“Night at the Nisei Lounge” (2013)

(reposted from the blog of Chicago Aikido Club)

Erik Matsunaga, head instructor of Ravenswood Shorin-ryu Karate Dojo and who profiled Chicago Aikido Club (CAC) senior instructor Joe Takehara Sensei in Discover Nikkei recently shared this memorable photo and memory from 2013 with members of the two dojo getting together at a Japanese American community fundraiser at the Nisei Lounge bar in Wrigleyville.

Left to Right: Ryan Yokota, Dean Yamada, Dwight Sora, Joe Takehara

Thursday, October 10, 2013

“Night at the Nisei Lounge” was a benefit fundraiser for the Japanese American Service Committee. Nisei Lounge is among the final vestiges of what used to be a sizeable Japanese American community that once resided in the shadows of Wrigley Field.

At one time, Takehara sensei lived on Newport Avenue, a half block east of the Nisei Lounge. He opened his dental practice one block south on Clark, across the street from Tony Muranaka’s home, whose matless, marble-floored basement served as the original gathering place for the Illinois Aikido Club. Incidentally, Detective Muranaka was the first Nisei on the Chicago Police Department.

After moving out of Muranaka's 3-flat basement, the IAC opened its first dedicated, storefront dojo with makeshift mats across the street from John Omori’s (co-founder of IAC) optometry practice.

And the Japanese American Service Committee, whose Uptown facility a mile-and-a-half up Clark Street currently hosts Takehara sensei and the Chicago Aikido Club, once triangulated these positions at its old location two blocks south of Nisei Lounge, on the corner of Sheffield and School.

I’d venture to guess Takehara sensei was the first Nisei his generation’s namesake tavern had seen in a long time, and quite possibly the only one since. For more information as to why that would be, peruse & listen to WBEZ’s recent Curious City feature: "What Happened to Chicago's Japanese Neighborhood?"

Aikido Instructor Relives the Past

This is a repost from the blog page of Chicago Aikido Club, the dojo where I have been teaching and practicing the Japanese martial art of aikido for the past four years. 

A member of the crew adjusts Joe Takehara's wardrobe

On Thursday, April 28, Chicago Aikido Club senior instructor Joe Takehara stepped back through time into his own past. Although the actual place was the Illinois Railway Museum in Union, Illinois, it had been dressed up with props and other items to recreate the moment when Japanese Americans were forced to leave their homes and board trains, eventually bound for "internment camps" set up in rural areas around the U.S. following the Japanese sneak attack on Pearl Harbor that kicked off the Pacific War and full-scale American involved in World War II. As a result of public wartime hysteria and racial intolerance, more than 110,000 Japanese Americans, nearly all who lived on the West Coast and including many American citizens, lost the homes and businesses they had spent lives building up, and would largely remain in the camps until 1944.

This was the set for The Orange Story, a short film in which Takehara plays a West Coast grocery store owner named Koji Oshima saying goodbye to his store before heading to the camps. The film is the first of four planned productions, and is being made in conjunction with an educational website for inclusion in curriculums at all levels of education.

The film is being produced by Chicago filmmaker Eugene Sun Park and his company Full Spectrum Features, in collaboration with fellow filmmaker Jason Matsumoto (a member of the Japanese drumming group Ho Etsu Taiko and is providing the soundtrack).

A shot is lined up on set

In real life, Takehara grew up in San Diego, California, and was relocated with his family to Poston War Relocation Center in southwestern Arizona. When the internment ended in 1945, his family migrated east, following a wave of some 20,000 Japanese American resettlers from various camps to Chicago (he was fourteen at the time).

The Orange Story is also being shot in California, and is slated to be released this year. It has been partially made possible by a nearly $160,000 grant from the National Park Service, which allocates funding for projects commemorating and preserving Japanese American confinement sites.

If you are interested in more information about The Orange Story project, please contact Jason at jason@fullspectrumfeatures.com or 773.504.4107.

UPDATE

An official fundraising campaign has been launched for The Orange Story. If you are interested in contributing, please visit the campaign website at http://tinyurl.com/zqujy3s.

Please include any of these links to your family and friends if they'd like to learn more:
Project Website: theorangestory.wordpress.com/
Facebook: facebook.com/theorangestory/

Group photo from the railroad shoot

Giving Voice to the Past

Helping preserve the memory of Japanese American WWII veterans

Honolulu Chamber of Commerce Farewell Ceremony for Hawaii 442nd RCT soldiers, March 28, 1943

The contribution Japanese Americans made to the war effort during WWII is something that really deserves more mainstream attention. I'm not just saying this as a matter of ethnic pride, though that's certainly part of it (Two of my paternal grandmother's brothers - Haruo "Harry" Kono and Masuo "Mac" Kono - left Hawaii to serve in the 442nd).

Given that there was an undeniable racial dimension to the waging of the war, arguably even more so in the Pacific arena than in Europe (check out John W. Dower's excellent book War Without Mercy to get the full picture), the fact that there were American citizens who shared the names, faces and blood of an enemy of the U.S. yet still volunteered to fight against that enemy in the name of both patriotism and what was right is something that really needs to be hammered into the popular American consciousness. Particularly today, when, as of writing, the world is reeling from the Brussels terrorist attacks and cynical opportunists like presidential candidates Ted Cruz and Donald Trump have renewed calls for institutionalized discrimination and surveillance of Muslim Americans.

I realize those two gentlemen and their followers represent some of the least complicated thinkers on the planet, but that doesn't mean it isn't important for the rest of us to repeat, reiterate and re-teach the complicated reality that there is no simple, one-to-one correspondence between a particular race or religion and the capacity to do harm to our country. And to add, that there are always people many Americans don't think of as true countrymen who would lay down their lives to protect these shores.

In my dreams, there would be a plethora of mass media works chronicling the story of the 442nd Infantry Regiment, the 100th Infantry Battalion, the Japanese American Military Intelligence Service (MIS) and others, ranging from big-budget Hollywood epics along the lines of Glory and miniseries like Band of Brothers to heavily promoted Ken Burns-style PBS documentaries (or even a Making a Murderer like series on Netflix). Right now, unfortunately, that isn't the case, and based on the recent #OscarsSoWhite controversy, I'm not holding my breath until they get made.

Until that time, however, there's still some good news on the horizon. The Go For Broke National Education Center* in Los Angeles is opening a new exhibition in Little Tokyo on May 28, 2016. Titled Defining Courage, it will include interactive audio and video exhibits based on years of recording the oral histories of Japanese American veterans.

Artist rendering of the Defining Courage exhibition

I first found out about the exhibition was I was put in touch with the folks at Quatrefoil, the company working with the Go For Broke National Education Center to put everything together. Quatrefoil was looking for people to make audio recordings based on transcribed interviews. Bob Kumaki, who is active in the local Chicago Japanese American community, knew I had worked as an actor, and gave me their contact info.

Ultimately, I ended up making about a dozen or so recordings, telling the stories of Japanese American WWII vets in their own words. Some were from the mainland, while more than a few were from Hawaii (for which I had to try out my best imitation pidgin accent). Exactly how many will end up part of the final product is unknown, but Quatrefoil kindly provided me with a handful of final edits and said it was okay to share them here.

This project was definitely a joy to work on, and I'm grateful to the folks at Quatrefoil and the center for bringing me aboard, even if by long-distance (I made the recordings in my apartment in Chicago and e-mailed to LA). I can't make the grand opening on May 28, but I encourage as many people as possible to attend. And keep your ears open, you may hear a familiar voice.

Cedrick Shimo

Gene Akutsu

George Oiye

Kiyoshi Bones Fujimoto

Minoru Tsubota

Tets Asato

Reblogged from Chicago Aikido Club (CAC)

First Mondays Intro Class

Posted on July 17, 2015by ChicagoAikidoClub

Starting next month, Chicago Aikido Club (CAC) invites all newcomers to try out the martial art of aikido the first Monday class of every month.

The class is absolutely free. No experience or uniform necessary. Just be sure to wear clothes in which you can move freely, and bring flip flops and an open attitude.

First Mondays Intro Class will begin on Monday, August 3, 6:00 pm-7:30 pm.

For more info, visit http://www.chicagoaikidoclub.com or e-mailinfo@chicagoaikidoclub.com.

We also have a Facebook event page here.

Okay, you know I don't get to train as much as I used to, so let's make good use of our time.
Lesson number one . . . 

Martial Arts for the Month of November

If you're in the Chicago area and looking to try something new, I'll be leading a four-session intro to aikido class at Chicago Aikido Club (CAC) this November. This is a pilot program for a new class concept we're trying out. Things are going to be very stripped-down and simplified for raw newcomers; we're even eschewing tradition and not requiring anyone to wear a white gi (that's a karate or judo uniform for the uninitiated).  Detailed information below:

Chicago Aikido Club (CAC) presents

Action from the Center

An introduction to centering, mindful breathing and relaxed responsiveness

based on the martial art of aikido

Four 90-minute sessions covering four different topics

1.   Power vs. Strength (November 2)

Projection of integrated physical power, not muscular strength, through relaxation and centering

2.   Presence vs. Speed (November 9)

Development of a calm physical presence for self-awareness and basic self-defense

3.   Sword of the Mind (November 16)

Cultivation of a grounded mind and body through use of the Japanese practice sword (bokken)

4.   Uncontrolled Control (November 23)

Discovery of intuitive response through dynamic non-resistance in self-defense scenarios

Each session held on Sundays from 4:00pm to 5:30pm

at Tohkon Judo Academy in the Japanese American Service Committee (JASC) building

4427 N. Clark St., Chicago, IL 60640

No experience or special uniform necessary. Classes will be conducted in regular workout clothes.

$15 per session or $50 for complete package

Please contact Chicago Aikido Club (CAC) at (773) 634-9824 or info@chicagoaikidoclub.com for questions or to preregister.

For more information, please visit us on the web:

http://chicagoaikidoclub.wordpress.com/

http://www.chicagoaikidoclub.com/

http://www.facebook.com/groups/329048441330

https://twitter.com/search?q=Chicago%20Aikido%20Club&src=typd

http://www.yelp.com/biz/chicago-aikido-club-chicago

http://dojos.info/ChicagoAikidoClub/

Aikido Meets Karate: Some Cool Cross-Disciplinary (Martial Arts) Training in Chicago

Myself and some fellow students will be accompanying the senior instructor of our home dojo for some cross-training with Ravenswood Shorin-ryu Karate Dojo.

Originally posted on the Chicago Aikido Club's blog page.

Takehara Sensei at Ravenswood Shorin-ryu Karate Dojo

Posted on September 30, 2014by ChicagoAikidoClub

Monday, October 6  7:30 pm – 9:00 pm

Jo Takehara taking ukemi for Aikido Doshu Kisshomaru Ueshiba at the Illinois Aikido Club

As part of a special karate class Takehara Sensei will talk about the mental aspects of budo, the fundamentals of Aikido and Ki energy. Also expected to be in attendance is Mr.Shojiro Sugiyama, former head of the Japan Karate Association of Chicago.

The class will be held at the Ravenswood Shorin-ryu
Karate Dojo at the Ravenswood Fellowship United Methodist Church four blocks from the Chicago Aikido Club at 4511 N. Hermitage. (Ring the Gym bell at the door)

Doors open at 7pm.
Please show up prior to 7:30pm.
Visitors should bring their own bottles of water as RFUMC is not equipped with a functioning drinking fountain.

The Mr. Moto Novels

I had mentioned the fictional Japanese secret agent Mr. Moto in an earlier blogpost about race appropriate casting. On a whim today, I took a look on Amazon and was surprised to find that a compilation of the original novels by creator John P. Marquand is available, in addition to the old Mr. Moto movies and radio shows.  Going to have to check this out sometime.