Oregon Nikkei Endowment

Current Exhibit Update

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 14:30:05 PDT

Exhibit: Kokeshi: From Tradition to Today

Exhibit extended!
On display through May 6, 2012

Kokeshi dolls have been made since the early 1800s in Japan. Probably originating as toys for children and tourist items from the Tohoku region, kokeshi are an amazing illustration of simplicity, design, and creativity. Kokeshi: From Tradition to Today features historic artist-made dolls as well as examples from students and faculty from area institutions, including The Art Institute of Portland, Pacific Northwest College of Art, Portland State University, and University of Oregon. Special thanks to Michael Evans and Robert Wolf for their assistance with the exhibition.

Hapa Exhibit Closing

Tue, 27 Dec 2011 11:29:21 PST

kip fulbeck: part asian, 100% hapa

on display through December 31, 2011

There are only a few days left to catch this exhibition! Originally a derogatory label derived from the Hawaiian word for "half," the word "Hapa" has been embraced as a term of pride by many whose mixed-race heritage includes Asian or Pacific Rim ancestry. kip fulbeck: part asian, 100% hapa is an exhibition of portraits by artist Kip Fulbeck, who traveled the country photographing Hapa of all ages and walks of life.

Running through the end of 2011, the traveling version of kip fulbeck: part asian, 100% hapa, a nationally touring and acclaimed exhibit addressing heritage and identity, is organized by the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles, California.

Osechi Ryori - Japanese New Year's Food

Winter fundraiser for Oregon Nikkei Endowment
Cost: $130 (or $100 if you provide your own jubako box)
Available to order in our online gift shop

There's still time to order this year's Osechi Ryori to support the Oregon Nikkei Endowment and enjoy traditional Japanese New Year’s foods prepared by our Nikkei community cooks, displayed in a three-tiered lacquer box (jubako). The jubako will include traditional foods, such as nishime, kimpira gobo, and makizushi, as well as treats from the Pacific Northwest.

The cost is $130 for the entire osechi ryori (or $100 if you provide your own jubako), of which $60 is tax-deductible. Your order will be available for pick-up on Saturday, December 31, 2011. If you have questions or would like to know more, please contact Oregon Nikkei Endowment at 503-224-1458.

Announcement

The Oregon Nikkei Legacy Center will be closed January 1, 2012. We apologize for any inconvenience.

Collections Update

Sun, 06 Nov 2011 14:07:46 PST

Life at Minidoka

Hunt High School at Minidoka produced an annual yearbook, just like any other typical American high school. The 1945 edition (the last produced) dedicated several pages to Hunt High alumni who had headed to war. This page lists some of those alumni and includes a statement honoring their service.

In this photo are the mess hall workers of Block 37 at Minidoka, where the donors of these items resided. The blocks at Minidoka each had 12 barracks, a mess hall, a recreation hall, and a central building with bathrooms, showers and laundry (Confinement and Ethnicity). Both items from the Okita Family Collection.

Learn more about the archival collection at the Oregon Nikkei Legacy Center by visiting our collections page. To view more photos from this collection, please visit our Flickr page.

Upcoming Programs with Ore. Nikkei Endowment

Thu, 03 Nov 2011 11:48:23 PDT

Osechi Ryori Cooking Class

Saturday, December 10, 2011, 10am - 1pm
at the Art Institute of Portland, Culinary School
Cost: $65 general, $55 for Friends of Oregon Nikkei Endowment
Early bird price: $55 (sign up by November 18)

Celebrate the Japanese New Year by learning to prepare tasty, time-honored recipes that represent good luck, good health and prosperity. Traditionally these foods are made at New Year's, but you can make these delicious and healthy dishes for meals throughout the year.

In this combined demonstration and hands-on cooking class, you will learn to make makizushi, inarizushi, and nishime, including takanoko (bamboo shoot), renkon (lotus root), konnyaku (yam cake), and more. This class will teach you how to prepare sushi ingredients and to season the many vegetables and foods in the traditional nishime platter. This is also a great way to hone your skills in time to help us with our annual Osechi Ryori fundraiser for New Year’s.

This class costs $65 for the general public and $55 for Friends of Oregon Nikkei Endowment, but sign up by November 18 to receive the same rate as Friends of O.N.E. The class size will be limited, so please sign up early. Contact Oregon Nikkei Endowment to sign up or for more information:

Phone: 503-224-1458

Holiday Lunch and Craft Fair, featuring the Minidoka Swing Band

Sunday, December 4, 2011
at the Multnomah Athletic Club

Cost: $40 per person, or $20 for the craft fair and Minidoka Swing Band performance alone (does not include lunch). Payments may be made in our online gift shop.

Join Oregon Nikkei Endowment for a fun afternoon of food, crafts and music at the Multnomah Athletic Club on Sunday, December 4, beginning at 11:30 a.m.

Enjoy lunch with friends and dance to the tunes of the Minidoka Swing Band as they perform their new Christmas-themed set. This fundraiser will also feature local artisans whose crafts will be available to purchase for your Christmas shopping list.

If you are an artisan or know of one that would like participate, please read our vendor letter and application. Booth payments may be made through our online gift shop or by mail.

More details will be available soon. We are currently accepting reservations, and payment may be made through our online gift shop. Contact Oregon Nikkei Endowment at 503-224-1458 for more information.

Osechi Ryori - Japanese New Year's Food

Winter fundraiser for Oregon Nikkei Endowment
Cost: $130 (or $100 if you provide your own jubako box)
on sale through December 16, 2011
Available to order in our online gift shop

Support the Oregon Nikkei Endowment and enjoy traditional Japanese New Year’s foods (osechi ryori) prepared by our Nikkei community cooks, displayed in a three-tiered lacquer box (jubako). The jubako will include traditional foods, such as nishime, kimpira gobo, and makizushi, as well as treats from the Pacific Northwest.

The cost is $130 for the entire osechi ryori (or $100 if you provide your own jubako), of which $60 is tax-deductible. Your order will be available for pick-up on Saturday, December 31, 2011 (time TBD). If you have questions or would like to know more, please contact Oregon Nikkei Endowment at 503-224-1458.

Hapa Diversity Workshop

Tue, 18 Oct 2011 16:40:30 PDT

In conjunction with the exhibit kip fulbeck: part asian, 100% hapa, the Oregon Nikkei Legacy Center is pleased to host this upcoming event:

October 20: Hapa Diversity Workshop, facilitated by Dr. Linda Isako Angst, Cultural Anthropologist of Japan.

Who are you? How do you get to know someone you perceive as different? How do we understand who we are in relation to others? What assumptions do we make about "us" and "them" in the course of everyday life? Taking its cue from the perspective of cultural anthropology, this workshop will ask participants to think—and then unthink—assumptions we hold about ourselves and thereby examine the stereotypes we create about cultural others. While we celebrate the diversity each of us holds as culturally situated individuals, we must also learn how to honor and support the proliferation of ethnicities within our midst.

Thursday, October 20, 5pm, at the Oregon Nikkei Legacy Center, 121 NW 2nd Avenue, Portland. Free, but pre-registration is required.

Programming was made possible in part by a grant from Oregon Humanities, a statewide nonprofit organization and an independent affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities, which funds Oregon Humanities grant program.

kip fulbeck: part asian, 100% hapa
On display through December 31, 2011

Originally a derogatory label derived from the Hawaiian word for "half," the word "Hapa" has been embraced as a term of pride by many whose mixed-race heritage includes Asian or Pacific Rim ancestry. kip fulbeck: part asian, 100% hapa is an exhibition of portraits by artist Kip Fulbeck, who traveled the country photographing Hapa of all ages and walks of life. Running through the end of 2011, kip fulbeck: part asian, 100% hapa is a nationally touring and acclaimed exhibit addressing heritage and identity.

Fulbeck’s work seeks to address in words and images the one question that Hapa are frequently asked: "What are you?" By pairing portraits of Hapa—unadorned by make-up, jewelry, and clothing—along with their handwritten statements on who they are, Fulbeck has produced powerful yet intimate expressions of beauty and identity. The exhibit is an artist’s attempt to explore Hapa—who now number in the millions—and it offers a complex perspective on the changing reality of contemporary America.

Kip Fulbeck is an award-winning photographer, filmmaker, writer, and spoken-word artist whose work has been exhibited worldwide. He is a professor and chair of Art at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

The traveling version of kip fulbeck: part asian, 100% hapa is organized by the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles, California, and is supported, in part, by the James Irvine Foundation.

Taken: FBI - Upcoming Events

Thu, 12 May 2011 11:30:21 PDT

In conjunction with the exhibitTaken: FBI at the Oregon Nikkei Legacy Center, several programs will take place throughout the course of the exhibition:

May 12: Book signing and reading by Dr. Priscilla Wegars from her book Imprisoned in Paradise: Japanese Internee Road Workers at the World War II Kooskia Internment Camp. The book describes a unique, virtually forgotten, World War II detention and road building facility that was located on the remote, wild, and scenic Lochsa River in north central Idaho. Between mid-1943 and mid-1945 the Kooskia camp held an all-male contingent of some 265 so-called "enemy aliens" of Japanese ancestry. Book signing and reading held at 5pm at the NWEA building at 121 NW Everett in Portland. Free and open to the public. This program was made possible in part by a grant from Oregon Humanities, a statewide nonprofit organization and an independent affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Santa Fe Inmates
ONLC 207

May 24: Please join us in welcoming Dr. Greg Robinson, a native New Yorker and Associate Professor of History at Université du Québec À Montréal, and a board member of that university’s Center for United States Studies. Dr. Robinson will be presenting a lecture on how the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, proved a catastrophe in different ways for Nikkei in the United States and Canada. In the aftermath of the attack, a thousand long-term residents—transformed at a stroke into enemy aliens—were rounded up by the United States government. While Canada interned only 38 individuals following the outbreak of war with Japan, pressure from the West Coast soon led Ottawa to institute mass removal of all Japanese Canadians, with families broken up by official decree. Lecture at 5pm at the NWEA building at 121 NW Everett in Portland. Free and open to the public.

The Taken: FBI exhibit and events are sponsored in part by Oregon Humanities, the Center for Japanese Studies and the Center for Public Humanities at Portland State University, the Oregon Heritage Commission, the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of Oregon, Spirit Mountain Community Fund, Northwest Evaluation Association, and Target.

Taken: FBI -- Upcoming Programs

Thu, 21 Apr 2011 12:57:26 PDT

In conjunction with the exhibitTaken: FBI at the Oregon Nikkei Legacy Center, several programs will take place throughout the course of the exhibition:

April 22 & 23: Join Neil H. Simon, award-winning filmmaker and journalist, for a director’s cut screening of his new film, Prisoners and Patriots, which documents the Department of Justice internment camp in Santa Fe as well as the internment experience in Lordsburg and Fort Stanton in the state’s south. From 1942 to 1946 (six months after the war’s end), the Santa Fe camp held more than 4,500 men – mostly community leaders, teachers, Buddhist ministers and others – people who the U.S government most feared would organize Japanese loyalty during World War II. A conversation with the filmmaker will follow the screening. Held on Friday, April 22, at 6:30pm and again on Saturday, April 23, at 1:30pm at the University of Oregon in Portland, Room 142/44. Free and open to the public. Hosted by the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of Oregon. Read more about this film at Nikkei West.

Santa Fe Inmates
ONLC 207

Upcoming Events for Taken: FBI

Wed, 13 Apr 2011 11:43:51 PDT

In conjunction with the exhibitTaken: FBI at the Oregon Nikkei Legacy Center, several programs will take place throughout the course of the exhibition:

April 16: A few seats are still available to attend a workshop led by National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) staff who will demonstrate how to research and retrieve records, including FBI files, from sources including NARA and footnote.com. Assistance and instruction with accessing records online, as well as how to obtain copies of records will be addressed. Laptop computers will be provided for hands-on research, and knowledge of navigating websites is a plus. Participants are encouraged to bring a partner or pair with an attendee with differing skill level. Registration required. Held on April 16 (1:00-3:30pm) at the University of Oregon in Portland at 70 NW Couch Street, Room 150. Free and open to the public, but seating is very limited. To reserve your spot, please RSVP to Oregon Nikkei Endowment at 503-224-1458. Hosted by the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of Oregon.

Santa Fe Inmates
ONLC 207

Upcoming Events with Oregon Nikkei Endowment

Thu, 24 Mar 2011 12:17:16 PDT

Artist Robert Dozono Book Signing and Conversation

Sunday, March 27, 2011, at 1:00 p.m.
at Blackfish Gallery, 420 NW 9th Avenue, Portland
Free and open to the public

Oregon Nikkei Endowment in conjunction with Blackfish Gallery is proud to sponsor a conversation with Robert Dozono to honor his recent publication, Robert R. Dozono: Accumulation | Work 1963-2009. A conversation between Robert Dozono and artist George Johanson will be followed by a book signing at Blackfish Gallery, located at 420 NW 9th Avenue and beginning at 1pm. This event is free and open to the public.

One of the essays included in Accumulation is by fellow artist and Portland Community College colleague Marie Watt who characterizes Mr. Dozono’s work and life thusly: "...as he accumulates useful items on his desk and in his studio, as he accumulates everyday objects which are then converted into art, Bob Dozono accumulates people and assembles them into a coherent, supportive community dedicated to the sharing of ideas. And this may be his greatest work: both as an artist, and as a human being."

Dozono is a long-time member of Blackfish Gallery, which is fully owned and operated by working artists since it began in 1979. A portion of proceeds from book sales will benefit Oregon Nikkei Endowment and Blackfish Gallery.

From Oregon with Love Benefit Concert for Mercy Corps

Sunday, March 27, 2pm
at the Aladdin Theater in Portland

A benefit concert for the Mercy Corps Oregon Japan Relief Fund
100% of monies raised benefit Japan earthquake/tsunami disaster relief efforts

Featuring:

Pink Martini
Storm Large
Dancers From Oregon Ballet Theatre
Blind Pilot's Israel Nebeker
Holcombe Waller

With additional performances by fEARnoMUSIC, Pacific Youth Choir, PHAME Academy, Shanghai Woolies, Tomodachi Chorus and additional artists and friends.

Tickets on Sale Now!
$38 in Advance
Gold Circle reserved seats available at $100 each.

Purchase Tickets Online at www.aladdin-theater.com

Staged Reading of Good Citizen

One-night performance of Portland playwright George Taylor's Good Citizen, which dramatizes the Yasui family story during World War II.

Monday, March 28, 2011, at 7:30 p.m.
at Artists Reperatory Theatre - Morrison Stage
15th and Morrison St.
Suggested donation $8 (tickets available at the door)

On a cold night in March, a young Japanese American man walks the streets of Portland trying to get arrested. "Run along home, sonny boy," says a cop on the beat, "before you get into trouble." This is exactly what the young man wants. He flashes some papers at the police station and is thrown into the drunk tank.

The year is 1942. The young man is Minoru Yasui, and he's out to test the constitutionality of a curfew imposed on all people of Japanese ancestry on the West Coast.

The reading is being presented on the very date of Yasui's arrest in Portland 69 years ago.

Good Citizen dramatizes Yasui's story against a background of political and personal upheaval. The play tracks a Japanese American family who had four days to settle their lives and pack only the belongings they could carry. They travel to the Portland livestock center, where thousands of Japanese American men, women and children lived for months in converted stables. Then finally, the family boards a slow train to Minidoka, a tarpaper city of barbed wire and guard towers in a desolate part of Idaho. Good Citizen is a local story based on fact that resonates with contemporary citizenship and civil rights battles.

Japan Disaster Relief in Portland

Thu, 17 Mar 2011 13:08:23 PDT

Mercy Corps

Oregon Nikkei Endowment and other local Japan-related organizations have organized the creation of the Oregon Japan Relief Fund with Mercy Corps to provide financial aid to those suffering from the effects of the devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan.

To contribute, please click on the link below to access the Fund webpage and follow the instructions there:

www.oregonjapanrelieffund.com

For those wishing to contribute by check, please send your check to:

Mercy Corps
Oregon Japan Relief Fund
45 SW Ankeny Street
Portland, OR 97204
Note: Oregon Japan Relief Fund

Candlelight Vigil

Friday, March 18, 2011, 6-8pm
at Pioneer Courthouse Square in downtown Portland
Website: www.vigil4japanpdx.org
Twitter: twitter.com/vigil4japanpdx

The organizers of this event are a group of local students from Japan. All the donations made during Candlelight Vigil For Japan PDX will go to Peace Winds Japan via Mercy Corps. Peace Winds Japan, a Mercy Corps' partner organization, is a non-governmental organization dedicated to the support of people in distress, threatened by conflict, poverty, or other turmoil. Your donation will be used to meet immediate and longer-term needs of earthquake survivors.
www.mercycorps.org www.peace-winds.org/en/

Due to the increasing number of attendees, there won't be enough candles. Please bring your own candle to the event and any extras you'd be willing to share with others.

George Takei Event

Wed, 19 Jan 2011 11:08:27 PST

An Intimate Dinner with George Takei

Fundraiser for Oregon Nikkei Endowment
Saturday, February 19, 2011, at 5pm
at the Portland Marriott Downtown Waterfront

Join the Oregon Nikkei Endowment for a light supper and a talk with George Takei on February 19 in Portland. This event will feature musical entertainment and a chance to meet the actor best known for his role as Mr. Sulu in the Star Trek series and films and as a Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender (LGBT) community activist.

February 19 is also the Day of Remembrance, commemorating the day President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, which led to the World War II incarceration of Japanese Americans. This event is a fundraiser for Oregon Nikkei Endowment, whose mission is to preserve and honor the history and culture of Japanese Americans in the Pacific Northwest, to educate the public about the Japanese American experience during World War II, and to advocate for the protection of civil rights for all Americans.

Seats are $100 per person. To reserve your spot or to learn more, please contact Oregon Nikkei Endowment:

Phone: 503-224-1458

Oregon Nikkei Endowment

Current Exhibit Update

Exhibit: Kokeshi: From Tradition to Today

Hapa Exhibit Closing

kip fulbeck: part asian, 100% hapa

Osechi Ryori - Japanese New Year's Food

Announcement

Collections Update

Life at Minidoka

Upcoming Programs with Ore. Nikkei Endowment

Osechi Ryori Cooking Class

Holiday Lunch and Craft Fair, featuring the Minidoka Swing Band

Osechi Ryori - Japanese New Year's Food

Hapa Diversity Workshop

kip fulbeck: part asian, 100% hapa On display through December 31, 2011

Taken: FBI - Upcoming Events

Taken: FBI -- Upcoming Programs

Upcoming Events for Taken: FBI

Upcoming Events with Oregon Nikkei Endowment

Artist Robert Dozono Book Signing and Conversation

From Oregon with Love Benefit Concert for Mercy Corps

Staged Reading of Good Citizen

Japan Disaster Relief in Portland

Mercy Corps

Candlelight Vigil

George Takei Event

An Intimate Dinner with George Takei

kip fulbeck: part asian, 100% hapa
On display through December 31, 2011