Chris Komai

Chris Komai é escritor freelancer e especialista em relações com a comunidade, atuando em Little Tokyo [área no centro de Los Angeles] há quatro décadas. Ele foi o Assessor de Comunicação do Museu Nacional Japonês Americano por mais de 21 anos, tendo sido responsável pela divulgação de eventos especiais, exposições e programas abertos ao público. Anteriormente, por 18 anos Komai trabalhou como escritor e editor esportista e editor de textos em inglês no jornal bilíngue (japonês e inglês) Rafu Shimpo. Além disso, ele é membro do Conselho da Comunidade de Little Tokyo e do comitê da Associação de Segurança Pública de Little Tokyo. Há 30 anos ele é membro do Comitê da União Nissei de Atletismo do Sul da Califórnia de basquete e beisebol. Ele recebeu o título de Bacharel em Inglês na Universidade da Califórnia em Riverside.

Atualizado em abril de 2014

sports en

Crônicas Nikkeis #9—Mais do Que um Jogo: Esporte Nikkei

Exceeding All Expectations

  • Por Chris Komai
  • 28 Ago 2020
Keston Hiura has made a habit of breaking barriers and smashing stereotypes on his way to major league success. Most sports fans understand that the challenges for any young man or woman to achieve a career in professional sports are numerous and often unforgiving. But some of the toughest hurdles are the perceptions or misperceptions that certain scouts may hold involving a prospect’s size, character, background or even ethnicity. Keston Hiura heard that he had a perceived weakness that had nothing to do with his baseball abilities, but instead focused on his overall priorities: the …

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culture en

Howard Kakudo: Disney Animator Shared His Talents While Imprisoned at Poston Camp

  • Por Chris Komai
  • 10 Dez 2019
In seeking to preserve and share the Japanese American experience, the Japanese American National Museum maintains the largest collection of its kind in the world. While clearly a serious and scholarly endeavor, the collection also contains items that touch on popular culture and (dare we say) are fun. The holiday card created by Howard Kakudo while at the World War II Poston concentration camp in Arizona, is such an item. Kakudo worked in animation for Walt Disney Productions before the war on such iconic projects as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) and Pinocchio (1940). His camp draw…

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The Japanese American Basketball Connection - Part 2

  • Por Chris Komai
  • 17 Mar 2016
Read Part 1 >> The establishment in 1947 of a Southern California NAU to oversee a basketball league was a very humble beginning. There were just two divisions: AA and A. Gymnasiums were difficult to obtain. Referees were just as scarce. Often, players from other teams in the league were recruited to officiate. Because job opportunities were so limited, money was in short supply. Honda recalled that most players and teams paid their league fees on a “pay as you go” system at a dollar a week. Team entry fees were $15, and the NAU membership was $1 per player. The referee fee…

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The Japanese American Basketball Connection - Part 1

  • Por Chris Komai
  • 16 Mar 2016
When I was five years old, our family lived in Los Angeles on 12th Avenue, near what was known as the Seinan district. Construction of the Santa Monica Freeway was being planned, and its path went right through our home. Because of this our house was condemned, and our family moved to an unincorporated area of the San Gabriel Valley which became Temple City. At that time there were a lot of dairies and chicken farms there, but few sidewalks. And almost no other Japanese Americans. When my oldest brother graduated from Temple City High School, he was the first Nikkei to do so. When my sister g…

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The Unseen Price of Redress

  • Por Chris Komai
  • 19 Fev 2016
The passage and signing of the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 remains the most significant event for Japanese Americans since World War II. In an unprecedented act of Congress, the U.S. government apologized for its unlawful forced removal and mass incarceration of thousands of people of Japanese ancestry during the war while providing redress payments of $20,000 to the survivors. While the success of the redress campaign represents a breakthrough in asserting political power for our numerically small Nikkei community, it did not come without a cost. The contentiousness within the greater Japane…

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