エリック・マツナガのシカゴ日系アメリカ人コミュニティの歴史に関する調査は、全米日系人博物館、アルファウッドギャラリー、WBEZラジオ、ニューベリー図書館で取り上げられています。シカゴ生まれで、第二次世界大戦中にカリフォルニアから移住した日系人の子孫である彼は、インスタグラムで@windycitynikkei （「シカゴの日系アメリカ人のひと口サイズ」）をキュレーションしています。
2020年11月更新
この執筆者によるストーリー
The Level of Training Was Different
2014年1月2日 • エリック・マツナガ
Art Ishii began his judo training in 1954 at Hollywood Judo Dojo in Los Angeles, CA, under the direction of senseis Takashi Kikuchi, Frank Emi, Art Emi, Frank Watanuki, and Gene LeBell. Upon his induction into the Air Force in 1962, he was sent to Sheppard AFB in Texas. “As an anonymous brown belt out of Hollywood Dojo,” he explains, “I was beating sandans (3rd degree black belts) in Air Force tournaments. I couldn’t believe it. It was a testament …
Nooks and Crannies
2013年12月2日 • エリック・マツナガ
Afterward, I thought I’d tour the city. San Francisco is easily the most beautiful city in the United States, if not the world. I had a few hours to kill before heading toward the airport, and had made a short list of things I wanted to see. At this early hour, about half past five in the morning, I would have the run of the streets and boulevards, warm with sunrise, empty but not lonesome. I first cut down Great …
Be Strong
2013年11月7日 • エリック・マツナガ
Be strong, be gentle, be beautiful. In judo you need strength of mind, body, and soul. I don’t mean beauty in the external sense. A compassionate soul is inner beauty. I believe that is true beauty. —Keiko Fukuda Yuriko Gamo Romer’s introduction to Keiko Fukuda came by happenstance. The San Francisco, CA-based filmmaker explains, “In 2006, Oprah’s ‘O’ magazine did a story about her. I was intrigued by this story and realized that her dojo was in my neighborhood. So I …
Farm Food
2012年8月7日 • エリック・マツナガ
I didn’t eat much Japanese food growing up. Born hapa Yonsei of a second generation German American mother and third generation Japanese American father who’d grown up together in the “old neighborhood” of Lakeview, Chicago, circumstances didn’t dictate much knowledge of overt Japanese customs, culinary or otherwise. Our family emigrated from Kyushu in the early 1900s, farmers who plied their trade in California’s Central Valley, culminating in ownership of acreage purchased under the names of their American-born Nisei infants due …
Welcome to the Writers Workshop
2011年12月14日 • エリック・マツナガ
The Undeniables writers workshop was formed in 1999, inspired by a chapter from the novel VALLEY (Bend Press, 1998), by Mike Daily. Edren Sumagaysay and I had met the previous year in a touring theatre troupe based in Los Angeles, and got to talking about a mutual passion for writing while holed up between shows in a Maryland motel. We had both recently read Mike Daily’s then newly released novel, and wanted to host a writers workshop of our own. …
