Pan Asian Repertory Theatre presents the world premiere of My Man Kono, a play by LA-based writer and producer Philip W. Chung directed by Jeff Liu, an Artistic Producer for the Ojai Playwrights Conference.

In the heyday of silent films, Japanese émigré Toraichi Kono, in pursuit of the American Dream, becomes a loyal confidante of film star Charlie Chaplin. But at the dawn of WWII, he is swept up in anti-Japanese hysteria and accused of espionage. Conlan Ledwith portrays the silent screen star with Brian Lee Huynh as his man Kono.

“It’s a fascinating and distinctively American story about a figure from our cultural history we should know better,” writes Zachary Stewart in his review of the biographical off-Broadway production on theatermania.com.

Remembering Executive Order 9066

This Wednesday, February 19 Pan Asian Rep is celebrating the AANHPI community on AANHPI Affinity Night/Day of Remembrance. The evening is in recognition of the 83rd anniversary of Executive Order 9066, President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s directive issued February 19, 1942, authorizing the forced relocation and incarceration of more than 120,000 Japanese Americans, two-thirds of whom were U.S. citizens, in remote internment camps. Pan Asian Rep is offering a special discount to theatergoers on February 19. Enter code AANHPI at checkout for $55 tickets.

To purchase tickets, please visit panasianrep.org.

Conlan Ledwith (left) as Charlie Chaplin and Brian Lee Huynh as Toraichi Kono in *My Man Kono*. Photo: ©Russ Rowland

Performance Schedule

Tuesdays through Saturdays at 7:00 p.m.
Saturdays and Sundays at 2:30 p.m.

The run time is approximately two hours including an intermission.

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Susan McCormac 1/28/25 Susan McCormac 1/28/25

Fred Korematsu Day in Fort Lee, NJ

Honoring the civil rights activist Fred T. Korematsu

Fred Korematsu Day of Civil Liberties and the Constitution

Thursday, January 30 at 5:00 p.m.

Fort Lee Municipal Building – 309 Main Street, Fort Lee, NJ 07024

Admission: Free

The Borough of Fort Lee and New Jersey AAPI Commissioner Tak Furumoto celebrate Fred Korematsu Day of Civil Liberties and the Constitution. The event honors the legacy of Fred Korematsu, a U.S. civil rights hero who had the courage to stand up for what is right during World War II. January 30 would have been Korematsu’s 106th birthday.

About Fred Korematsu

In 1942, 23-year-old California native Fred Korematsu refused to enter the concentration camps established for the mass incarceration of more than 120,000 Japanese Americans and Japanese nationals living on the West Coast, citing the directive as unconstitutional. After his arrest for defying government orders, he took his case all the way to the Supreme Court – and lost. In 1944, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against Korematsu, claiming that the incarceration was justified by “military necessity.” However, nearly forty years later, researchers uncovered evidence revealing there were no acts of treason by Japanese Americans to justify their internment. This discovery of government misconduct led to the reopening of Korematsu’s case. On November 10, 1983, a federal court in San Francisco overturned Korematsu’s conviction, marking a significant moment in the fight for civil rights.

Korematsu dedicated his life to activism, becoming a symbol of resilience and justice. In 1998, President Bill Clinton awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the United States, recognizing his tireless efforts to defend the civil liberties of all Americans. Learn more about him at the Korematsu Institute’s website.

Establishing Fred T. Korematsu Day

In 2010, when then California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed the legislative bill recognizing January 30 as the Fred T. Korematsu Day of Civil Liberties and the Constitution, it became the first statewide day in U.S. history named after an Asian American. Following California’s lead, seven other states officially recognize the observance in perpetuity: Arizona, Florida, Hawaii, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, and Virginia. Other states, including Georgia, Illinois, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Utah recognize Fred T. Korematsu Day by proclamation.

Tak Furumoto, who was born in Tule Lake War Relocation Center, one of the Japanese American incarceration camps, was instrumental in New Jersey’s adoption of Fred T. Korematsu Day in 2023. Raised in his parents' native Hiroshima after the atomic bombing, Furumoto returned to the U.S. to attend college and eventually served our country in Vietnam War. Furumoto and his wife, Carolyn, have run Furumoto Realty for more than 50 years and have dedicated their lives to the betterment of the Japanese American community in both New Jersey and New York.

Fred T. Korematsu Day in New York City

New York State, under the guidance of State Senator Shelley Mayer, passed a bill recognizing Fred T. Korematsu Day last year, but New York City first observed this day in 2018 after City Council unanimously passing Resolution 792, proposed by then Councilmember Daniel Dromm, on December 19, 2017. The day serves not only to honor Korematsu’s brave act to fight injustice, but also to educate the public in the hopes that the history of mass incarceration, prompted by wartime hysteria, will never be repeated.

Susan McCormac 1/14/25 Susan McCormac 1/14/25

Miné Okubo’s Portraits at SEIZAN Gallery NYC

Miné Okubo, Untitled, 1940s from SEIZAN Gallery

Miné Okubo: Portraits

Now through Saturday, March 1

SEIZAN Gallery – 525 W. 26th Street (between 10th and 11th Avenues), Ground Floor

Admission: Free

SEIZAN Gallery is presenting Miné Okubo: Portraits, the gallery's first solo exhibition featuring work by one of the most influential Japanese American artists of the 20th Century. Until March 1, 2025, works by Okubo will be on public display, some for the first time, including eleven portraits completed in the late 1940s. Okubo achieved early success as an artist and continued to be extraordinarily prolific throughout her life until her death in 2001. She is most renowned for Citizen 13660, a groundbreaking memoir that combines visual art and narrative to record her experience living in Japanese American internment camps during World War II.

About Miné Okubo

Born in Riverside, California, in 1912, Miné Okubo was a nisei, or second-generation Japanese American. After earning an MFA in art and anthropology from the University of California, Berkeley, she was awarded the prestigious Bertha Taussig Fellowship to study in Paris under Fernand Léger. When World War II broke out, Okubo returned to the United States in 1939 on the last ship from Europe. Back in California, she contributed to mural projects under the Federal Art Project and curated exhibitions.

From 1942 to 1944, Okubo was detained at the Tanforan Relocation Center in San Bruno, California, and at the Topaz Internment Camp in Utah. While in these camps, she created more than 2,000 drawings using charcoal, watercolor, pen, and ink. During this time she taught art to others in the incarcerated population, alongside Chiura Obata and other notable artists. Published in 1946, Citizen 13660 includes nearly 200 illustrations documenting daily life in the camps. It received the American Book Award in 1984.

Miné Okubo, *Untitled*, 1940s from SEIZAN Gallery

Life and Work in New York City

After her release from Topaz in 1944, Okubo relocated to New York City, where she went on to have a successful career as a commercial illustrator for prestigious publications such as The New York Times, LIFE, and Fortune while continuing her painting practice. Her debut assignment was illustrating the magazine's April 1944 "Japan" issue. Portraits—especially of women and children—remained a central focus of her work. In "Personal Statement" she wrote "From the beginning, my work has been rooted in a concern for the humanities."

The eleven portraits featured in this exhibition were created in the late 1940s, just a few years after Okubo’s release from the camps. These bold, powerful works share stylistic connections with her earlier charcoal drawings from the internment period, which are also displayed in the gallery. While her camp drawings often convey the despair and trauma of the incarcerated, the later portraits—rendered in colorful pastel—capture energy, strength, and compassion. The anonymous figures exude vitality and humanity, celebrating everyday life and signal an early transition to Okubo's iconic, color-rich style.

Recognition and Legacy

Her contributions have been recognized in numerous ways. In 1965, CBS-TV featured her in the documentary Nisei: The Pride and the Shame. In 1972, her first retrospective was held at the Oakland Museum. In 1981, Okubo testified before the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians (CWRIC), advocating for the inclusion of internment history in educational curricula.

Okubo’s works are now archived at the Center for Social Justice & Civil Liberties at Riverside Community College District and featured in prominent museum collections, including the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Japanese American National Museum, and the Oakland Museum. Her legacy endures in exhibitions like The View from Within curated by Karin Higa in 1992 at the Japanese American National Museum as well as on-going group exhibition Pictures of Belonging: Miki Hayakawa, Hisako Hibi, and Miné Okubo at the Smithsonian American Art Museum curated by ShiPu Wang through August 17, 2025.

SEIZAN Gallery

Located in Chelsea, SEIZAN’s hours are Tuesday through Saturday from 11:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m. and Sunday and Monday by appointment. For more information, please visit SEIZAN Gallery’s website.

Charlie Chaplin’s Confidante in spotlight off-broadway

My Man Kono