The Japanese American Association of New York (JAA) and the Japanese American Citizens League – New York (JACL-NY) present a screening of Baseball Behind Barbed Wire, a short film by Yuriko Gamo Romer. The documentary tells the story of the World War II incarceration of Japanese Americans through the uncommon lens of baseball, America’s national pastime. Following the screening, author and historian Robert K. Fitts and yours truly, Susan Miyagi McCormac of JapanCulture•NYC, will lead a discussion about the film and the importance of baseball throughout Japanese American history and within the JA community. There will also be a book signing by Fitts.

Registration is required. To RSVP, please click here and fill out this Google doc.

About Robert K. Fitts

A former archaeologist with a Ph.D. from Brown University, Robert K. Fitts left academics behind to follow his passion — Japanese baseball. An award-winning author and speaker, his articles have appeared numerous journals, magazines, and websites. He is also the author of ten books on Japanese baseball and Japanese baseball cards. Fitts is the founder of SABR’s Asian Baseball Committee and a recipient of the society’s 2013 Seymour Medal for the Best Baseball Book of 2012 (Banzai Babe Ruth); the 2019 and 2023 McFarland-SABR Baseball Research Awards; the 2012 Doug Pappas Award for the best oral research presentation at the annual convention; and the 2006, 2021, 2023 and 2024 SABR Research Awards. He has twice been a finalist for the Casey Award and has received two silver medals at the Independent Publisher Book Awards. While living in Tokyo in 1993-94, Fitts began collecting Japanese baseball cards and now runs Robs Japanese Cards LLC. https://www.robfitts.com/

About Susan Miyagi McCormac

Susan Miyagi McCormac is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of JapanCulture•NYC, an English-language website that introduces Japanese culture to New Yorkers and connects members of the Japanese and Japanese American community while promoting Japanese-related events. A 1990 graduate of North Carolina with a degree in communications, she has also had a long career in sports television, which has taken her to Tokyo to work Yankees games as well as the World Baseball Classic. Her career in baseball merged with her community involvement when the Japanese Consulate tapped her to moderate a panel discussion celebrating the 150th anniversary of baseball’s introduction to Japan, which featured Yomiuri Giants and New York Yankees legend Hideki Matsui. Susan is a Vice President of The Japanese American Association of New York, serves on the Board of Directors of the JET Alumni Association of New York, and is the co-chair of the Communications Committee of the U.S.-Japan Council’s New York Region. https://www.japanculture-nyc.com/

About Yuriko Gamo Romer

Yuriko Gamo Romer is an award-winning director based in San Francisco. She holds a master’s degree in documentary filmmaking from Stanford University and is a Student Academy Award winner, National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Scholar, and American Association of Japanese University Women Scholar. Her current documentary project, DIAMOND DIPLOMACY, explores the relationship between the United States and Japan through a shared love of baseball.

She directed and produced MRS JUDO: Be Strong, Be Gentle, Be BeautifulI, the only biographical documentary about Keiko Fukuda (1913-2013), the first woman to attain the 10th degree black belt in judo. MRS JUDO has traveled to more than 25 film festivals internationally and was awarded the Grand Jury Award for Best Documentary at the 2013 International Festival of Sport Films in Moscow and broadcast on PBS nationally as part of CAAM’s Japanese American Lives in 2014. Additionally, her film Occidental Encounters won numerous awards, among them a Student Academy Award Gold Medal, Heartland FF’s Jimmy Stewart Memorial Crystal Heart Award, and National Media Network’s Silver Apple. Romer’s short films include Reflection; Kids will be Kids; Sunnyside of the Slope; Fusion; and Friend Ships, a short historical animation about John Manjiro, the inadvertent Japanese immigrant rescued by an American whaling captain. https://www.flyingcarp.net/

Baseball Behind Barbed Wire is available through GOOD DOCS.

Support JapanCulture•NYC by becoming a member! For $5 a month, you’ll help maintain the high quality of our site while we continue to showcase and promote the activities of our vibrant community. Please click here to begin your membership today!

Susan McCormac 8/29/24 Susan McCormac 8/29/24

TOMODACHI NIGHT AT CITI FIELD

Tomodachi Night – Boston Red Sox vs New York Mets

Tuesday, September 3
Pregame Events: 6:40 p.m. — Game: 7:10 p.m.

Citi Field — Flushing, Queens

Admission: $28 to $91.25

Enjoy a special Tomodachi Night as the New York Mets host Masataka Yoshida and the Boston Red Sox in an Interleague matchup. Extend your Labor Day Weekend with baseball!

Special pregame events include

Ceremonial First Pitch by Koji Sato, President of JAANY
Amazin’ Awards to be presented to leaders of Japanese American community organizations
Unforgettable opportunity for 500 members of our community to stand on the warning track at Citi Field to watch the national anthem.* Be sure to wear red and white!

Please purchase tickets through this link: https://fevo-enterprise.com/event/tomodachi

A portion of ticket sales will be donated to The Japanese American Association of New York, the Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry, The Nippon Club, Japan Society, U.S.-Japan Council, and the Japanese American National Museum.

*Please note that you MUST purchase tickets using the special online link that the Mets have created specifically for this game in order to be invited onto the field for the pregame festivities. Approximately one week before the game, you will receive an email with instructions about where and at what time to assemble. This privilege is first come, first served and limited to 500 fans, so please arrive early!

Warning Track Salute Timeline*

Meet up time: 6:00 p.m.
Meet up location: Left Field Ramp (right inside Left Field Gate)
Begin lining up at the ramp: 6:15 p.m.
Line closed: around 6:30 p.m. depending on the size
Arrive at the Warning Track: between approximately 6:45 to 7:00 p.m.
Exit by the staircase to Section 135 after the anthem

*weather permitting

Amazin’ Awards

JAA — Julie Azuma
JCCI — Maasaki Maeda
USJC — Susan McCormac (I’m honored to represent the New York region of the U.S.-Japan Council!)
JANM — Kathryn Bannai

Susan McCormac 4/19/24 Susan McCormac 4/19/24

JAA’s Sakura Matsuri in Queens

JAA 19th Sakura Matsuri

Saturday, April 20 from 11:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m.

Flushing Meadows Corona Park

Admission: Free

The Japanese American Association will hold its 19th Sakura Matsuri at Flushing Meadows Corona Park on Saturday, April 20. The program begins at 11:00 a.m. rain or shine and features performances by taiko drumming group Soh Daiko, the Japanese Folk Dance Institute of New York, the JAA Chorus with Japan Choral Harmony “TOMO,” and the New York Okinawa Club & Jimpu-Kai New York. In addition, there will be a tea ceremony on the lawn by the Urasenke Tea Ceremony Society. Yours truly is honored to serve as emcee.

Bring a blanket and a bento and enjoy the cherry blossoms!

For more information, please visit JAA’s website.

Cherry trees planted by the Parks Department for JAA in Flushing Meadows Corona Park

JAA’s Honorees

This year a cherry tree will be planted in honor of the late Dr. George and Mrs. Kazuko Nagamatsu for their years of generous support of JAA. Dr. Nagamatsu was a pioneering urologist and engineer who was the first Nisei (second-generation Japanese American) to be named Chairman of Urology at a major U.S. medical school when he took the position at New York Medical College in 1957. As a recipient of JAA’s Project Bento initiative during the COVID-19 pandemic, Mrs. Nagamatsu felt a closeness with the organization and named JAA one of the beneficiaries in her will when she passed away in 2021.

The History of JAA’s Sakura Trees

Symbolizing the friendship between Japan and the U.S., in 1912 Japan gave a gift of sakura trees the Washington, D.C., as well as 2,000 sakura trees to New York City, thirteen of which were planted in Claremont Park, now Sakura Park. JAA’s “21st Century New York Cherry Blossom Project” began on Arbor Day, April 24, 1992, at City Hall Park. Sakura seeds donated by The Cherry Association of Japan were presented by then JAA President Shigeru Inagaki to Betsy Gotbaum, then Commissioner of New York Parks. The seeds were nursed in the greenhouses of Van Cortlandt Park, and JAA volunteers planted 168 trees in a design created by the noted landscape artist Kan Domoto with George Yuzawa in 2001. Working in close cooperation with the Flushing Meadows Corona Park staff, JAA has donated and planted hundreds of sakura trees.

Disclosure: The author is a Vice President of The Japanese American Association of New York, Inc. and the chair of JAA’s Sakura Matsuri committee.

Susan McCormac 4/17/23 Susan McCormac 4/17/23

JAA’s 18th Sakura Matsuri

Saturday, April 22 from 11:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m.

Flushing Meadows Corona Park

Admission: Free

The Japanese American Association will hold its 18th Sakura Matsuri at Flushing Meadows Corona Park on Saturday, April 22. The program begins at 11:00 a.m. rain or shine and features performances by taiko drumming group Soh Daiko, the Japanese Folk Dance Institute of New York, the JAA Chorus, and the New York Okinawa Club with Jimpu-Kai New York. In addition, there will be a tea ceremony on the lawn by the Urasenke Tea Ceremony Society. Yours truly is honored to serve as emcee.

Bring a blanket and a bento and enjoy the cherry blossoms! For more information, please visit JAA’s Facebook page.

The History of JAA’s Sakura Trees

The seeds were nursed in the greenhouses of Van Cortlandt Park, and JAA volunteers planted 168 trees in a design created by the noted landscape artist Kan Domoto with George Yuzawa in 2001. Working in close cooperation with the Flushing Meadows Corona Park staff, JAA has donated and planted hundreds of sakura trees.

2023 Honoree

This year a cherry tree will be planted in honor of Mr. Takeshi "Tak" Furumoto, who was born in a Japanese American internment camp during World War II, was raised in his parents' native Hiroshima after the atomic bombing, returned to the US for college, and eventually served our country in Vietnam. He has dedicated his life to the betterment of the Japanese American community, and this year he was successful in helping the state of New Jersey adopt January 30 as the Fred Korematsu Day of Civil Liberties and the Constitution.

Disclosure: The author is a Vice President of JAA and the chair of the Sakura Matsuri committee.

Melissa Avalon 3/12/14 Melissa Avalon 3/12/14

Annual Memorial Raises More than $11 Thousand for 3.11 Relief

For the third consecutive year, Fellowship for Japan presented a memorial honoring the victims of the Great East Japan Earthquake, Tsunami, and Nuclear Disaster at First Church of Christ, Scientist in the Upper West Side on Sunday, March 9.

AK Akemi Kakihara, the Executive Director of TOGETHER FOR 3.11, was just as motivated this year as she was in 2012, when she and dozens of friends organized the event to commemorate the first anniversary of the disaster.

“The people in New York are too far away from the affected areas, so they’re not able to go there very easily,” says AK, a UNIVERSAL MUSIC Japan recording artist. “But the things that we can do from New York is that together, even only once a year, we can send our prayers to the victims and also send our thoughts to the people in the affected areas to let them know we haven’t forgotten them.”

Gary Moriwaki

One person who is able to travel to Tohoku frequently is guest speaker Gary Moriwaki, Honorary President of the Japanese American Association of New York (JAA) and member of the U.S.-Japan Council. Moriwaki was in Japan when the disaster struck three years ago, and he has made several trips to the Tohoku area since, as recently as two weeks ago.

Moriwaki spoke to JapanCulture•NYC before the memorial, saying that three years after 3.11, the Japanese American community in New York is “still engaged” in what’s going on in Tohoku, even as the impact of the disaster has drifted off the radar of those living elsewhere in Japan.

JAA has been instrumental in the relief effort, raising more than $1.4 million. The members are actively involved in the projects that receive donations.

“We’ve always been focused on sustainable activities, and the money that we’ve raised is peanuts compared to what’s needed over there. So we want that money to have a long-lasting effect,” says Moriwaki, pointing out that JAA is focusing on jobs and helping businesses in Tohoku recover. By collaborating with the Kizuna Foundation, a local NGO, Moriwaki says he is seeing tangible results from the money JAA has raised.

“We went to Ofunato. It’s one of the bright spots,” says Moriwaki. “It’s a small town in Iwate. We were there two years ago, and there was a pier that had sunk about a meter, so it couldn’t be used. We contributed some seed money to build the pier back up. We went back two weeks ago, and it’s operational.”

As the months and years go by, we hope to hear more stories such as the one from Ofunato. But it is clear that there is more work to be done, which is why the Fellowship of Japan, an umbrella group for several grassroots organizations that formed in the aftermath of 3.11, continues to put on the memorial.

The solemn ceremony featured live speeches from members of New York’s Japanese community. In addition to Moriwaki, Ambassador Sumio Kusaka, Consul General of Japan in New York; Sayoko Fujita, Chairman of the New York Fukushima Kenjinkai; and Motoatsu Sakurai, President of Japan Society; delivered speeches.

There were videotaped messages from people in the affected areas, including Hayato Takizawa, a Tohoku Electric Power employee who created a guidebook, Walking Through Post-Earthquake Tohoku, to help bring back tourism; Yohei Arakawa, a city council member of Natori City in Miyagi who lost his mother and younger brother to the disaster; and the children of Minato Preschool in Soma, Fukushima, who sang a song to thank New Yorkers for our continued support.

Accordionist Shoko Nagai played a stirring arrangement of “Peace and Love,” while Iwate-born koto player Yumi Kurosawa performed her own composition. The audience of 500 stood together to sing “Furusato,” one of Japan’s most beloved songs.

AK and her fellow organizers encouraged audience members to write their thoughts on post cards, which will be sent to the people of Tohoku.

“That’s something that we can definitely continue to do no matter how far away we are,” says AK. “It’s very important to keep sending them the messages. It’s something we can do to stay connected.”

Following the ceremony Sony Music international recording star and Fuji TV personality Alex York expressed his interest in creating connections. “I haven’t been to Tohoku yet, but this has inspired me to visit,” he says, adding that he would like to perform in the affected areas in the near future.

York was happy to see an update from the children at Minato Preschool. AK first visited the school in the months following the disaster, and it was the children’s drawings that moved AK to create the Fukushima “Smile” wrapping paper and iPhone cases that were on sale at the memorial, along with other charity items from Love Japan Project and locally made products from Miyagi and Fukushima Prefectures.

Money from these sales and in the donation boxes totaled more than $11 thousand, which will go toward relief efforts through the Consulate General of Japan in New York and Japan Society’s Japan Earthquake Relief Fund. As a community, we did this TOGETHER FOR 3.11.