
ニマ会
Nima-kai Search

-ミッション- ガーデナバレー日本文化協会は、教育、文化、社会プログラムを通じて、サウスベイエリアの日系アメリカ人コミュニティのニーズに応えています。高齢者や若者のニーズに配慮した適切なプログラムや活動を提供する。コミュニティの最大の利益と福祉を促進するコミュニティ組織に施設の使用とサポートを提供する。世代間の理解を深め、日系アメリカ人の民族的伝統を永続させ、すべての人類に対する文化的誇りと尊敬を促進する環境を作るよう努める。 -会社概要- ガーデナバレー日本文化協会(GVJCI)は、サウスベイエリアにさまざまなクラス、プログラム、サービス、施設を提供する501(c)(3)の非営利コミュニティセンターです。また、隣接する高齢者用住宅施設であるJCIガーデンズアパートメントを通じて、手頃な価格の住宅を提供しています。GVJCIの起源は、日本語学校であるモネタ学園が設立された1912年に遡ります。 1967 年、ガーデナ バレー日本語学校として正式に法人化されました。その後、1968 年に、組織が提供する幅広いサービスと機能を組み込むために、法人名をガーデナ バレー日本文化協会に変更しました。1971 年、コンプトン学園、ガーデナ学園、モネタ学園が合併し、GVJCI の日本語学校として正式に開校しました。

フランシス・ポンセ・デ・レオン・アラカワさんは機械エンジニアで、双日株式会社ハバナ事務所のエグゼクティブアシスタントとして勤務しています。彼女は品質・環境マスターです。彼女は三世で、祖父母は1928年に熊本からキューバに移住しました。2012年に彼女はJICAによる日本での研修に参加し、キューバの日系コミュニティにもっと積極的に参加するのに役立つ経験をしました。彼女は他の国の日系コミュニティと交流し、母国で将来仕事や組織作りの経験を積みたいと考えています。

アメリカ合衆国 カリフォルニア州 ロサンゼルス
Kristopher Kato was born in Saitama, Japan, and raised in Southern California. He currently lives around the corner from Discover Nikkei’s office in Los Angeles’ Little Tokyo neighborhood, with his cat, Mickey Meowse! He is a cum laude graduate from California State University of Fullerton and has worked as a data analyst in the banking and entertainment industries for over 10 years.
Kristopher became a Discover Nikkei volunteer in 2023. He’s written several articles and helps us out with data analytics, too. When he’s not working or volunteering his time, Kristopher enjoys visiting theme parks. He even worked as Jungle Cruise Skipper at Disneyland during college! Kristopher is also an avid Dodger fan and a collector of movie and sports memorabilia.
What do you like most about volunteering for Discover Nikkei?
Volunteering for Discover Nikkei has allowed me to get in touch with my Japanese heritage. Specifically, it has allowed me to better understand and appreciate the hardships, achievements, and contributions of Nikkei, both past and present. Through Discover Nikkei, I have been able to see the growth of the Nikkei community through the site’s numerous shared stories and by assisting with the site’s data analytics. Lastly, volunteering for Discover Nikkei has allowed me to connect with like-minded Nikkei who also enjoy learning about and preserving Nikkei history.
How do you connect to your Nikkei identity?
My first true connection to my Nikkei identity occurred when my grandmother, Rose Watanabe, and mother, Diane Kato, took me to the Japanese American National Museum in the 1990s. At the time, I was still in elementary school and relatively unaware of the incarceration of 120,000-plus people of Japanese ancestry during World War 2. However, when my elementary school assigned us a history project around the topic “Conflict and Compromise,” it was an easy decision to focus my project on the “conflict” of the Japanese concentration camps and the paltry “compromise” of the Civil Liberties Act of 1988.
Through that project, I had many discussions with my grandparents and other family of that generation who also provided me with numerous family heirlooms related to their experience in camp. The combination of their stories and family heirlooms allowed me to create a project that I presented at Los Angeles County’s “History Day L.A.” competition. Medaling at that competition provided me the opportunity to showcase the project at the Constitutional Rights Foundation’s 33rd annual dinner.
In more recent years, I have connected to my Nikkei identity by working with organizations including Discover Nikkei to ensure that the stories of previous generations are never forgotten. In 2019, I loaned the hand carved and painted animal pins created by my great uncle, Lui Kodama, and great aunt, Aki Narahara, to Anaheim’s Muzeo Museum and Cultural Center for their I Am an American: Japanese Incarceration in a Time of Fear exhibition.
Lastly, moving to Los Angeles’ Little Tokyo district has allowed me to connect with my Nikkei identity as I get to regularly enjoy the numerous cultural events and dine at the many delicious restaurants. Living so close to the Japanese American National Museum led me to volunteer for both the museum and Discover Nikkei, and has allowed me to find and be proud of my Nikkei identity.
ディスカバー・ニッケイからのお知らせ



ディスカバー・ニッケイウェブサイトがリニューアルされます。近日公開予定の新しい機能などリニューアルに関する最新情報をご覧ください。