Hawaii Five-0 recreates Honouliuli Internment Camp

James Saito is best known 4 playing Shredder, but he was also in "Farewell to Manzanar." http://t.co/6buhx1aBnk #H50 pic.twitter.com/9RhKaJTq8D
— Hawaii Five-0 (@HawaiiFive0CBS) December 14, 2013

I'm catching up on Hawaii Five-0 and just watched James Saito's masterful performance in Ho'onani Makuakane, where he plays a former internee of the Honouliuli Internment Camp. I was surprised to see that the show had decided to take on this topic for the 72nd anniversary of Pearl Harbor (which was also recreated in a brief scene). Until pretty recently the camps in Hawaii were all but forgotten. I'd learned as a child that the only camps were on the mainland (and my family is from Hawaii) and didn't hear about them until my cousin sent me this article a few years ago.

After watching the episode I was looking around for information about it and stumbled across this piece by actor/director Chris Tashima (born in Cambridge by the way) originally posted to his Facebook page, complaining about Saito's casting as the elderly David Toriyama. ??? Apparently, Tashima thinks that Saito, at age 58, is far too young to be playing an elderly man. I was thinking that Saito was looking far older than I remembered him being (accomplished with old age make up), but personally I was just glad they'd cast a Japanese American actor who looks like a local (even though he didn't sound like one - someone that old would likely speak heavy pidgin). While I agree that where possible it's far better for shows to cast disabled or senior actors for those roles, I don't think that casting able-bodied or non-senior actors is the same as yellowface casting. There's nothing that makes a white actor more qualified for an Asian role so it's just insulting, but depending on how a role is written, it might be too demanding for a disabled or senior actor.

Tashima dedicated his post to senior JA actors who he presumably thought could have taken on the role. Three of them seem not to be active in TV & film:

• Jim Ishida, who according to IMDb hasn't worked since 2005
• Rodney Kageyama, who according to IMDb hasn't worked since 2008
• James Shigeta, who according to IMDb hasn't worked since 2009 (Update 2/3/16: Someone just sent me Shigeta's obituary from 2014. It seems he hadn't been working at the time this episode was filming due to a stroke. :( )

Two of them have already appeared on the show:

• Sab Shimono has appeared several times as Chin Ho's Uncle Keako
• George Takei has also appeared as one of Chin Ho's uncles (he was hilarious)

He also mentioned Hiroshi Kashiwagi, Ken Takemoto, and Michael Yama who are still working and haven't been on the show. Who knows, maybe they were approached and had scheduling conflicts.

I recently watched the extras for Star Trek: Voyager and someone talked about Ray Walston's last appearance as Boothby right before his death at age 86. There was a long walk and talk scene that they were worried he wouldn't be able to do because at that point his memory wasn't what it used to be, but they said he'd nailed it after a few takes. Unusually for a guest role, David Toriyama was the main character of the episode. He had a lot of screen time and a lot of dialogue. They filmed at multiple locations (some of which were probably quite hot) and in the studio. There was voiceover for flashback scenes. Filming days are usually quite long. The role probably would have been a big challenge for someone older than Saito. Not impossible, but it could have been a consideration. Not all seniors are as spry and active as George Takei who still jets around the globe to Star Trek conventions, acts, writes books, makes videos, and has more Facebook friends than you and everyone you know combined. None of my senior relatives get on planes anymore. It might have been harder for the show to find someone closer in age to the character who would get on a plane to Hawaii to film for a week. If they had filmed in LA, maybe they would have had more options.

Given all these factors there was probably only a very small pool of Asian American actors to pick from - smaller still if they wanted to focus on only Japanese American actors. And of course a lot of great actors have already appeared on the show making the pool even smaller. I'd certainly be interested in hearing from Hawaii Five-0's casting people about how Saito ended up in the role rather than an older actor, but I prefer to think they got the best man for the job.

Check out the episode if you have a chance. They handled most of the history poignantly with only a few over-the-top scenes.

For more on Hawaii's camps, check out director Ryan Kawamoto's The Untold Story: Internment of Japanese Americans in Hawaii (trailer). The Japanese Cultural Center of Hawai'i finally put it out on DVD. Unfortunately, the JCCH gift shop isn't online so it looks like orders have to be mailed or faxed in!

If you don't know about the Japanese American incarceration during WWII, you may find my introductory post helpful.

*****
This post has been crossposted at Discover Nikkei, a multi-lingual Nikkei online community. 

From their website: "Discover Nikkei is a community website about Nikkei identity, history and experiences. The goal of this project is to provide an inviting space for the community to share, explore, and connect with each other through diverse Nikkei experiences, culture, and history." Discover Nikkei is coordinated by the Japanese American National Museum and supported by The Nippon Foundation.

3/11 Events

I've posted some updates about the Tsunami+Sandy+Deep Water Horizon: bringing awareness after the disaster events in Dorchester, which includes a memorial on 3/11.

Kyoko Wada, a Japanese tea instructor based at MIT is also holding a 3.11 Japan Memorial Charity 2013 event at Showa Boston's Sanzashi-An Tea House on Sunday, March 3rd. I'm sorry I forgot to post about it sooner - you need to RSVP by tomorrow for one of the four sittings. A $20 donation is suggested. Donations will benefit Bright Green Ribbon.

If you know of any other 3/11 events, please leave a comment. I find it frustrating that we don't have a central clearinghouse for Japanese-themed events in Boston. I just found out that I missed an interesting talk back in January about the only Japanese Temple Bell in the United States in the Back Bay Fens. It looks like they also had the talk last year so perhaps they'll do it again next year.

Update 2/26/13:

Bon-sho @ Byodo-In Temple, Kaneohe, Hawaii

Tonight I suddenly remembered that I'd seen a bon-sho (Byodo-In's website defines it as "sacred bell") in Hawaii a couple of years ago. I'm not sure if their bell is considered a different type from the one in the Fens, but it was made in Osaka, so it was incorrect of me to say that the Fens bell is the only Japanese temple bell in the United States. The Byodo-In bell was made specifically for them, so the Fens bell may well be the only Japanese temple bell in the US that used to be in use in Japan.

Byodo-In is gorgeous. I'd recommend stopping by if you're ever on Oahu. You'd almost think you were in Japan except for the local flora & fauna.

Senator Dan Inouye passes away; final word is "Aloha"

I was just looking at the ima magazine Twitter feed and learned the sad news that Senator Dan Inouye of Hawaii passed away yesterday. The Honolulu Star Advertiser reports that he died of a respiratory ailment.

Unlike most Japanese Americans in the United States, Senator Inouye was able to escape incarceration during WWII because he was living in Hawaii, where very few Japanese Americans were taken away. Instead, he enlisted and was assigned to the 442nd Regimental Combat Unit, comprised mostly of nisei from Hawaii and some nisei who left camps on the mainland. Their motto was "Go for broke," a pidgin English phrase meaning to bet it all and win or lose big. 

Per the White House, Senator Inouye was the "second-longest serving Senator in the history of the chamber." When I was growing up in the 80s, Senator Inouye was one of the few famous Japanese Americans I could look up. After Mark Takano takes office next year, there will be just five Japanese Americans in Congress. This is a great loss for Hawaii, and really a great loss for America.

Aloha, Dan.

"Go For Broke: 442nd Combat Team Song" music & lyrics written by Pfc. Harry Kamada

Jake Shimabukuro's beautiful tribute also titled "Go For Broke," 

"In honor of the Americans of Japanese ancestry (AJA) soldiers who fought and sacrificed their lives in World War II, Jake Shimabukuro released “Go For Broke,” a heartfelt tribute to the men of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, 100th Infantry Battalion, the 1399th Engineering Construction Battalion, and the Military Intelligence Service (MIS)."

"What you see in the mirror, and what you are can be two different images."

Transgender fortune

On Saturday I had dinner at a Taiwanese restaurant where I received the above fortune. I had spent the evening chatting with my friend's friend who works at Keshet (Hebrew for rainbow), a Jewish LGBT advocacy group that works to ensure that Jewish LGBT people are included in all aspects of Jewish life. He reminded me that Sunday was Transgender Day of Remembrance, a day to memorialize transgender people who have been murdered because of prejudice.

I'm a little late to the party as Transgender Awareness Week was last week, but after thinking about this for several days, I decided to post. On Saturday I'd come across this extremely moving story from Korean American adoptee Andy Marra talking about her experience meeting her birth mother, coming out as transgender, and gaining the courage to complete her transition. (Get your tissues before you read it.) Reading her story made me realize that I'd never read a story written by an Asian transgender person before and it got me wondering if there were any famous Japanese American transgender people. A quick search for "Japanese American transgender" turns up very little. I tried a few other variations without any luck. 

My search results reminded me about Kim Coco Iwamoto, a member of Hawaii's Board of Education. Kim was recently featured in The Huffington Post's list of The Most Influential LGBT Asian Icons at #2, along with 1 lesbian and 5 gay Japanese Americans. I'd first been introduced to Kim via Equality Hawaii's excellent forum No Shame! Talking About the Gay/Lesbian/Transgender Japanese American Experience In Hawaii (Part 1 & Part 2 of the panel are available, but sadly the keynote from George Takei isn't!).

The only other Japanese American of note I found was Marsha Aizumi, mother of a transgender son, Aiden. Marsha authored the book Two Spirits, One Heart, about her journey accepting that her daughter was actually her son and becoming an advocate for LGBT youth. She's an inductee to the API Family Pride Wall of Pride, a project honoring supportive Asian families of LGBT people and exhibiting their profiles. Part of the Wall of Pride was recently exhibited in Boston at The Meeting Point in Jamaica Plain, thanks to QAPA, the nation's oldest queer Asian organization. API Family Pride is the only support organization for Asian families of LGBT people in the US.

As far as I can tell, Kim, Marsha, and Aiden are the only three somewhat well-known transgender-related Japanese Americans.

Something else that turned up in my search was The Visibility Project, spearheaded by two Japanese Americans, Mia Nakano and Shawn Tamaribuchi. They travel the US taking portraits & shooting video of "Queer Asian American Women, Gender non-conforming, and Trans[gender] people," to bring "more presence and representation to our community through powerful imagery." It seems that this year they also started including parents. Marsha Aizumi is currently the only parent of an LGBTQ API. Their tags and labeling aren't consistent, so it's not easy to find the Japanese Americans, but they do have a few portraits of genderqueer Japanese Americans. You can find them by looking through the gallery of participants.

Growing up during the 80s, at some point I learned to be afraid of men who wear women's clothing (I should note that people who cross-dress and perform in drag are not necessarily transgender). I have no idea when this notion was introduced to me, but it took root and festered. I'm still unlearning many years of prejudice, so I don't feel qualified to write a treatise on what it means to be transgender, but I wanted to highlight a topic that's rarely discussed in the Japanese American community. 

Something that's been incredibly helpful in changing my understanding of what it means to be transgender and genderqueer is the increasing number of articles profiling families with young children struggling with gender identity. Boston's Children's Hospital has a Gender Management Service Clinic (GeMS), "one of the few of its kind in the world." I never knew that this was something that most transgender people know and try to express from a very young age. Most of the articles feature only white families, so I was surprised to find that this New York Times Magazine piece, "What's So Bad About a Boy Who Wants to Wear a Dress?" features an interview with Moriko, the mother of a boy struggling with his gender identity, who I assume is Japanese.

For further reading, I recommend the following resources. 

• MTPC (Massachuesetts Transgender Political Coalition): Transgender 101
• ISNA (Intersex Society of North America): What's the difference between being transgender or transsexual and having an intersex condition?
• APA (American Psychological Association): Answers to your Questions About Transgender People, Gender Identity, and Gender Expression
• Asian & Pacific Islander Wellness Center: Issues of Transgendered Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders
• National Center for Transgender Equality: Injustice at Every Turn: A Look at Asian American, South Asian, Southeast Asian, and Pacific Islander Respondents in the National Transgender Discrimination Survey [pdf]

Mazie Hirono and Mark Takano make history

Japanese Americans Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) and Mark Takano (D-California) made history in yesterday's elections.

Hirono is making history on multiple fronts:

• Hawaii's first female senator.
• First Japanese American female senator.
• First Asian American female senator.
• First person born in Japan (or anywhere in Asia) to be elected to the Senate.  She is also the first foreign-born Asian woman to be elected to the House of Representatives.
• First Buddhist senator. She is also one of two Buddhists who were the first to be elected to the House of Representatives.

Takano is making history as the first openly LGBT Japanese American, Asian American, and person of color to win a Congressional seat. He was one of eight LGBT candidates running for Congress this year. Of the 8, 6 have won and 1 is too close to call 7 won. Two other LGBT candidates also made history: Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisconsin), as the first openly gay person to be elected to the Senate, and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Arizona), as the first openly bisexual member of Congress. Takano was recently featured in The Huffington Post's list of The Most Influential LGBT Asian Icons at #38.

Hirono and Takano join four other Japanese Americans in Congress. Omedetō gozaimasu!

List of Japanese American Senators and Representatives:

• Rep. Colleen Hanabusa (D-Hawaii) | Official Site | Wikipedia 
• Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) | Official Site | Wikipedia
• Rep. Mike Honda (D-California) | Official Site | Wikipedia
• Sen. Dan Inouye (D-Hawaii) | Wikipedia
• Rep. Doris Matsui (D-California) | Official Site | Wikipedia
• Rep. Mark Takano (D-California) | Official Site | Wikipedia

Update 12/18/12: Sen. Dan Inouye passed away yesterday. Gov. Neil Abercrombie will appoint a successor who will serve until 2014, at which time they'll have an election for someone to fill the remainder of Sen. Inouye's term (until 2016). Sen. Inouye wanted Rep. Colleen Hanabusa to succeed him.