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        • Online Resources
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        • Meditation & More Class
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      • Sports >
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        • South Bay F.O.R Junior Sports Association
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      • Youth >
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        • Boy Scout Troop 719
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GVJCI Blog
ガーデナ平原日本文化会館ブログ

Learn about Japanese New Year Traditions!

12/10/2018

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by Ryan Ohara, GVJCI Community Outreach and Social Media Intern
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​It's that time of year again!  New Years is just around the corner and everyone is getting ready to celebrate with lots of food, fireworks, and confetti!  All the worries of last year are left behind as the coming year brings hope of a better future.  New Years is an important holiday all across the world, and every culture celebrates it differently.
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Have you ever wondered how New Years is commemorated in Japan?  Well it turns out it's just as big, or even bigger than it is here in the U.S.!  In fact, Oshougatsu, which is New Years in Japanese, is one of the most importantly holidays in Japan, with an abundance of honored traditions backed up by centuries of Japanese history.  Households are cleaned and meals are prepared as people leave behind the old and start anew.  It is not uncommon for employees and businesses in Japan to take off 3 days or even a week for this momentous occasion!  Read on to learn more about what makes these beginning days so special!   

GIFTS

Similar to how we send Christmas postcards to family and friends in the States, people in Japan send New Years greeting cards called nengajo to relatives.  Many of these cards feature designs ranging from illustrations of kadomatsu and Mount Fuji to Chinese Zodiac Symbols to even modern pop culture references like Pokemon and Hello Kitty!
​​The practice of sending out postcards on New Years started way back in the late 19th century during the Meiji period, where the post office would help to deliver these cards instead of going through the trouble of having family members all meet in person.  From then on, the post office became committed to sending out these postcards before the New Years celebration ends (usually before January 3rd), as long as people submit their postcards before Christmas.  To help combat the rise of popularity in digital communication such as email, the post office implemented a lottery system where every nengajo is essentially it's own lottery ticket with numbers written directly on the card.  If you have any Japanese friends or relatives, make sure to surprise them with a nice postcard. You never know if you could be the next winner!
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In addition to nengajo, families also give monetary gifts called otoshidama to their children on New Years.  The money is packaged in a lavish envelope called a pochibukuro and contains anywhere from 100 to 10000 yen depending on the age of the recipient, with the last otoshidama received around age 20.  Many children are ecstatic to save (or spend) these generous donations!

FOOD

Having the right food is also very important for New Years, as many of these dishes are not only delicious but also culturally significant .  New Years dishes are often prepared way ahead of time with non-perishable ingredients so that they can be enjoyed fully without having to cook on New Years day.  The most popular of these traditions, osechi-ryori, is a staple in Japanese households for both it's presentation and it's historical significance.  These meals are often prepared in elegant bento boxes called jubako and filled with various delicacies like kuro-mame (black beans) and kazunoko (Herring Roe).  What's more, every dish in the jubako has it's own meaning, carrying wishes such as good health , prosperity, and fertility into the new year.   
Another important staple of New Years tradition is the preparation of toshikoshi soba , or year-crossing noodles.  The noodles are traditionally made from buckwheat, a crop known to survive harsh weather conditions, and thus the noodles are believed to imbue both strength and resiliency when eaten on New Years Eve.  The thin, long noodles are are also indicative of a long healthy life, as long as you make sure you finish eating them before midnight!   

​DECORATIONS

While many of us are busy setting up flashing lights and inflatable snowmen for Christmas, many Japanese people decorate their houses with shrines and ornaments to welcome the old deities.  One of these special decorations is the kadomatsu, a wonderful arrangement of pine and bamboo shoots adorned with plum flowers and flowering kale.  Both the bamboo and the pine tree are symbolic of a long healthy life and are used to encourage the New Years Deity (Toshigami-sama) to come and bestow a bountiful harvest for the new year.  It's often customary to place two kadomatsu in front of the house, with one on each side of the door.
Much like the kadomatsu, kagami-mochi is also used to welcome deities to Japanese households.  This exquisite decoration consists of one mochi stacked on top of a larger mochi, topped off with a leaf and a daidai Japanese orange.  Some kagami-mochi are further adorned with dried kelp and decorative paper.  It's name translates to “mirror rice cake” and originates from it's resemblance to old-fashioned round copper mirrors from ancient Japan.  The stacking of the mochi represents the passing from the current year to the New Year and the daidai orange is symbolic of the continuity of generations and familial bonds. Unlike the kadomatsu however, it is recommended to place kagami-mochi in several different parts of the house such as the kitchen, living room, and fireplace, so that many deities can be welcomed to the household.   

ACTIVITIES


​Finally, there's plenty of things to do closely approaching the start of the New Year.  One of the most important traditions that occurs an hour before New Years Day is the ringing of the bell in a Buddhist Temple.  The bell is rung a total of 108 times, symbolizing the purification of the 108 earthly passions and desires from Buddhist mythology (also known as the Bonnou).  The reverberations from these bells can be heard all across Japan as hundreds of temples chime in for the new year.  Once these wordly desires are rid from the body with the last tick right before midnight, the new year can start anew without the burden of last years problems.  It must be a great feeling to not have to worry about anything!  
 A very common practice for Japanese people once the New Years celebration begins is to visit a Shinto shrine or Buddhist Temple. Known as hatsumode, hundreds of thousands of people travel to these shrines and temples to pray for the new year and purchase good luck charms (omamori) and written oracles (omikuji) that predict your future.  Because of this, the lines for these visits are very, very long, so it's important to arrive early!

Of course this is only a glimpse into the bountiful history that Japan has to offer through New Years traditions.  Many traditions are region-specific, bringing in their own flavor of customs and practices that can't be seen anywhere else.  The coming of the New Year is an important time of reflection all across the world, and looking past the problems and desires that chained us to this year allows us to look forward to a bright and prosperous future.  What family traditions do you have planned this New Years Day?
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Minoru Yasui: Japanese American Fighter

7/20/2017

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          Today, we often take advantage of social media and the traction it can gain when unjust events occur.  However, social media is an extremely new development.  And during the 1940's incarceration of Japanese Americans,  many notable court cases emerged trying to stand against the deliberate abuse of Executive Order 9066 and the restrictions placed in response.  Minoru Yasui was one of the many brave Japanese Americans who stood tall against the US government.
          Minoru Yasui was born of two immigrant parents in Hood River, Oregon on October 19, 1916. Growing up, he attended public school and continued his education at the University of Oregon to become the first Japanese American lawyer admitted to the Oregon Bar.  In 1940, Yasui was appointed Consular Attache for the Japanese Consulate in Chicago.  However, on December 8, 1941 (one day after Pearl Harbor), Minoru promptly resigned from his position to report back to Oregon for active military duty.  But he was turned away soley because of his ancestry.
          Upon his return to Oregon, he was not greeted with open arms; instead he faced severe racial discrimination.  Minoru Yasui wanted to guarantee lawful representation for people facing his similar experiences; so, he opened his own practice in Portland, Oregon to help other Americans of Japanese Ancestry to navigate the law.  Soon after Executive Order 9066 was passed by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's signature, it opened the door for a looser interpretation of how military officials could 'protect' America.  In many places along the West Coast, it meant orchestrating a strict curfew for people of Japanese descent.  Angered by this proclamation, Minoru decided it best to test its constitutionality and intentionally stayed out late in order to initiate a test case.
          By late 1943, Minoru Yasui appealed his case (famously titled, Minoru Yasui v. United States)
 all the way to the Supreme Court of the United States, where Chief Justice Stone delivered the decision that remained for forty years.  In Stone's report, he stated the curfew implemented was constitutional because it was in defense of the United States and went with the assumption Yasui gave up his citizenship when he chose to work for the Japanese Consulate.  With his guilty verdict still intact, Minoru was then sentenced to one year in Multnomah County Jail in Oregon, where he spent nine months in solitary confinement.  When his one-year sentence was done, he was still not freed; rather, he was moved to Minidoka Concentration Camp in Idaho.  At least there, he wasn't thrown into solitary and was allowed to socialize within the comfort of his new barbed wire fence home. 
          In the Summer of 1944, Minoru Yasui was released from Minidoka to work at a Chicago ice plant.  Even after the release of over a hundred thousand Japanese Americans from the concentration camps, Minoru Yasui remained extremely involved in many Japanese American community-based activities both in Denver and nationally.  He fought his way to get bared in Colorado despite getting denied because of his earlier conviction, helped as many Japanese Americans as possible who suffered economic losses from being incarcerated, and became a lobbyist to end the citizenship restrictions on Isseis immigrating from Japan.  Yasui became an extremely influential and inspirational figure within the Japanese American community, getting awarded many times for his dedication through social reform.
          However, all the while, Minoru had the conviction looming over his head.  In 1983, forty year later, Minoru's lead lawyer, Peggy Nagae, filed a writ of error coram nobis in the hopes to re-open his Oregon case, based on forged evidence.  The hope was to find the curfew proclamation unconstitutional, and therefore Minoru Yasai would be vacated of his conviction.  It was a success.  Finally, after forty years, Minoru Yasui was able to live the rest of his life without the 'convict' label.          
          Minoru Yasui was an incredible man who not only fought to clear his own name, but also worked his entire life to better the lives of those affected by Executive Order 9066.  As members of the Japanese American community, a community Minoru Yasui was so passionate about, we need to make sure we preserve its history and integrity for decades to come.
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May 5th is Kodomo No Hi!

5/5/2017

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Nicole Sato, GVJCI Program Coordinator 

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May 5th is...?
If you said Cinco De Mayo, okay, okay, you're not wrong, but we wanted Kodomo No Hi! as the answer. 
That's right. Every May 5th is Kodomo No Hi in Japan! What's Kodomo No Hi? It directly translates to: Kodomo (子供): Child(ren) No(の): 's  Hi(日): Day. Yup, it's a day to celebrate children's health and happiness as well as thanking and celebrating mothers 🤰

Maybe you're like, "Wait. I thought today was Boy's Day???" Well, you're right and wrong. Boy's Day or Tango (that's with a short A not the long A like the smooth South American dance you all like 💃) No Sekku (丹後の節句) was officially changed into a Japanese holiday since 1948, when it became Children's Day. Boys are still celebrated though, as the means of celebrating (the koinobori, kabuto, etc) is still in tradition. Read on to find out! 

Feel like celebrating yet? Good! We'll talk about some things to get your Kodomo No Hi celebrations on the road! 

Koinobori ​🎏

If you've ever been to Japan this time around, you might have seen these huuuuuuuge fish kite looking things flying around town. These are "koinobori" which yes, is koi, or carp! Carps are known and often depicted as going upstream through a river or waterfall (and one of the few fish that can) and according to Chinese legends (where the tradition of Kodomo No Hi actually originated from), once the carp reaches the top of the waterfall, they become dragons 🐉! Koinoboris are now used to symbolize both family (if you look closely, they range in size from Dad, Mom, and Child) and hopes that a child will grow up to face the currents of life. 

"But I don't have a koinobori!" you say. Well, we don't blame you. Those things are huge and expensive. But some local supermarkets do carry smaller ones that are desk size! You can also make your own! We've got just the DIY craft you can do! 
While you're in a craft mood, try making a kabuto hat out of newspapers to wear around!

Kashiwa Mochi VS Chimaki 


Ah, now onto the food!
If you're born and raised here, you're probably more familiar with the one on the left. That's the common Kashiwamochi, eaten on Kodomo No Hi.  
Kashiwa leaves are oak leaves! And oak leaves are known to not fall off until the new ones can sprout. People have put in the meaning of "until the child grows up, the parents will not pass" in hopes of their children growing up healthy. 
Chimaki sushi, on the right, are commonly eaten in the Kansai region and is a mochi often wrapped in bamboo or reed leaves. 
Pick some up at your local Japanese supermarket and start chewing away!
Do you celebrate Kodomo No Hi? How do you celebrate it? Did you learn something new? We hope so! 
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GVJCI Day of Remembrance 2017 Video

3/27/2017

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Couldn't come to our Day of Remembrance last month? No worries! We got the video for you, right here, so you can watch it on the go or at the comfort of your home. 
Thank you to John Powers for shooting the video as well as letting us share his work. 

Please note that Konrad Aderer's film Resistance at Tule Lake is not in the video due to copyrights.
​
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Our mission is to create a space to engage, share, and embrace the Nikkei experience and culture.

The GVJCI envisions a vibrant network and a welcoming space for all persons interested in Japanese heritage and culture where history and tradition are honored, people are inspired to create action and change, and cultural pride and respect for all humanity are promoted.




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