Since early November 2016, a traveling exhibit of photographs then and now of the Japanese Americans who were forced into American WWII Internment camps has been at the Tucson Desert Art Museum, 7000 E. Tanque Verde Road.

“GAMBATTE! Legacy of an Enduring Spirit is the first body of work devoted to capturing the past and the present of Executive Order 9066 through photographs and oral histories. Through the juxtaposition of historic images and contemporary portraits of the same individuals or their descendants, Paul Kitagaki Jr. takes us on a visual exploration of the Japanese concept of Gambatte, or triumph over adversity.”

photo courtesy of Shelly Black

Recently two reviews of this Gambatte! exhibit were published:

Sansei Brandon Shimoda (whose grandfather was interned in a Dept. of Justice camp) wrote a review on 4/1/17 entitled: “I am an American: the Photographic Legacy of the Japanese American Incarceration” in an online New York arts magazine Hyperallergic. Here’s the link: https://hyperallergic.com/367939/i-am-an-american-the-photographic-legacy-of-japanese-american-incarceration/

In the Tucson Weekly newspaper, 3/30/17 issue, page 18 was published a review by Margaret Regan entitled “Justice Denied”: http://www.tucsonweekly.com/tucson/justice-denied/Content?oid=8237101

I also published a reminder of the TDART exhibits (with some photos) and linked these reviews in my blogsite at Blog for Arizona:

Last month at TDART for WWII Japanese American internment camp exhibits

Read both reviews, and don’t miss this photo exhibit (plus two others on the internment camp experience) before it closes on April 30, 2017. Hours are Wed. to Sunday, 10 to 4 p.m. Particularly moving is the “Art of Circumstance: Art & Artifacts Created by Japanese Americans incarcerated during  WWII” exhibit with poetry, watercolors and other artifacts (i.e. lovely wooden carved bird pins) from the camps.

More info: http://www.tucsondart.org/

Chasing Japan is a blog about two guys and their dream of living and working in Japan.

“A lifestyle blog of sorts, we want to share our love of Japanese culture with the world, and how that love fuels our desire to build our very own business in Japan.

From a variety of Japanese pop culture topics, photography blurbs, and tips on how to balance work and life, we hope you find our posts entertaining and useful in some way.

So welcome to the adventure. We’d love for you to join us!”

Louis Rivera and Nick Burkhalter are the “two guys”.  Louis has studied the Japanese language, and was the MC for the Tucson Japanese Festival on Jan. 14, 2017 at PCC Downtown. Nick claims to have his “head in the clouds, heart in Japan”, as he is married to a Japanese woman, and has traveled to Japan three times.

Cherry Blossom Festival at Japanese Friendship Garden in San Diego, courtesy of Chasing Japan

Website: www.chasingjapan.org.  Recent blog articles  posted on Chasing Japan have been about visits to the Japanese American National Museum (Los Angeles, CA), the 12th Annual Cherry Blossom Festival (San Diego, CA),  Inaugural Otaku Festival (Tucson, AZ) and the 2017 Annual Arizona Matsuri (Phoenix, AZ).  Stay tuned for more as Louis and Nick travel, take photographs, and enjoy Japanese culture.

Louis also has an ongoing photo exhibit “Japan by Night” with color photographs taken during a visit to Japan in 2016, at Yume Japanese Gardens of Tucson.  Exhibit ends on March 28, 2017. Read more at our front page article of Feb. 14, 2017.

L to R: Louis, plus Cosplay characters at Tucson Otaku Festival, courtesy of Chasing Japan. Cosplay characters are  Franken Stein, a Survey Corps member, & Hatsune Miku in back.

New Trends in Transnational Japanese Children’s Books

This article is re-published with permission from Junko Sakoi, multicultural integration coordinator at Tucson Unified School District.