Tyler Moore, Paul Matsushima, Liz Ishida, Eric Murata, Mike Mikawa, Jeffrey Chu, Karen Nakasato, Lindsay Chu, Christa Ogata, Risa Taira, Colleen Oinuma…

These are my fellow Nikkei Community Interns. I sat in workshops, drank tea, and trekked around LA with these folks. Every time someone introduced our group to another community figure they called us “future leaders of the Nikkei Community,” or something to that effect. No pressure there. (Note sarcasm.) With all this talk recently about the future of the Nikkei Community and whether we will have Nihonmachi to give us a “sense of place,” I can’t help but wonder what role each of us NCI alums will play in this ethnic identity drama.

Alan Nishio, Amy Phillips, Bill Watanabe, Bryan Takeda, Chris Aihara, Dean Matsubayashi, Debbie Ching, Diane Ujiiye, Erich Nakano, Evelyn Yoshimura, George Nakano, Geoff Tsudama, Mike Murase, Thomas Yee, Warren Furutani, Yasuko Sakamoto…

These are some of the leaders I got to meet and work with as a Nikkei Community Intern. These are people who care deeply for their communities, serve with willingness and enthusiasm, and embody characteristics I wish to emulate.

These community legends have worked to give the JA and API communities a voice and an honorable identity when it had none, devoted their lives to the welfare of the disenfranchised, and continuously give of their time to cultivate a community that cares for its youth and its elderly. I stand on the shoulders of giants.

I wonder how I will build on what has been given me. I wonder if I will be able to maintain the legacy of my aunts and uncles, my grandparents and parents. I wonder how I will change the community simply by being a different person. I now feel like I have more to live up to, a community that I am in part responsible for.

These are the folks who make me ask the questions of “who am I?” and “what is the Lord’s will for my life?” I can usually mark my significant experiences with the men and women I encounter along the way. These are the individuals who have marked my NCI experience.