Inspirar Adiante: Heróis Nikkeis abaixo dos 30 anos

Kayla Isomura may be best known for their work on The Suitcase Project (2018), a multimedia exhibition which explored themes of home, sudden dislocation, and discrimination experienced by fourth- and fifth-generation Japanese Canadians and Americans. As a fourth-generation Japanese and Chinese Canadian storyteller, artist, documentary photographer, and journalist, Isomura (them/they) has delved into creative projects and community work to explore Nikkei culture and identity.

The Suitcase Project

To create this project, Isomura asked fourth- and fifth-generation Japanese Canadians and Japanese Americans what they would pack if they were uprooted from their homes at a moment’s notice. Isomura then photographed …

Emily Teraoka grew up around both the Japanese and Mexican cultures that are part of her heritage, but they were sprinkled into a mix of quintessentially American things—country music, pickup trucks, weekend sports, and big Halloween parties around her family’s home in Fresno, California. It wasn’t until college that she began exploring her yonsei Nikkei identity. Today, she is Lead Park Ranger for Minidoka National Historic Site, where she has the opportunity to build relationships and inspire conversations about the legacy of the WWII incarceration camps.

Discover Nikkei reached out to Emily as part of the monthly Inspire Forward series, …

Emily Akpan is a Black-Nikkei activist living in Brooklyn, New York. She has been active in many social justice struggles, including Tsuru for Solidarity and New York Day of Remembrance. In March 2022, she was kind enough to take time to answer some questions for Discover Nikkei’s Inspire Forward: Nikkei Heroes Under 30 series. Her story is inspiring and provides insights and help for aspiring activists.

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Tamiko Nimura (TN): Congratulations on being selected as a “Nikkei hero”! How do you feel about being selected?

Emily Akpan (EA): Thank you so much! I feel very grateful …

“A snapshot of human memory.” 

That’s what 23-year-old Cole Kawana likes to call one of the Japanese American National Museum’s newest exhibits, The Interactive StoryFile of Lawson Iichiro Sakai.

Kawana, a recent graduate from the University of Southern California and a 5th generation Japanese American, envisioned the technology-based project in 2019. As the founder and president of Japanese American Stories—a nonprofit that develops artificial intelligence avatars to help preserve and share the oral histories of Japanese Americans who lived through World War II—Kawana worked extensively with StoryFile Inc. to produce the immersive exhibit.

Among his list of duties: raising …

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Juntando-se ao JACL

O programa Kakehashi foi a primeira experiência de Vini na qual todos os participantes eram americanos de origem asiática ou das ilhas do Pacífico. “Eu imediatamente me dei conta que me sentia mais em casa nesta comunidade, de uma forma que nunca tinha me sentido com os meus amigos japoneses, pois de repente eu estava num grupo diversificado de americanos com diferentes identidades raciais e um variado domínio do idioma japonês, onde a minha formação ainda era única, mas sem ser tão 'diferente' como de costume”.

“Depois da viagem com o Kakehashi”, Vini …