John Nishio
John Nishio was born and raised in Pasadena. He owned a handcraft ceramic business for almost 40 years, before becoming a sushi chef. After retirement, he busies himself with a large Japanese garden and cooking Cantonese Far East Cafe-style dishes for The Grateful Crane Ensemble fundraisers. He and his wife hosts them to raise money for the survivors of the 2011 Fukushima Disaster and Tsunami.
He and his wife host mochitsuki for their family, and is also their family historian and documentarian, showing them their family and Japanese American history. He says, "My wife and I have made it our mission to keep our family together and to preserve our family history for future generations."
Updated February 2017
Stories from This Author
Nikkei Oshogatsu Stories 2017 - Part 2
March 3, 2017 • John Nishio , Koreto Yamauchi , JASC of Chicago
Read Part 1 >> A Nikkei Holiday Story By John Nishio This is the story of the 104th Annual Nishio Mochitsuki. On Tuesday night, we hosted the Annual Mochitsuki of the Nishio Clan and Friends. The first Nishio mochitsuki in the US was held in 1912 by my grandfather and granduncle and their wives. They continued it through good years and bad; they made it a point to have mochitsuki even during the war years, when they were in the …
