Thoughts and musings from your friend neighborhood half-Japanese/half-Korean aikido practicioner/Japanese translator/actor
Showing posts with label Japanese American Service Committee. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Japanese American Service Committee. Show all posts
Monday, May 23, 2016
Reposted from the blog of Chicago Aikido Club.
Stay Calm, Parents
On Monday, May 9 and Wednesday, May 11, Chicago Aikido Club (CAC) member Dwight Sora gave a short demonstration of aikido for the parents and children of the Tampopo Kai play group at the Japanese American Service Committee (JASC) of Chicago.
Invited by Tampopo Kai organizer Naomi Negi, Sora (whose 22-month-year old son Jack regularly attends Tampopo on Mondays) gave a short explanation of aikido's history and principles, and then demonstrated some basic techniques. He was partly aided in his demonstration by fellow parent Shimako Asakawa Walker (a former student of Tatsuo Toyoda Sensei at Tenshinkan Dojo), as well as some volunteers from the audience.
Wednesday, August 12, 2015
Unsung Hero of the Holocaust
This month, I get to take part in a retelling of largely unknown piece of history. During World War II, Chiune Sugihara, the Vice-Consul for Japan in Lithuania, helped more than six thousand Jews (mostly refugees from German-occupied Poland as well as Lithuania) leave the country by issuing transit visas so that they could travel to Japan. This brave action put at risk his entire career and the lives of his family members. The so-called "Japanese Schindler" was later named Righteous Among the Nations by Israel in 1985, the only Japanese national to be so honored.
Despite all the ideal trappings for a Hollywood movie, Sugihara's story is not very well-known. It was the subject of the 1997 short film Visas and Virtue, which won the 1998 Academy Award for Best Short Film, Live Action, and a handful of TV specials and documentaries, but mention his name to most people and you will get a blank response.
Trailer for Visas and Virtue (1997)
On Thursday, August 27, I will be playing Sugihara in a staged reading of Chiune Sugihara: Unsung Hero of the Holocaust a play by Philip Pinkus. The reading is produced by Genesis Theatricals and is directed by Elayne LeTraunik. The Japanese American Service Committee (JASC) has very kindly offered to provide space for the event.
I'm definitely looking forward to this. Besides the inherent heroism and the opportunity to shed light on a forgotten historical episode, I believe it is important to show that not all stories involving Japanese persons during WWII were ones in which they were the aggressors (in the case of the Pacific War) or victims (the Japanese American internment).
Genesis Theatrical Productions presents a Dramatic Staged
Reading of
Chiune Sugihara: Unsung Hero of the Holocaust by Philip
Pinkus
Presented by Genesis Theatricals
The show features Dwight Sora as Chiune Sugihara. Directed by Elayne LeTraunik
Thursday, August 27, 2015, 7:30 pm
Japanese American Service Committee
4427 N. Clark, Chicago
The reading is free. For information or questions, call 773-800-1703
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.
After an incredible week of events that saw the upholding of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the legalization of same-sex marriage and reflection on the notorious legacy of the Confederate flag, I thought I'd kick off my 42nd celebrations early (actual date: June 30) with a round of birthday breakfalls at the end of class with the Chicago Aikido Club on Friday the 26th.
My fellow aikidoka in attendance that night (Marlon Fadragas, Cyril Oseledets, Joe Takehara, Hai Tran, Nguyen Tran and Andrew Vitale) kindly obliged to toss me about the mat.
