“Your Name” film screening at APASA Heritage Month movie night on April 12

Posted on April 12, 2018 by Carolyn Classen

Asian Pacific American Student Affairs (APASA) office is at 1212 E. University Blvd, in the Nugent Bldg. on the UA Campus, on the 2nd floor.

“Take a break before finals start and watch a movie at APASA. “Your Name” will be shown with a discussion/reflection about the film after the movie. Enjoy some food and snacks while you watch!

“Your Name” (2016) is a Japanese animated romantic fantasy drama written and directed by Makoto Shinkai. The film tells the story about a high school girl in rural Japan and a high school boy in Tokyo who one day wake up and swap bodies. This strange, and random circumstance causes them to try to adjust their lives around each other and communicate through notes left behind as a connection between them unfolds.”

https://www.facebook.com/events/491325517931304/

Talk on WWII Japanese American internment camps in Arizona at Himmel library on April 11, 2018

Posted on April 6, 2018 by Carolyn Classen

UPDATE: Here is the hyperlink to Dr. Yanagihashi’s article on the camps:

JAPANESE AMERICANS INTERNMENT IN AMERICA

UPDATE: copy of Min’s article is linked above in pdf and so are links to videotapes taken by James Tokishi, of the lecture below. Over 40 people attended.

Retired East Asian Professor Dr. Min Yanagihashi has recently written an article about the two large Arizona camps at Gila River and Poston. He is a Nisei (2nd Generation) from Honolulu, Hawaii. Light refreshments will be served at this free talk at Himmel Library, 1035 N. Treat Ave. (SW corner of N. Treat Ave. and E. 1st Street, south of Speedway Blvd).

Sponsored by Southern Arizona Japanese Cultural Coalition, on which Dr. Yanagihashi is a Council member since its inception in 2012. He is pictured below speaking about the camps at the 75th anniversary of E.O. 9066 forum last Feb. 2017, at Tucson Desert Art Museum.

Videotape of the lecture Part 2 (questions/answers): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxtfUCdCkG4

L-R: Carolyn Sugiyama Classen, Prof. Min Yanagihashi (speaking) and Prof. Kathryn Nakagawa (at Feb. 2017 Japanese American internment camp talk at Tucson Desert Art Museum).

AATJ Japanese Speech Contest at PCC West on April 8, 2018

Posted on April 1, 2018 by Carolyn Classen

“Come join us for the 29th Annual Arizona Japanese Speech Contest!
The objectives of the Annual Arizona Japanese Speech Contest are to bring together Japanese language students from all over the state of Arizona to present their individually-written and memorized speeches before a panel of judges, family, and community members. Participants with a range of language ability (beginner to advanced) and from a range of institutions (high school, community college, and university) are invited to compete for prizes and participate in cultural activities.
By providing an opportunity for students to compete at a state-wide speech contest, we hope to encourage the study of the Japanese language. It is stimulating for students to see their peers from other schools working hard to achieve the same goal of Japanese language proficiency. We aim to create ties throughout our community by opening the event to the public and by soliciting sponsors among local shops, restaurants, and other business entities within and outside of Arizona. We believe that the state-wide speech contest is an ideal format for students to develop their presentational skills; furthermore, it is a great chance for students to use Japanese beyond the traditional classroom setting.”

UP-COMING SPEECH CONTEST DATES AND VENUES (2018)

The 29th Annual Arizona Japanese Speech Contest
Application Instructions (2018)

Time & Date:
12:30 to 6:00 p.m., Sunday, April 8, 2018

Place:
Center for the Arts,
Pima Community College, West Campus
2202 W. Anklam Road
Tucson, AZ 85709

Info: http://aatjaz.org/

Ikebana exhibit “Gardens in the Galleries” at Tucson Museum of Art, April 6 to 8, 2018

Posted on March 29, 2018 by Carolyn Classen

photo courtesy of Patricia Deridder

“The Tucson Museum of Art is pleased to announce a three-day special exhibition, Garden in the Galleries, presenting ikebana flower arrangements located throughout the museum’s art galleries. Ikebana, or “living flowers,” is a Japanese ancient art dating back to the 7^th century when offerings of flowers were made at altars. By the 16^th century, this art form became integrated into Buddhist and Shinto religions. Over the centuries, ikebana has grown into 1000 schools and can be practiced by anyone interested in learning the discipline. Based on strict ideas of shape, line, and form found in nature, ikebana strives for balance and harmony. Blooms, stems, and leaves each play an important role, representing heaven, earth, and humanity.

Different schools and styles of ikebana are represented in this exhibition, integrated within the permanent collection galleries. During the run of the exhibition, artists will share their knowledge of this unique art form by offering demonstrations of how to make the arrangements. Lectures related to ikebana, Japanese culture, and hands-on activities will also take place throughout the weekend.”

Opening preview party on April 6, from 6 to 9 p.m. $60 with performances by Odaiko Sonora, sushi + sake + beer.

Saturday April 7:
11:00 am – Ikebana demonstrations with Ping Wei
2:00 pm – Join Dr. Takashi Miura for a lecture about Buddhist aesthetics focusing on Japanese art and ikebana.

Sunday April 8:
All Day – art-making with TMALearn!, part of Second Sundaze: Family Day @ TMA.

Mixed media Cherry Blossoms in the Margaret E. Mooney Hall
Japanese inspired fans in the Sculpture Garden
Fish Windsocks in the Creative Space

11:00 am – Origami classes
2:00 pm – Woodworking demonstration with Patricia Reddemann

Tucson Museum of Art, 140 N. Main Ave. Open 10 to 5 p.m. Tuesdays to Sundays

www.tucsonmuseumofart.org

Samurai film series featuring Akira Kurosawa and Toshiro Mifune at the Loft Cinema in April into May

Posted on March 26, 2018 by Carolyn Classen

“One was a hardworking Renaissance man – a student of literature trained as a painter and apprenticed to director Kajiro Yamamoto before striking out on his own as a filmmaker. The other was a hard-living military veteran, a cameraman-in-training who stumbled into acting after his grizzled mug and gruff demeanor won a talent search. Together, director Akira Kurosawa and actor Toshiro Mifune created some of Japanese cinema’s most enduring treasures, films that expertly combined the joyful thrills of Saturday matinee cliffhangers with thought-provoking philosophy and the classic beauty of screen painting.

“Mifune had a kind of talent I had never encountered before in the Japanese film world.” – Akira Kurosawa

Over the course of almost two decades, their sixteen collaborations left a broad, indelible mark on world cinema, influencing modern-day tastemakers and shaping narrative genres from the spaghetti Western to the space opera. Kurosawa first took note of the handsome actor when Mifune was twenty-seven, during an open audition at Toho Studios; he was soon cast in Snow Trail (1947), a film Kurosawa wrote for director Senkichi Taniguchi. Just one year later, Kurosawa gave Mifune the lead role of a consumptive gangster in his film Drunken Angel, after which the actor proceeded to inhabit a variety of deeply felt roles for the director, all marked by Mifune’s rare combination of intense physicality and surprising tenderness. Of their many collaborations, it is the duo’s jidai-geki, or period dramas, set in feudal Japan, that popularized Japanese cinema in the West and forever linked Kurosawa and Mifune in the public imagination. From the 1950 sensation Rashomon to 1961’s Yojimbo and beyond, the pair’s samurai films, propelled by Kurosawa’s directorial genius and Mifune’s acting bravado, lit up screens around the world, until they parted ways professionally in 1965. This April (and into May), The Loft Cinema proudly presents a thrilling retrospective featuring five of the greatest samurai films of Akira Kurosawa and Toshiro Mifune!”

Schedule — every Wednesday for 5 weeks (click on our NEW Upcoming Movies link for the movie posters) at the Loft Cinema, 3233 E. Speedway Blvd. Tucson

April 4 “Rashomon”

April 11 “The Seven Samurai”

April 18 “Throne of Blood”

April 25 “The Hidden Fortress:

May 2 “Yojimbo”

Southern AZ Japanese Cultural Coalition

Japanese culture in the southern Arizona region

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