The way this week was set up, the majority of our meetings were at night. So, throughout the week, we spent the day working at Lotus Preschool. This week was probably the most interesting and fun week for me.
Lotus Preschool
Due to the shortened week on education, we were unable to volunteer at Lotus during Week 3. Originally we had planned to come back and work here during the last week of the internship, but we ended up here this week instead. It worked out for the better because this week, Lotus Preschool was celebrating their 25th anniversary with a reunion at the Children's Discovery Museum in downtown San Jose. We spent half of our time helping out with the kids, playing with and supervising them, and the rest of our time helping prepare for the reunion which took place on Saturday, July 29th. The reunion turned out to be a big success, with around 600 people attending. Our time at Lotus Preschool was definitely my favorite part of the internship thus far, partly because it was fun working with the kids and staff there, but also because it felt good to actually give back and do something for the community.
Fred Buzo
Due to a scheduling mishap, we were unable to meet with Councilman Sam Liccardo. Instead, we met with Councilman Liccardo's assistant, Fred Buzo, who also happened to be the Japantown liaison. Fred told us that Councilman Liccardo's office serves as a troubleshooter for the community regarding general issues or specific issues with policies. He was very complimentary of how organized San Jose's Japantown is, saying that the multiple organizations within the community work together to ensure no one is left out.
Asian Pacific Islander Justice Coalition
The APIJC is an organization created in hopes of advancing social justice issues facing the Asian Pacific Islander community. It also serves to give timely responses to issues directly affecting the community. On Monday night, Kyle and I attended the APIJC meeting held at the Issei Memorial Building. It was interesting to see how many organizations were involved in the coalition. At the meeting, they talked about what a non-profit can and cannot do politically.
Japantown Community Congress of San Jose
On Tuesday, Kyle and I went to a JCC meeting to talk about our internship and get feedback on the website we created. At the meeting, a number of topics were discussed, including the mural project that will take place at the corp yard and the unfinished bench project. We also planned out this week's intern day as it will take place in San Jose rather than SF. I found it interesting to see how much of the community was represented at the meeting.
Anne Im
On Wednesday we met with Anne Im, the Director of Community Programs and Advocacy at AACI. She talked to us about the need for social services in the Asian American community and gave us background information on the API Justice Coalition. According to Anne, the Asian American in the bay area suffers from multiple stereotypes. The model minority myth and our location in the Silicon Valley cause many to overlook the Asian American community's need for social services. Our meeting with Anne was particularly interesting to me because she told us exactly what it means to support something politically.
Helen Hayashi
Our meeting with Helen was held at Cafe Too located in the San Jose Museum of Art. Tamon and Jerry also joined us for lunch. Helen told us that she works for the San Jose Downtown Association and connects Japantown to the city through her position. She has previously worked on Norman Mineta's staff, and as such, has a great wealth of knowledge on politics. Through our conversation with Helen, I learned how important it is to make connections with the politicians who are representing you.
Intern Day
Today was the first intern day held in San Jose! We started off the day by meeting Mike Inouye at the NBC studio off of First Street. Mike is NBC11's morning traffic anchor, and when we met with him, we were able to watch him do the actual report. I had never been inside a recording studio before, so it was a really neat opportunity for me! After that, Mike gave us a tour of the studio, and some of the staff talked to us about what the technical tasks they do. We also met Rob Mayeda, the meteorologist and weekend weather reporter. Mike talked to us about his experience as a JA in the media, explaining that he has been very fortunate in the opportunities given to him.
Next, we had lunch at the IMB with Roy, the San Jose Taiko staff, and their interns. It was a good chance to mix with other interns and compare experiences.
After lunch, we headed over to Roy's Station to meet with Tamiko Rast, co-owner of Rasteroids Designs company. Tamiko has deep roots within the Japantown community, something she takes pride in and shows through service to the community. Tamiko designed the Japantown banners and website, and she said that she tries to help out in Japantown whenever she can.
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