June Aochi Berk

June Aochi Berk, former Executive Assistant to Irene Hirano-Inouye, first president and CEO of the Japanese American National Museum (JANM), currently volunteers at JANM, Sakura Gardens Retirement Home, the Little Tokyo Senior Nutrition Center, and also as the Project Director for the Tuna Canyon Detention Station Legacy Project. She is Co-chair of the Santa Anita Assembly Center Committee and the Minoru Yasui Civil Rights Committee-Los Angeles. June is a Board member of the Historical Cultural Neighborhood Council - Little Tokyo, and San Fernando Valley JACL. June Berk began dancing at the age of 5 in 1937 as a student of Fujima Kansuma.

Updated August 2018

Stories from This Author

Life as a Student of Fujima Kansuma – a Personal Journey

Aug. 3, 2018 • June Aochi Berk

At 100 years-old, Madame Fujima Kansuma, along with her daughter, Fujima Kansuzu, will choreograph the Ondo dance for this year’s Nisei Week Festival Parade in Los Angeles. Many of Madame Kansuma’s former students will travel from all parts of the USA and Japan to dance, one more time, for their beloved “Osho-san.” An icon of our time, she should be mentioned in the same conversation as Margot Fonteyn, Baryshnikov, and Nureyev. She is a master of kabuki dance, and is …