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Yoshie Fujiwara and Japanese Americans II: A Day at the (Olympic) Races

Read Part 1 >> In the period after 1932, Yoshie Fujiwara made Japan his primary residence. In these years, he founded the Fujiwara Opera company, …

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Yoshie Fujiwara and Japanese Americans I: A Night at the Opera

Yoshie (AKA Yosie) Fujiwara, a legendary tenor and impresario whose career spanned decades, was the biggest name in grand opera in Japan over the 20th …

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Illinois Japanese Unknown Heroes

Chapter 1 (Part 5): Japanese Garden Designers, Domestic Workers, and their “Japanophile” Employers—Taro Otsuka, Japanese Garden Designer

Read Chapter 1 (Part 4) >> Taro Otsuka was born in 1868 in Kochi, Japan and rumored to be an activist and a comrade of …

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Inspire Forward: Nikkei Heroes Under 30

“A Deep Collective Feeling”: Emily Akpan, Black-Nikkei Activist Hero

Emily Akpan is a Black-Nikkei activist living in Brooklyn, New York. She has been active in many social justice struggles, including Tsuru for Solidarity and …

culture en

Leo Amino: Building a Brighter Art Through Plastics - Part 2

Read Part 1 >> In 1946, on the initiative of the famed artist Josef Albers, Leo Amino was invited to teach a summer institute at …

culture en

Leo Amino: Building a Brighter Art Through Plastics - Part 1

The modern sculptor Leo Amino, who achieved fame in the postwar artworld but then faded from view, has been experiencing a rebirth of public interest …

culture en

Hidden in Plain Sight: Rediscovering the Life and Art of Bumpei Usui

On my refrigerator is a magnet with a reproduction of a painting called 14th Street, a colorful, angular cityscape with a view dominated by a skyscraper. …

culture en

The Highflying Artistry of Miné Okubo

A whimsical drawing by Miné Okubo portrays a family and dog adrift in a hot air balloon over downtown Los Angeles, the distinctive city hall building …

culture en

“Be Bold”: The Artistry of 99-Year Old Kibei Nisei Artist Koho Yamamoto

Was I looking at a pile of charred kindling, a set of raven’s wings or feathers? “I’m interviewing this 99-year old Kibei Nisei artist, Koho …

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As You Like It

Chapter Nine—Clipped

In Japanese folktales, old women are sometimes cast as the “bad guys.” You see it in “Tongue-Cut Sparrow,” in which an elderly lady clips the …