Elizabeth Ishida
@eishidaElizabeth Ishida was an NCI Program intern at the Japanese American National Museum from June 24 to August 15, 2007. Her project involved creating collections for the Nikkei Album. She is a graduate of UCLA, where she focused on cultural anthropology and classical civilizations. Currently, she is looking forward to applying to graduate school, where she hopes to earn her Doctorate in Physical Therapy. While not studying or making people fit, she spends time with her second family, members of Taiko Project. She is inspired by the magic of Disney and thinks George Lucas is a genius. In her free time, Elizabeth likes to run in new and beautiful places, sing and dance, and contribute to the wonderful world of Discover Nikkei.
Updated May 2012
Stories from This Author
Little Tokyo Gets Loud this Summer
June 11, 2014 • Elizabeth Ishida
This summer, taiko players from all over the world will come together in Little Tokyo for the inaugural World Taiko Gathering. Masato Baba, Project Coordinator, explains, “It’s time to acknowledge Taiko from around the world. The Taiko world is so small to begin with, so we need to learn to be open, share, network, learn, and teach.” TAIKOPROJECT, along with the Southern California Taiko community and advisors, has been working for over a year to organize this worldwide event and …
Stories United: The Japanese American Journey and Maui Taiko
May 7, 2012 • Elizabeth Ishida
“As we share our culture and learn about others, we can choose to live harmoniously,” Kay Fukumoto of Maui Taiko shares her taiko philosophy. “We are all one people on one earth. Peace begins inside each of us. If we focus on it as an end goal, we can surely make progress to that end.” Know where you come from. Appreciate your past. Respect it. Share it with others. These are the lessons most take away from Great Grandfather’s Drum, …
Kyodo Equals Family
Sept. 5, 2007 • Elizabeth Ishida
Kyodo Taiko was the first collegiate taiko group formed in North America, at the University of California, Los Angeles. Kyodo means “family” or literally, “loud children.” It’s quite fitting that every Kyodo member whole-heartedly personifies these meanings. Our practices and performances yield this harmony of grunts, shouts, screams and kiai’s that you’d never believe could be made by a group of college students. And, because of the countless number of hours we spend together practicing, performing and socializing, we have …
The Power of a Story: Intern Learns Importance of Personal Histories
Aug. 15, 2007 • Elizabeth Ishida
Being a cultural anthropology major, I enjoy studying culture, and I wanted the chance to learn more about my own. So, in May of 2007, I applied to be a part of the Nikkei Community Internship Program. This is a state-wide program based at the Little Tokyo Service Center in Los Angeles and the Japanese Community Youth Council in San Francisco. Through this program, I was placed at the Japanese American National Museum. It was a perfect match. I was …
