Interviews

1. Experiencing discrimination as a child

2. Feeling empowered by taiko

3. Taiko as self-expression

4. Sense of lineage between Sansei and Issei through Taiko

5. Learning from and appreciating the Nisei experience

6. Diverse membership in San Jose Taiko

7. Bringing Japanese American taiko to Japan

8. A “principally-based” taiko group in England creating a global taiko community

Hirabayashi,PJ

Co-founder and creative director of San Jose Taiko

Diverse membership in San Jose Taiko

We’re definitely more multi-mixed—multi-mixed (laugh). Racially mixed. So I cannot say now it’s exclusively Asian American or Japanese American. But going back to just the term, using Asian American, it was a time where we had also Filipino American who were a member that was very prolific in composing for San Jose Taiko. And it was the experience of Asians here in America that were finding that voice. We were exploring. We were discovering, too, where we could take that expression. Had to get a sense of self to really… I almost felt like this was a place for us to discover who we could be or who we are and that the people who were non-Asian coming into the group at the very early years had to respect that. They could not come in to water down the experience and expect anything else from what we were trying discover or generate.

Date: January 26, 2005

Location: California, US

Interviewer: Art Hansen, Sojin Kim

Contributed by: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum

Interviewee Bio

Patti Jo “PJ” Hirabayashi is among the most prominent women taiko players in the United States. Born and raised in Northern California, she attended Cal State Hayward where she became involved in Asian American movement activities before transferring to UC Berkeley. After graduation, she spent a year living in Japan before returning to San Jose where she was a graduate student in Urban and Regional Planning at San Jose State University. While there, she became acting director of the school’s Asian American Studies Center. She wrote her master’s thesis about the future of San Jose’s Japantown.

Hirabayashi joined San Jose Taiko in January 1974 as a charter member of the group. She is now the creative director of the ensemble, and she draws inspiration from the Asian American civil rights movement. She performs, trains, teaches, develops repertoire, tours, holds public workshops and conducts school outreach programs.(January 26, 2005)