Bobby Okinaka
@bokinakaBobby Okinaka es el Editor de Web para Discover Nikkei. Creció en las bases militares alrededor del mundo pero ahora Los Angeles es su casa. Tras graduarse en Estudios sobre Sudeste de Asia en UCLA, enseñó inglés en Wakayama, Japón durante 3 años. En su tiempo libre produce un talk show Asiático- Americano llamado "Tokyo a la Mode".
Última actualización en diciembre de 2007
Historias de Este Autor
Un Nikkei en Japón
9 de agosto de 2021 • Bobby Okinaka
Soy un expatriado estadounidense que ha vivido en Japón durante los últimos 12 años. Primero, si aún no lo sabías, un expatriado es alguien que vive y trabaja en otro país. Los expatriados no son necesariamente inmigrantes, pero muchos se han sumergido profundamente y han adoptado su país de elección en todo excepto en el estatus de ciudadanía. Revelación completa: esta es la cuarta vez que vivo en Japón. Nací aquí, en una base militar estadounidense, de padre sansei y …
I called my grandmother "Oba-chan"
23 de enero de 2009 • Bobby Okinaka
I called my grandmother "Oba-chan." It is the Japanese word for "grandmother." She was born somewhere in California just before the First World War. Her parents arrived in America by a ship from Japan. My brother remembers her once showing a sepia-toned photo of a Japanese man wearing an American soldier's uniform of that time period. Was he drafted into the U.S. Army for the war? We'll never know the answer to that question because Oba-chan isn't around to answer …
Discover Nikkei en Brasil – Celebrando el Centenario de la Inmigración Japonesa
16 de octubre de 2008 • Bobby Okinaka
El año 2008 marca el Centenario de la Inmigración Japonesa en el Brasil. El 18 de junio de 1908, desembarcaron en el puerto de Santos, 793 personas en el buque “Kasato-maru” para inicar una nueva vida en estas tierras. Para los 1.5 millones de brasileros descendentes de japoneses, el “Kasato Maru” es su “Mayflower” y un símbolo de sus historias y de su identidad. El Centenario se celebró tanto en Brasil como en Japón. En Brasil, la cultura japonesa fue …
My Nisei Week, Our Nisei Week
28 de agosto de 2008 • Bobby Okinaka
Saturday, August 16On Saturday morning I arrived early at the Japanese American National Museum. Yonezawa-san was already there. He is the president of the Miyagi Kenjinkai. Miyagi Prefecture is famous throughout Japan for the Tanabata Festival in Sendai. On the seventh day of the seventh month, the streets of Sendai are lined with colorful decorations called fukinagashi. Yonezawa-san and the Miyagi Kenjinkai made five fukinagashi that we were going to use to decorate the central hall of the museum. The …
Nikkei Parents’ Day
13 de agosto de 2008 • Bobby Okinaka
Nikkei in Los Angeles recognized Parents’ Day on July 27 with a ceremony honoring the 2008 Parents of the Year at the George and Sakaye Aratani Japan America Theatre in Little Tokyo. This year the honor was bestowed upon two families, Kaname and Kuriyo Inaba of Northridge and Haruo and Takako Yamashiro of Gardena. Both families were recognized not only for being role models as parents but for their commitment to community service as well. Local children participated in the …
La Vida Sake: Supporters sip for the Little Tokyo Service Center
28 de mayo de 2008 • Bobby Okinaka
Normally automobiles and alcoholic beverages don’t mix, but at the “La Vida Sake” fundraiser event, the cars were parked and the sake helped raise money for the Little Tokyo Service Center. “La Vida Sake” was a sake and food tasting event held at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles, CA on May 22, 2008. DID YOU KNOW? In Japan, the word “sake” refers to all types of alcoholic beverages. The correct term for what we know as “sake” is …
Their Pride - Filmmaker documents the story of Black Japanese in Georgia
15 de mayo de 2008 • Bobby Okinaka
Yohei Suzuki is a 30-year old documentary filmmaker based in New York, NY. In 2006, he produced and directed Our Pride: The Spirits of Black Japanese in Georgia, a documentary about families where the father is Black and the mother is Japanese and their children are both. The story touches upon bi-racial identity in a culture that is almost exclusively Black; a perspective that has rarely been touched before. The documentary has screened at several film festivals including the Asian …
Glenn Kaino - Interview with an Artist
6 de abril de 2008 • Bobby Okinaka
Glenn Kaino (b. 1972) is one of the artists whose work is on display in the One Way or Another: Asian American Art Now exhibition at the Japanese American National Museum (the exhibition runs until May 4, 2008). His installation entitled “Graft” features two stuffed animals, one a salmon masquerading in shark skin, the other a pig cloaked in a cow’s hide. Simply wearing a mask is not a strong enough metaphor for social identity; here Kaino demonstrates the sometimes …
The Okinawan Wives Club
22 de febrero de 2008 • Bobby Okinaka
A few years ago, I came up with an idea to make a documentary about overseas Okinawan communities. I wanted to show that Okinawans left their island home for places all over the globe, but no matter where they went, the migrants took their culture and traditions with them. I created a plan to visit places where Okinawans settled in Peru, Hawaii, Los Angeles, CA and Jacksonville, NC. That’s right, a tiny little place called Jacksonville. For my documentary, I …
Memories of New Year's Celebrations
2 de enero de 2008 • Bobby Okinaka
Happy New Year! What makes this holiday so special is the chance to start over again. But before looking forward, it’s nice to take a quick look back. I thought about how I spent New Year’s in the past. As a kid, I would be allowed to stay up late and our family would watch the countdown to midnight on television. I don’t recall doing anything more special than that. Then, when I was 14, our family moved to Japan. …
