Day of Rembrance

Click Here to register for 2/26 Live Virtual Program

Day of Remembrance Program Keynote Speaker

Delphine Hirasuna, Author, The Art of Gaman

Prior to starting her own business in 1985, Delphine served as corporate publications manager at Potlatch Corporation, where she produced the company’s award-winning annual report and corporate magazine. Previously, she spent ten years at Transamerica Corporation and its subsidiary, Transamerica Airlines, producing their publications. Her early career began in financial public relations and journalism, working for Ruder & Finn, the San Francisco Chronicle Features Syndicate and the Lodi News-Sentinel. In addition to her corporate assignments, she is the editor of @Issue: Journal of Business and Design, which she co-founded with designer Kit Hinrichs in 2004. Delphine also has co-authored several books on design and other subjects, including TypeWise and Long May She Wave with Kit Hinrichs. Her book, The Art of Gaman, on the arts and crafts of the Japanese American internment camps during World War II, was turned into a international traveling exhibition, with Delphine as organizer and curator. To date, her show has been mounted in seven U.S. museums, including the Smithsonian American Art Museum Renwick Gallery and the International Folk Art Museum of Santa Fe. NHK Broadcasting sponsored a five-city tour of the exhibition in Japan in 2013. For more than 25 years, Delphine also wrote a weekly feature column for the two largest Japanese American newspapers in the U.S. and co-authored a top-selling Japanese cookbook, Flavors of Japan. In 2002, she was named a laureate of the San Francisco Public Library.

Day of Remembrance Program Speakers

Amy Uyeki, Associate Producer, Searchlight Serenade

Amy Uyeki is a multi-media artist who has worked in woodcuts, pastels and most recently animation. Her black and white animation was featured in a PBS hour documentary, "Searchlight Serenade: Big Bands in the WWII Japanese American Incarceration Camps" in which she served as co-producer. She has received several grants and awards for her work including a California Arts Council Visual Arts Fellowship, the Victor Jacoby Artists Grant from the Humboldt Area Foundation, and the New Langton Arts Award among others. Amy lives in Bayside, California.

Shirley Muramoto Wong, Director, Hidden Legacy: Japanese Traditional Performing Arts in the World War II Internment Camps

Shirley Kazuyo Muramoto was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, a fourth generation American of Japanese descent. In 1976, Shirley received her “Shihan” degree (instructor’s license) with “Yushusho” (highest) honors from the Chikushi School in Fukuoka, Japan, and her “Dai Shihan” Master’s degree from the same school in 2000 for her mastery and dedication to the koto.

For many years, Shirley has had an interest in researching Japanese traditional arts in the World War II concentration camps. Shirley’s mother learned to play the koto as a 10-year-old child at Topaz and Tule Lake camps. Shirley wondered if others had similar experiences in these camps being exposed to and learning cultural arts. This research took so long to gather because survivors of these camps were understandably hesitant to talk about their experiences, and more so about anything Japanese practiced in the camps. These arts helped those incarcerated to be resilient and survive. In 2012, a National Park Service, Japanese American Confinement Sites grant was awarded to her project, “Hidden Legacy: Japanese Traditional Performing Arts in the World War II Internment Camps”. This project turned her decades-long research into a documentary film, completed in June 2014. Hidden Legacy has been shown nationally on public TV and PBS stations, screened at numerous community showings, and at universities in Japan and Europe, as well.

Through her research, Shirley is dedicated to supporting traditional arts in the United States and throughout the world. Traditional arts are part of the American cultural fabric brought here by immigrants and becoming part of the American art scene. She continues to teach, demonstrate and perform in honor of those who came before her. In the summer of 2020, she presented a virtual series entitled “NextGen Geijutsuka: Future Stars of Japanese Arts”, featuring young up-and-coming artists who have shown dedication and commitment to keeping up the cultural arts. “I feel that each of us has a history and ancestors who came before us, and it’s important to acknowledge that and pay respect to it. It’s what makes each of us very special and unique."

COMMEMORATIVE GVJCI DOR PIN SET DONATION GIFT

Those who donate a minimum of $20 have the option of receiving a commemorative GVJCI DOR pin set (pin size is 1.25" in diameter). Each additional $20 donation qualifies for another pin set. Pin set gifts available for qualified donations received through March 11, 2022. Pins will be mailed out to donors in April. Thank you for your support!

Click Here to DONATE!

DOR WEEK SCHEDULE:

Please note that Feb. 22nd to the 25th do NOT feature live virtual events but are collections that will be shared on the GVJCI website.
Saturday, Feb. 26th is the only day which features a LIVE virtual program which takes place on Zoom from 2-4pm.

TUESDAY, Feb. 22 - Big Band Music in the Camps

WEDNESDAY, Feb. 23 - Camp Comedy Performances

THURSDAY, Feb. 24 - Japanese Cultural & Performing Arts

FRIDAY, Feb. 25 - Fine Arts & Haiku

SATURDAY, Feb. 26, 2-4PM - Live Virtual Program