto USA, Inc. All Nippon Airways Co.,
Ltd., American Airlines, Bingham McCutchen Murase, Fuji
Sankei Communications Int'l, Interesse International, Inc.
Japan Network Group, JTB USA, Kawasaki Heavy Industries,
Konica Minolta Business Solutions USA, Marubeni America,Mitsubishi
Gas Chemical America, Inc. Mitsui USA, Nippon Express USA,
Okaya (USA), Inc., Oriend Corp., Pasona NA, Inc. Ricoh,
Sumitomo Corp of America, Sojitz Corp. of America, Sumitomo
Corp. of America, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp., The Bank
of Tokyo-Mistubishi UFJ, Ltd., Toyota Motor North America,
Inc.
Individual members from May 1 to June 15, 2008
Silver ($500): Robert Norton
Supporting ($300): Yuzuru Anzai, MD, Toshiko Takao
2008
JAA Baseball Tournament
The 23rd JAA Foreign Minister's Cup tournament which started
on April 20 has been progressing smoothly on five fields
in New York and New Jersey. Results up to the seven week
of the preliminaries are very competitive, A block is led
by Jokers and Radiators, B Block is led by Junks and NY
Silvers.
This year's committee: Honorary chairman Shuji Kato, Chairman:
Shig Nakanishi, members: Shunsuke Takahashi, Takashi Kawaguchi,
Shin Shinohara.
2nd
Japan Day @ Central Park
40,000
people were gathered at East Meadow in Central Park on June
1st, 2008 for the second annual Japan Day . 4 Mile Japan
Run started at 8A.M. with guest runner Reiko Tosa, Beijing
Olympics Marathon runner and 3000 runners (sponsored by
NY Road Runners Club).
The gates were opened at 10A.M. Beef on rice, noodle dishes
and tea were served and all were free of charge! People
were entertained by the continuous performances, such as
Taiko drumming, martial arts, Japanese Folk dances and jazz
music on the stage, all introduced by Sandra Endo, CNN Correspondent.
At the opening, excerpts from JAA's DVD, the History of
the Japanese and Japanese Americans in New York were shown
on the big screen, featuring stories of four families -
the Takami family (founder of JAA), the Kuwa ya ma family
(owners of Miyako, the first Japanese restaurant in NY),
the Fuchigami family (Kazu Yamaguchi's grand father) and
the Murase family (Satoru Muraseﾕs grandfather). Volunteers
from JAA calligraphy class (Instructor: Fusako Otsubo) demonstrated
their beautiful and skillful brush work to 2, 000 New Yorkers.
The booth was so popular that we ran out of ink! "Japan
Day" was held to express gratitude towards New York City
for their hospitality towards the Japanese community residing
in the area. With beautiful weather, a wonderful time was
had by all who attended.
29th
Annual Asian Pacific American Heritage Festival 2008 on
May 10th At DAG HAMMARSK JOLD PLADA
We joined this event for the 2nd time. The JAA Booth was
manned by Mr. Gary Moriwaki, Ms. Susan Onuma and Mr. Katsuo
Takeda. Merchandizes was donated by Ms. Yoko Makino and
Ms. Susan Onuma.
Social Service
Committee
*May 22, This Keiro Kai was one of events of Health
Week. Lunch menu was Bamboo Shoot Rice, Nitsuke and Yokan.
Programs included "Learning aspects of quality in home care
services and facilities for seniors facilities" by Ms. Yumi
Shindo, "Mental and Physical Health" by Dr. Masazumi Adachi,
and "Geriatric Health Osteoporosis" by Dr. Keiko Kimura
This was followed by Jazz Mini Piano Concert "Soul Healing"
by Ms. Midori Ikeda.
*June 12, 1st Keirokai in June. Curry over rice which
has been very popular at Bazaar was enjoyed by all. As always,
Dr. Robert K. Emy and Ms. Aileen Yamaguchi gave free consultations
on Health and others concerns.
*June 26, 2nd Keirokai. Chinese Noodles will be served.
Donation
**Benefit Fundraising Concert for Young Talents of Harmonia
Opera Company held on May 30, 2008 at Christ & Saint
Stephen's Church 13 tickets by Mr. Toshio Kiso, JAA Advisor
and 10 tickets by Emiko Iinuma were donated to JAA.
For
Your Information
*Suki Terada Ports, vice president of JAA was honored
at Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum, Food
for Thought 2008 on May 9, 2008 at the Westin St. Francis
Hotel, San Francisco. Congratulations Suki!
Obituary
Mrs. Minami Harada Astrologo passed away from pneumonia,
on April 18, 2008 in New York City. She was 83 years old.
In her later years, she exhibited her work in both New York
and Japan, and illustrated a Japanese children's storybook.
Mrs. Haruko Akamatsu passed away on April 25 at age
91. She was the wife of Rev. Dr. Alfred Akamatsu who was
a pastor at the Japanese American United Church from 1953
to 1972.
Mrs. Ei Suzuki passed away at Isabella Home on May
24. Age 97. She was an active member of JAA and AJUC and
assisted our membership committee in 1980's.
Health
Week @ JAA Co- Sponsored by JAA
Committee on Aging Issues and JAMSNET
Health Week was held at JAA Hall from May 17 to May 25 with
54 events for all ages with 1400 attendance. It was splendidly
successful. See photos (by Masao Katagami) exhibition of
Health Week!
Memorial
Day Ceremony 
Exhibition
of Japanese and 
40,000
people were gathered at East Meadow in Central Park on June
1st, 2008 for the second annual Japan Day . 4 Mile Japan
Run started at 8A.M. with guest runner Reiko Tosa, Beijing
Olympics Marathon runner and 3000 runners (sponsored by
NY Road Runners Club).
