Justin’s Japan: Interview with Tera Patrick at Exxxotica Leads to ‘Happy Ending’
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“My first modeling job at the age of 13 was in Omotesando in Tokyo. So I’ve always been obsessed with Japanese culture, and I usually spend one month of the year in Japan. I love everything about Japan.” (Courtesy of Justin Tedaldi)
By JQ magazine editor Justin Tedaldi (CIR Kobe-shi, 2001-02) for Examiner.com. Visit his Japanese culture page here for related stories.
Interview conducted by Rick Ambrosio (Ibaraki-ken, 2006-08). A staple of the JET Alumni Association of New York (JETAANY) community, Rick manages their Twitter page and is an up-for-anything writer for JQ magazine.
From porn to Playboy to parenthood, Tera Patrick describes herself these days as a “Betty Crocker Rocker Mompreneur.” Suitably following Hurricane Sandy at this year’s Exxxotica Expo in New Jersey—the nation’s biggest event devoted to love and sex—this multi-award-winning force of nature attended the three-day fest from Nov. 9-11 to press the flesh with fans and read from her best-selling autobiography, 2010’s Sinner Takes All.
But here’s something you might not know: Patrick’s been a diehard fan of Japanese culture since her days in Tokyo as a teen model. In this exclusive interview, the Montana native dishes on Harajuku girls and yakuza tats, the controversial Measure B that could forever change the adult industry, and the upcoming sequel to Sinner Takes All.
How are you enjoying Exxxotica?
I’m enjoying Exxxotica a lot—it was really important for me to come back. This is my first time at the show; I haven’t been back here since 2009. And in light of Sandy, it was really important to give back and boost morale and donate Tera items. I’m doing care packages for veterans tomorrow.
Last month you were a special guest at New York Comic Con. How did that end up happening?
You know what’s funny? I always say guys like three things: they like porn, comics and chicks. So it wasn’t too farfetched for me to be there; I actually debuted my first show at Comic Con in 2007 when I appeared in the video game Saints Row. So I’ve been in video games, I’ve had the privilege of being on Adult Swim and Aqua Teen Hunger Force, I’ve done adult. I do a lot of different things—I’m an author now. My first memoir was Sinner Takes All; my second follow-up memoir comes out February 2013.
We heard that for Halloween your outfit was a Harajuku girl. Is that true?
Yes. I’m actually very fascinated by Japanese culture. In my memoir Sinner Takes All, my first modeling job at the age of 13 was in Omotesando in Tokyo. So I’ve always been obsessed with Japanese culture, and I usually spend one month of the year in Japan.
Japan still is my favorite country to visit. I love Japanese food. I’m Thai—my mother’s from Thailand—but I love Japanese food, Japanese culture. I love everything about Japan, so I’m really excited to take my family there for the first time in December. So I’ve been a bit selfish, and I always spend a lot of time in Japan. I’ve been tattooed in Japan; I’ve only been tattooed in Japan.
For the complete interview, click here.
Maynard Plant, second from left: “I really do think it is important to learn more than one language. Not only for the obvious convenience of communication, but for the enrichment of understanding of other cultures as well. Language really is the only gateway into understanding another person’s psyche and culture.” (Courtesy of Edward Entertainment Group)
By Preston Hatfield (Yamanashi-ken, 2009-10) for JQ magazine. Preston moved from San Francisco to New York City in January 2012 and is now accepting submissions from people who want to be his friend. Abduct him from his house in the middle of the night, or find him on Facebook and ask about his JET blog in which he details his exploits and misadventures in that crazy Land of the Rising Sun we all love.
Multinational pop rockers Monkey Majik are teaming up with shamisen heroes the Yoshida Brothers, the duo known for their traditional sound and pluck, for a three-date North American tour that kicks off Nov. 14 at Manhattan’s Marlin Room at Webster Hall, followed by the Mod Club in Toronto Nov. 18 and the National Arts Centre in Ottawa Nov. 20.
Monkey Majik was founded by Maynard Plant (Aomori-ken, 1997-2000), a native of Ottawa, Canada, while he was teaching English in Sendai on the JET Program. Known for a having a fun and versatile style of music, the band first earned mainstream attention in 2006 for their singles “Fly” and “Around the World,” and have since collaborated with other Japanese groups like SEAMO, m-flo, Bennie K, and the Yoshida Brothers.
In this exclusive JQ interview, the versatile vocalist and guitarist discusses the band’s origins, his own relationship with music, and his sense of home and community in Sendai, which is still recovering from the devastation caused by the 3/11 earthquake and tsunami.
Which came first: the love of music or Japanese culture, and how has the one influenced and supported the other since you came to Japan?
I probably first took interest in Japan when I was about 10 years old or so when I visited Expo 86 in Vancouver, Canada. My interest in music also started at an early age. Most of my family is musical, so it always came natural. Certainly since arriving in Japan about 15 years ago, my musical interests have changed. The Japanese music scene is incredibly diverse and different from the Western scene. The sound is very unique and [it] has had a deep effect on our music.
It’s funny, many ALTs in Japan feel like rock stars, but you actually became a rock star. What was it like going from small time notoriety and fame at your school, to becoming famous on a national level for your musicianship?
It didn’t happen overnight, so I suppose I never took notice. It’s a lot like learning Japanese—you don’t just wake up fluent one day. Success is born out of hard work and commitment. Regardless of where you live, the same elements come into play.
How did the current band members come together? Were you friends before you started collaborating professionally? How have each of you influenced Monkey Majik’s sound, style, and group dynamic?
I put the current band together after most of the original members quit in 2000. I first called my younger brother Blaise, and within a couple of months we found Tax (Kikuchi Takuya). It was around 2005 that our original bassist Misao Urushizaka quit. We then recruited Dick (Hideki Mori). It’s difficult to say if the friendship came before membership, but one thing is certain now: we wouldn’t be doing this if we hadn’t become best friends. We have a lot of respect for each other and all [band] decisions are made together.
Justin’s Japan: A Whole Month of Arts, Events, Music
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The Legend of Zelda: Symphony of the Goddesses comes to the Theater at Madison Square Garden Nov. 28. (Jason Michael Paul Productions)
By JQ magazine editor Justin Tedaldi (CIR Kobe-shi, 2001-02) for Examiner.com. Visit his Japanese culture page here for related stories.
Hurricane Sandy may have wreaked havoc on the Eastern Seaboard, but New York is holding strong in November with a bounty of Japan-related events from MoMA to Madison Square Garden.
Nov. 6
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind Box Set
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind is an epic fantasy tale written and illustrated by legendary Studio Ghibli director Hayao Miyazaki, creator of My Neighbor Totoro, Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle and Ponyo. A modern masterpiece (made into its own classic film adaptation in 1984), the entire series is now available in this deluxe box set containing two hardcover volumes with interior color pages and full-color double-sided poster in a special slipcase.
Nov. 9-11
The American Dream Japanese Network (JaNet) was originally created in 2001 following the 9/11 attacks to cheer up and unite the Japanese community, which lost many of its prominent members working in the World Trade Center. An annual Japanese music and performing arts showcase, this year’s three-night event features such diverse acts as Taka Kigawa, Taiko Masala, and Yosakoi Dance Project – 10tecomai, last year’s Talent Night winners!
Monday, Nov. 12
Geisha: The Golden Years 1870-1890 Opening Reception
This Long Island City gallery is proud to present an exhibition of 19th century hand-colored photographs of Geisha and Maiko from the Burns Archive. These photographs are the original images used by Dr. Stanley Burns and his daughter Elizabeth to create their noted book, Geisha: A Photographic History 1872-1912. The images in this exhibition showcase the best of Japanese photographs that were made to show the perceived exotic nature of Japan to the West. Several of the great early photographers’ studios are represented, including Kusabi Kimbel, Ogawa Kazumasa and Baron von Stillfried.
For the complete story, click here.
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By JQ magazine editor Justin Tedaldi (CIR Kobe-shi, 2001-02) for Shukan NY Seikatsu. Visit his Examiner.com Japanese culture page here for related stories.
The opening of playwright Jeanne Sakata’s Hold These Truths begins with the famous United States Declaration of Independence quote that all men are created equal, followed by the Japanese proverb “the nail that sticks up gets hammered down.” The one hammered down is Gordon Kioyoshi Hirabayashi, the late American pacifist and Presidential Medal of Freedom honoree whose experiences in World War II-era America are brought vividly to life by Joel de la Fuente in this one-man show now running Off-Broadway.
“From the day rehearsing began for our premiere in November 2007, we’ve been working to make Hold These Truths a better play, and that hasn’t stopped with our New York premiere,” said Sakata, who shaped it through extensive interviews with Hirabayashi. The play has received positive reviews from The New Yorker and the Associated Press, and has brought wider attention to a traumatic time in American history.
Born in Seattle in 1918, Hirabayashi was imprisoned in 1942 for protesting wartime curfews. He lost a U.S. Supreme Court case the following year, but the verdict was later overturned in the 1980s, triggering an apology and reparations to the families of the more than 100,000 people interned in the western United States during the war.
Hold These Truths runs through Nov. 25 at the Theater at the 14th Street Y. For more information, visit http://epictheatreensemble.org/holdthesetruths.
JQ Magazine: 2012 JETAA National Conference in San Francisco Recap
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JETAA USA delegates at the residence of Ambassador Hiroshi Inomata, Consul General of Japan in San Francisco, Oct. 26, 2012.
By Pam Kavalam (Shiga-ken, 2007-09) for JQ magazine. Pam is Secretary of the JET Alumni Association of New York (JETAANY) and a participant at this year’s National Conference.
Thursday, Oct. 25
Hosted by the JETAA Northern California (JETAANC) chapter, the conference kicked off with a “reception” at Off the Grid, a collection of gourmet food trucks inspired by Asian night markets and conceived and run by JET alum Matt Cohen (Saga-ken, 2001-04).
Friday, Oct. 26
The delegates from 18 of the 19 JETAA USA chapters received a welcome from JETAANC President John Dzida, Consul General of Japan in San Francisco Hiroshi Inomata, and Takaaki Ogata from CLAIR New York. Noriko Watanabe from the Embassy of Japan in Washington, D.C. gave a touching personal farewell from Ambassador Ichiro Fujisaki, who attended the past two JETAA National Conferences and will be leaving his post this year. Workshops topics included sister city-JETAA cooperation; databases and approaches for chapter membership management; and the utilization of Google apps and websites to publicize programs. There was also an update on the National 3/11 Relief Fund, which raised nearly $90,000 from all 19 chapters for Tohoku recovery efforts. The evening ended with a reception at the Consul General’s Residence and continued networking at Local Edition in the Financial District.
Saturday, Oct. 27
The Country Representatives discussed their visions for JETAA in the coming year and introduced the newly formed JETAA USA Advisory Board, which consists of four seasoned JET alums who will provide guidance to all national and regional leadership. It includes James Gannon (Ehime-ken, 1992-94) and Steven Horowitz (Aichi-ken, 1992-94) of JETAANY; Ryan Hart (Chiba-ken, 1998-99) of Pacific Northwest JETAA; and Jessyca Livingston (Hokkaido, 2003-06) of Rocky Mountain JETAA. Other workshops discussed organizing chapter finances; a JETAANC-run high school scholarship program; facilitating cultural exchange through continuing Japanese traditions such as kabuki; and a panel with members of the Northern California community, including JET alums Ken Wakamatsu (Hiroshima-ken, 1996-1998) at Salesforce and Ryan Kimura (Shizuoka-ken, 2004-06) of JCCC Northern California (and the owner of a purikura shop in San Francisco’s Japantown!). The panel discussed how JETAA chapters can form relationships and collaborate with community groups to engage members. The delegates finished the night with a CLAIR reception at Yoshi’s San Francisco and a cable car sightseeing tour.
Justin’s Japan: Interview with ‘Manga! Manga! The World of Japanese Comics’ author Frederik L. Schodt
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“I grew up overseas in several different countries, and I’ve always enjoyed different cultures. And for me, that was exactly the way Japan appeared: it was always interesting, and it still is always interesting. There’s always things to learn.” (Courtesy of Stone Bridge Press)
By JQ magazine editor Justin Tedaldi (CIR Kobe-shi, 2001-02) for Examiner.com. Visit his Japanese culture page here for related stories.
Frederik L. Schodt first traveled to Japan in 1965 as a teenager, and since the early ’80s he has written numerous books about Japanese culture both popular and obscure, including the landmark Manga! Manga! The World of Japanese Comics, the first substantial English-language work on the art form. Schodt also has translated a wealth of books and manga series (many by his late friend, the “god of comics” Osamu Tezuka), and in 2009 he was awarded the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette for his contribution to the introduction and promotion of Japanese contemporary popular culture.
Out Nov. 13 is his newest book, Professor Risley and the Imperial Japanese Troupe, the true story of “Professor” Richard Risley Carlisle, an American who introduced the Western circus to Japan in 1864, and in turn gave many Americans their first glimpse of the East when he took his “Imperial Japanese Troupe” of acrobats and jugglers on a triumphant tour of North America and Europe, stirring a fascination with all things Japanese that, Schodt says, eventually led to today’s boom in manga and anime.
In part one of this exclusive, wide-ranging interview, I spoke with Schodt about his fascination with the late 19th century, his relationship with contemporary pop culture icons like George Lucas, and the story behind his middle initial, which is colorfully connected to the events of the film Argo.
It’s been more than five years since the release of your last book, The Astro Boy Essays. What else have you been up to since then?
I’ve actually gone through this and done some rough calculations, but it seems to take me about five years between books. I’ve been doing this same sort of thing that I always do, which is a mix of writing books and translating and then also working as a conference interpreter. For different periods, the weight and the ratio changes, but the mix is pretty much the same. And I’ve been working on the book of Professor Risley and the Imperial Japanese Troupe, I guess, for the last two or three years doing research. But it’s been a lot of fun, I have to say—it’s been one of the most fun books I’ve worked on in a long time.
What are some developments in manga/anime/Japanese pop culture in the U.S. that you feel has moved in a positive direction? At the same time, what things are you a bit critical of in the way they were handled?
I think it’s wonderful that a popular culture from another country such as Japan developed such a large fanbase in the United States, and that was a real surprise to me. I always hoped that people would take more notice in Japanese manga and anime, because I thought they were such an interesting manifestation of popular culture that had been long overlooked in the United States. But I never imagined that both of those entertainment media would become so big and so entrenched in the United States in terms of the fanbase, so that’s been wonderful to see.
It seems like the biggest development in recent years has been the cosplay phenomenon—that’s become a real part of the lingo here now.
That’s right. And I think cosplay in the United States is a little different, and in fact I think the whole fandom in the United States has assumed sort of American characteristics, so it’s developing on its own in new directions, and it’s kind of wonderful to see. I go to some of the larger cons every once in a while, and I really enjoy seeing how young people are interpreting this cultural phenomenon developed in Japan, although I have to say that cosplay is really indirectly inspired by the masquerades and the costume competitions that started in the United States in the sci-fi comic book community. So it’s very interesting. It’s this sort of cultural interchange that I’ve always been fascinated by where you have these two countries that are kind of reflecting each other and sending influences back and forth to each other, and interpreting a phenomenon in slightly different ways.
For the complete interview, click here.
JQ Magazine: Theatre Review – ‘Hold These Truths’
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“This amazing life story spanning six decades manages to be compressed by playwright Jeanne Sakata into a dense 90-minute performance that both educates and entertains.” (Photo of Joel de la Fuente by Steven Boling)
A nail that stuck out but resisted being hammered down
By Stacy Smith (Kumamoto-ken CIR, 2000-03) for JQ magazine. Stacy is a professional writer/interpreter/translator. She starts her day by watching Fujisankei’s newscast in Japanese, and shares some of the interesting tidbits and trends together with her own observation in the periodic series WITLife.
The intimacy of a stage surrounded by several rows of semicircle seating at the 14th Street Y is the perfect venue for the new play Hold These Truths. This work depicts the life of Nisei (second generation) Japanese American Gordon Hirabayashi, who took it upon himself to defy Executive Order 9066, which led to the imprisonment of Japanese Americans and their families in internment camps during World War II. It is a one-man show starring Joel de la Fuente, who spellbinds the audience with his ease in slipping back and forth between Hirabayashi and the other characters he portrays. The viewer’s proximity to the performer heightens the emotional depths of Hirabayashi’s often troubling, often inspiring tale of belonging and identity.
The play begins by highlighting the Japanese phrase “deru kugi wa utareru,” or “the nail that sticks up gets hammered down,” which Hirabayashi’s parents instill in him when he is young. He internalizes this belief, but at the same time he is aware of actions that seem to go against it, such as his mom taking a case to court when her land rights are violated. He describes a peaceful childhood in Seattle where he plays with other Japanese American friends and attends picnics where their mothers bring food like “onigiri, chicken teriyaki and banana cream pie.” Raised as a Christian, Hirayabashi becomes a religious pacifist when he enters the University of Washington.
Here he stays in an international dorm and meets his first non-Japanese friends, such as his roommate and close friend Howie and his future wife Esther. He becomes involved with the YMCA as campus vice president and tries to get a job with them at the front desk, but ironically is turned down because of his race. When an 8 p.m. curfew is later put in place for the Japanese, Hirabayashi initially complies but then runs back to join his friends studying in the library. This small act of bravery is emblematic of the much bolder resistance that Hirabayashi will show going forward.
JET Alum Will Ferguson Wins Canadian Lit Award
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Click image for JQ magazine’s 2010 feature story on Will Ferguson
From the Associated Press via the New York Times:
On Oct. 30, celebrated JET alum author Will Ferguson (Nagasaki-ken, 1991-94) won the Scotiabank Giller Prize, a $50,000 Canadian fiction award, for a his novel 419, about a family’s entanglement in a Nigerian email scam.
A kilt-wearing Ferguson pulled out a flask during his acceptance speech and raised a toast to the written word. Presenters included Sex and the City actress Kim Cattrall.
The Giller, which honors the best in Canadian fiction, was created in 1994 by businessman Jack Rabinovitch in memory of his late wife, literary journalist Doris Giller.
Tuesday’s ceremony was broadcast by the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. For a CBC video of Ferguson on writing 419 and being a Giller finalist, click here.
JET Alum Helps Moss Point Mississippi High School Host Japanese Students for Cultural Exchange
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Via WLOX.com. Posted by Kay Monroe (Miyazaki-shi, 1995 -97). Click here to join the JETwit Jobs Google Group and receive job listings even sooner by email.
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Moss Point High School’s Japanese club hosted 30 Japanese students in Moss Point Mississippi for a unique experience through the Kizuna Project with JET Alum Megan Bernard.
WLOX.com – The News for South Mississippi
JQ Magazine: JQ&A with Jenn Doane of the Hiroshima Ange Violet
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“On JET I was deeply involved in both my town and my prefecture, and in turn developed close relationships with both foreigners and Japanese people. Seattle is a diverse place, but I don’t think I would ever have had such a dynamic and interesting life outside of my day job!”
Seattle native Jenn Doane (Shimane-ken, 2010-12) has played soccer since she was eight years old. Having been a four-year starter on her high school varsity team, a three-year starter in college, and selected to play for the Olympic Development Program, she is now the first American to play professional soccer on a Japanese team, the Hiroshima Ange Violet. JQ learned all about her path to the team in this exclusive interview.
How did you become interested in Japan and the JET Program?
I have known about the JET Program since I was young, actually—my parents were both very involved in the Japanese community in Seattle: My mother was the executive director of the Japan America Society and the Japanese American Chamber of Commerce, and my dad served as president of the Society as well, and I think they have even been asked to be interviewers for prospective JET candidates. However, as any teenager would, I wasn’t interested in anything my parents were! I am three-fourths Japanese and one-fourth Caucasian (my mom is full, my dad is half, and both were born and raised in America).
I wasn’t necessarily ashamed of being Japanese, but I grew up in a mostly Caucasian suburb–and while I don’t think I was ever really picked on or anything, being Japanese wasn’t something I was overly proud of! You should have seen the reactions of my friends when I sometimes brought onigiri and kamaboko in my school lunch!
I was planning to be a Spanish major in college until my junior year when I decided to switch my focus to Japanese and study abroad in Osaka. I think I finally came around and got more curious about my heritage and the Japanese language. Many students from my college (Whitman) do the JET Program, and after a wonderful study abroad experience and hearing from all the raving alums, I thought it would be the perfect thing to do after graduating. So, here I am (or rather, there I was…).
I noticed you were a violinist for the Whitman Women’s Symphony. Any plans to continue with the violin in Japan?
Unfortunately, I have not touched a violin in a long time—however, I really have a passion for music and have found other ways to realize the musician in me! I joined a singing group in the countryside (we sing all the Glee hits) and have also been learning guitar. If I had easier access to a violin, I would definitely love to get back into it!
If you don’t mind sharing, what was it like to be on JET and teach at schools during the time of the disasters last year?
Compared to the JETs and teachers actually living in Tohoku, I can’t say that things were dramatically different. However, there was a kind of solemnness in the air after what happened— lots of moments of silence, and donations boxes all around school and town. One of my college friends is a JET in Miyagi Prefecture and we couldn’t get a hold of him for two weeks after the earthquake…it was terrifying. Thankfully, he had been at a relief shelter without Internet or phone access.
I also had the opportunity to volunteer in one of the hardest hit towns of Tohoku (Kesennuma) about six months after the tsunami, just helping sort debris and cleaning ruined houses, and it was such a moving experience—I met some incredibly strong and inspiring people, people who lost loves ones, everything they owned, or both.
JQ Magazine Seeks Writers for Winter 2012!
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Visit JQ magazine online at http://jetaany.org/magazine
As winter approaches, JETAA New York’s JQ magazine continues to provide content with an ever-expanding array of articles, interviews and features (see our recent stories here). We’re now looking for new writers, including recent returnees and JET vets, from all JETAA chapters worldwide for posting stories via our host at the global JET alumni resource site JETwit.com. (Scribes are also encouraged to join the JET Alumni Writers group on LinkedIn.)
Below are story ideas grouped by JET participants and alumni (JET World) and those more on Japanese culture (Japan World). And if you’re a JET or JETWit contributor from anywhere in the world with a story idea of your own, let us know!
Click “Read More” below for our winter 2012 ideas pitch package, and contact JQ editor Justin Tedaldi (magazine [at] jetaany [dot] org) to sign up for stories.
Justin’s Japan: New York Comic Con Welcomes ‘Sakuran’ Creator Moyoco Anno
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Manga author Moyoco Anno with New York Comic Con attendee Joy Charbonneau of Pacifica, CA, Oct. 14, 2012. (Justin Tedaldi)
By JQ magazine editor Justin Tedaldi (CIR Kobe-shi, 2001-02) for Examiner.com. Visit his Japanese culture page here for related stories.
Anime and manga fandom came out in full force at New York Comic Con last weekend, with a record 116,000 fans visiting the Jacob K. Javits Center for the annual event. Sunday (Oct. 14) hosted special guest artist Moyoco Anno of Sugar Sugar Rune and Sakuran fame.
A professional mangaka (manga artist and author) and one of the most respected names in Japanese comics today for her josei (ladies’) comics, Anno was in town to promote the recently released English-language edition of Sakuran, a starkly drawn tale of Japanese courtesans in the Edo period.
“We’d been thinking about publishing Sakuran for a few years now, and were finally able to convince [our] CEO to take the plunge,” said Ed Chavez, marketing director of Vertical Inc., the book’s North American publisher, which had its own booth at Comic Con. Based in New York, Vertical translates Japanese works of fiction and non-fiction that are considered good reads with universal themes from its vibrant book market.
Standouts of Vertical’s manga stable include Osamu Tezuka’s Buddha, Usamaru Furuya’s No Longer Human and Kanata Konami’s Chi’s Sweet Home.
For the complete story, click here.
JQ Magazine: Book Review – ‘The Buddha in the Attic’
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“Just the right length, the perfect amount of general and specific, and no solid story but yet the story that so many people in the United States—and elsewhere—can tell about hope, and heartbreak, and the ways in which lives change that most of us never intend or imagine.” (Knopf)
By Liz Mathews (Hiroshima-ken, 2005-06) for JQ magazine. Liz is the JETAA New York Book Club wrangler.
I would like to start by saying that the JETAANY Book Club discussed reading Julie Otsuka’s The Buddha in the Attic for at least five months before choosing it for our fall meeting. This is notable because 1) we were right in our primary reason for putting it off; and 2) we were even more right in finally selecting it to read. It’s easy to explain the first note: Over the summer we thought it best to opt for a lighter, more beachy read, and not a novel about Japanese “picture brides” and their distressing existences in the United States of the early 20th century.
As for the second point, autumn and its colder, shorter, darker days did turn out to be a much more appropriate setting to read Otsuka’s carefully composed novel. Otsuka wrote her book in eight sections, writing mostly from the perspective of the women—the women as a united “we”—who came across the ocean to a new life of false promises, how they endured meeting their husbands the first time, how they got along (or didn’t) with their employers and new fellow countrymen, and what happened as a new, Japanese American generation grew.
For all the suffering in those first five sections, there is hope written between the lines. Hope for a new life with a wonderful husband, hope that hard work will pay off in acceptance, and hope for their children in that, as one of the paragraphs ends, “Whatever you do, don’t end up like me.” But then, as one club member put it, “You come to this country, you work your ass off, you think you’re getting somewhere…and then you don’t” (referring to the war’s outbreak).
When we got together to discuss The Buddha in the Attic, we spent a fair amount of time talking about the perspective the story was written from—first person plural—and how initially we didn’t like it, but then either grew accustomed to it or could at least appreciate it as a tool. One attendee stated, “Everyone’s situation is different. You can’t even generalize the Japanese experience.” Another pointed out, “[Otsuka] has a new story in every sentence.” We laughed a little at this realization, probably as all our thoughts turned back to our own departure orientations, when we were constantly told those very same things.
“From the very beginning I saw Gordon Hirabayashi’s story as a unique and quintessentially American story, and although he was Japanese American himself, I hoped that the play would have a broad appeal, not just for that community, or just the Asian American community, but for people of all ages, ethnicities, and walks of life.” (Lia Chang)
By Ann Chow (Hyogo-ken, 2007-09) for JQ magazine. Ann is a native New Yorker who gets scared of the big, scary world, but ventures out into it anyway. She coined the term “stealth gaijin” (or thinks she did because she hadn’t heard of it before writing a bunch of articles under that moniker during her time on JET). When not portraying 14-year-olds on Gossip Girl, she can sometimes be found playing a (much older) law clerk on Law and Order: SVU.
Jeanne Sakata is an award-winning stage actress who has performed with many well-known companies on the country’s biggest stages, including the Lincoln Center Theater and the John F. Kennedy Center. She made her playwriting debut in 2007 with Hold These Truths (formerly Dawn’s Light: The Journey of Gordon Hirabayashi), the story of the Japanese American activist and Presidential Medal of Freedom winner, who passed away earlier this year at age 93.
Hold These Truths first premiered in 2007, and has been performed multiple times around the country since then. It is now a part of the Library of Congress Playwrights Archive in the Asian American Pacific Islander Collection in Washington, D.C., and is now having its Epic Theatre Ensemble New York premiere run (starring Joel de la Fuente and directed by Lisa Rothe) through Nov. 18 at the Theater at the 14th Street Y in repertory with Dispatches from (A)mended America.
JQ recently spoke with Sakata about her profound fascination with Hirabayashi’s life, the meticulous research that went into writing Hold These Truths, and what she hopes the play will accomplish.
What are the goals you are trying to achieve with Hold These Truths?
I hope, first, that Hold These Truths will spread awareness of Gordon Hirabayashi, whose story is still virtually unknown to so many Americans. As a young college student during World War II, Gordon stood up for the principles of the Constitution when the United States government failed miserably to do so, persecuting and imprisoning him for his actions. Earlier this year, Gordon passed away in January at the age of 93, and, amazingly, a few months later in April, President Obama posthumously awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, for the courageous stand he took so many decades ago. So I feel, this year especially, that Gordon’s story is a vitally important one to anyone who cares about our country, and the principles of the Constitution. Second, I hope the play will spread awareness on the East Coast of the mass incarceration of all people of Japanese ancestry during World War II on the West Coast, as knowledge of this tragedy seems to be much less prevalent here than out west.
In general, people on the West Coast know more about this time in American history. What reactions do you expect now that it’s playing here in New York?
As I said earlier, one common reaction we’ve had is that of shock that something so horrible happened during the World War II years in America. Many of our East Coast audience members who lived through those years have said that they were aware that “something bad” happened to the Japanese on the West Coast during that time, but they did not know just how bad it was. For example, they did not know that anyone in Seattle who was one-sixteenth Japanese, or babies from orphanages who had any Japanese blood, were ordered to be penned up behind barbed wire. They don’t know that so many children and young American citizens were torn out of their schools and imprisoned, and for so many years. But I also hope the reaction to Gordon’s story we’ve had here so far will continue—that people will be delighted, as well as profoundly moved and inspired, to learn about him.
How did you choose the subject matter for the play? Did you have family that lived in the internment camps?
I myself am a third-generation Japanese American, and in the 1990s I happened to see a documentary video about Gordon titled A Personal Matter: Gordon Hirabayashi vs. the United States. I was shocked that I had never heard his story before, and I started to find out everything I could about him. The more I read, the more fascinated and intrigued I became. The story just grasped me and wouldn’t let me go, becoming an obsession, and I knew I couldn’t rest until I tried to write a play about Gordon.
My mother’s side of the family was living in Colorado during World War II, and so did not have to go to the camps, although they experienced plenty of hostility and racism in the town where they lived. My father’s family, however, all lived in Watsonville on California’s West Coast, so all of them were rounded up and imprisoned in the camp in Poston, Arizona. As I was growing up, my father and aunts and uncles never spoke of the experience, I believe, because it was so traumatic for them, as it was for so many others.
Roland Kelts Praises the Who’s Pete Townshend in ‘The New Yorker’
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Roland Kelts, left: “When I published my first book, Japanamerica, about the odd synchronicity between two societies, Japanese and American, at once at great odds and suddenly allies, my publisher asked me to send the book to Pete Townshend. He had asked for it, why not give it to him?”
Courtesy of JETAA Northern California’s Mark Frey (Kumamoto-ken, 2002-06):
In a new article by JET alum Roland Kelts (Osaka-shi, 1998-99) on Pete Townshend in The New Yorker, Kelts references his book Japanamerica—of which Townshend said “I love that book!” to JQ magazine editor Justin Tedaldi at an NYC signing yesterday for his new memoir Who I Am—at the end of the article and offers some thoughts contrasting the experience of artists in the U.K. and Japan after World War II.
I first met Pete Townshend fifteen years ago in a modest London hotel suite. I was there with my friend Larry David Smith to interview Townshend for Smith’s book, “The Minstrel’s Dilemma.” We were already seated inside when I looked out the first-floor window and saw Townshend pulling into the parking lot.
He arrived alone, sans entourage or fanfare, driving himself in a gray Mercedes station wagon. Minutes later, the knob on the suite door rattled and shook. I stood, thinking that it might be a member of the hotel staff and wondering if I should turn the knob from our side. There was a pause, then more rattling, then the door swung open and Townshend burst through, eyes wide with exertion. He had apparently been trying to pull when he should have pushed.
We were scheduled to meet for two hours, but Townshend was unstoppable, regaling us not with stories of rock debauchery, but a stream of complex, sometimes half-formed ideas about popular culture, history, and human psychology. We were told not to ask him about his failing marriage; he immediately addressed it, confessing to a jolt of sadness while shaving that morning. “Don’t mention Keith Moon,” wrote his personal assistant via fax. “I never properly mourned for Keith,” he soon said, unprompted, and through tears.
For the complete story, click here.
