December 2016 highlights; looking ahead to 2017

ABOVE: Setting up the Tashima Market on the front lawn of the Newland House Museum for the third annual Holidays in Huntington Beach.  The R.G. Tashima Co. market was near Lyndon Lane and Warner Avenue (once Wintersburg Road) in Wintersburg Village. (Photo, M. Urashima, Dec. 1, 2016) © ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 

   We share a few highlights of our activities in December 2016, along with some dates for you to mark on your calendar in 2017.

LEFT: As people gathered to watch, Nancy Hayata of Classical Japanese Dance,  enchanted with a performance of the Furin Kazan, or Fūrinkazan. The chilly and windy night added extra drama to the dance which featured glowing candlelight and golden fans. The dance is an artistic representation of the Sun Tzu banner phrase, "as swift as wind, as silent as the forest, as fierce as fire, as unshakable as mountain."  More information about Classical Japanese Dance, http://www.classicaljapanesedance.com/ (Photo, M. Urashima, Dec. 2, 2016) © ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

RIGHT: Sensei Art Ishii and a few of his students from Matsubayashi Shorin-ryu Dojo of Little Tokyo in Los Angeles joined Historic Wintersburg at Holidays in Huntington Beach 1916. Martial arts training is part of the early 1900s history. Classes were taught in the chili pepper warehouses that once occupied the land where this event was held, at the Newland Shopping Center.  Read more about Art Ishii in this 2014 Discover Nikkei feature, http://www.discovernikkei.org/en/journal/2014/1/2/level-of-training-was-different/  (Photo, M. Urashima, Dec. 2, 2016) © ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

LEFT: Inside the Tashima Market, a wall of historic photographs that share the history of Wintersburg Village and Huntington Beach Japanese American pioneers.  A backdrop is a photographic image of the original R.G. Tashima Co. market in Wintersburg Village. (Photo, M. Urashima, Dec. 2, 2016) © ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

RIGHT: We were invited to the Consulate General of Japan residence in Los Angeles for the annual reception in honor of the Emperor's birthday. Officials and invited guests from around Southern California were treated to Japanese cuisine and artwork, such as the representations of a princess and a samurai.  The Emperor's birthday celebration is part of Orange County pioneer history.  In 1913, journalist Neeta Marquis wrote that "half the countryside" in Orange County was invited to join in the event organized by the Japanese Association in Wintersburg Village. (Photo, M. Urashima, Dec. 6, 2016) © ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

LEFT:  A proclamation from the City of Los Angeles is presented to Consul General Akira Chiba (center) at the residence of the Consulate General of Japan. Consul Chiba was inaugurated to the Consulate of Japan in Los Angeles in July 2016. The Southern California region includes the largest population of Japanese nationals outside of Japan, with 2,500 business enterprises that originate in Japan and generate approximately 79,500 jobs.  (Photo, M. Urashima, Dec. 6, 2016) © ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

RIGHT:  Consul Shigeru Kikuma and his wife, Kana, at the December 6 reception at the Consulate General of Japan residence. They also joined Historic Wintersburg at the Holidays in Huntington Beach 1916 event, with their daughter Rin (who got to meet Santa Claus!). (Photo, M. Urashima, Dec. 6, 2016) © ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

 

LEFT: Residents of the Oak View neighborhood in Huntington Beach, home to Historic Wintersburg, invited us to help them celebrate a long-standing cultural tradition of the Virgen de Guadalupe. Chinelos--a name from the Nahuatl word zineloquie meaning "disguised"--are dancers with a origins dating back to the Spanish conquest of Mexico. Chinelos and Aztec dancers are among the many in a  procession that makes its way through the streets of Oak View. (Photo, M. Urashima, Dec. 11, 2016) © ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

RIGHT:  One of the many altars to the Virgen de Guadalupe in Oak View. The procession--with live musicians and dancers, joined by celebrants--stop at each of the altars to present a performance. Along the way, food is offered to celebrants as a gesture of hospitality and community. (Photo, M. Urashima, Dec. 11, 2016) © ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

LEFT: On December 13, Historic Wintersburg joined thousands around the country in a one-night-only screening of George Takei's screening of Allegiance, the Broadway production on film. Allegiance is a moving musical inspired by the true life events of George Takei and other Americans of Japanese descent who were deprived of civil liberties and incarcerated during World War II.  This photograph was taken about 30 minutes before the screening, with only a few seats left.  The Century Huntington Beach theater's first screening was sold out and they added a second screening. (Photo, M. Urashima, Dec. 13, 2016) © ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

MARK YOUR CALENDARS FOR 2017:

   A few dates to put on your calendar for 2017, for which there will be events with Historic Wintersburg (or we will be participating).  More events will be added, as we near the important 75-year anniversary of Executive Order 9066 on February 19, 2017, and toward Asian Pacific American Heritage Month.

January 8, 2017
Oshogatsu Family Festival at the Japanese American National Museum welcomes in the New Year, the Year of the Rooster!  The rooster, or tori 酉, is considered a lucky for business.  Get your lucky soba noodles, watch a mochi-tsuki demonstration and explore the activities and displays at JANM, http://www.janm.org/events/2017/oshogatsufest/

January 11 - February 12, 2017
"What if heroes were not welcome home" exhibit at the Orange County Agricultural & Nikkei Heritage Museum at California State University Fullerton Arboretum, http://fullertonarboretum.org/museum_nikkei_current.php.  The exhibit highlights the American citizens of Japanese descent who served heroically with the United States Armed Forces in the South Pacific and in Europe, while their families were "unjustly incarcerated in concentration camps on American soil".  Historic Wintersburg chair Mary Urashima speaks at the exhibit on Sunday, January 22 at 1 pm.

 

February 18 and 19, 2017
This February 19 marks the 75-year anniversary of the signing of Executive Order 9066 by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.  

On this date in 1942, those associated with Historic Wintersburg--the Furuta family, the clergy and congregation of the Wintersburg Japanese Mission, the Japanese American residents of Orange County--learned they would be removed from California and incarcerated for the duration of World War II, due to their Japanese ancestry.  It would be later documented that none of the approximately 120,000 Japanese Americans confined in camps around the United States had committed any act against the United States.  The formal federal government apology and reparation resulted in the signing of the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 by President Ronald Reagan at which congregants of the Wintersburg Japanese Mission were present.

On Saturday, February 18, the Day of Remembrance events will be held at the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles, http://www.janm.org/.  Historic Wintersburg will have a table at the Day of Remembrance.

ABOVE RIGHT: A news article from the Santa Ana Register describes the final service to be held at the Wintersburg Japanese Church prior to the clergy and congregation--along with all Japanese Americans in Orange County--leaving for confinement during the remainder of World War II.  The article mentions the daughter of Charles and Yukiko Furuta, Toshiko, played piano at the services which many congregants could not attend due to the "five-mile limit on travel of Japanese from their homes". (Image, Santa Ana Register, May 5, 1942)

March 19, 2017
The annual Huntington Beach Cherry Blossom Festival, http://hbjapanesefestival.com/   will be held Sunday, March 19, in Central Park, behind the Central Library.   This event--planned to coincide with the blossoming sakura, the cherry trees in Central park--is organized by the Huntington Beach Sister City Association to support the friendship and exchange with Sister City Anjo, Japan.  Historic Wintersburg will have a booth at the Cherry Blossom Festival.

April 29, 2017
The annual Manzanar Pilgrimage will be held on Saturday, April 29, at the Manzanar National Historic Site in California's Owens Valley.  

LEFT: One of the stone gardens restored by the National Park Service at Manzanar.  The first of the confinement centers to open in 1942, approximately 10,000 Japanese Americans were confined in one square mile in California's Owens Valley, between Independence and Lone Pine at the foot of the Sierras. (Photo, M. Urashima, July 2015) © ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

The program for the Manzanar Pilgrimage is held in the northwest corner of the camp, near the Soul Consoling obelisk in the cemetery.  This will be the third year that Historic Wintersburg task force members have participated in the Pilgrimage, organized by the Manzanar Committee, https://www.manzanarcommittee.org/The_Manzanar_Committee/Our_Pilgrimage.html

May 2017 
This month is national Asian Pacific American Heritage Month.  Events for this month to be announced. 

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