Arts
Award-winning journalist Kenji G. Taguma is the founding president of the Nichi Bei Foundation. As the Nichi Bei Times was closing in the summer of 2009, he led the movement to launch the first nonprofit ethnic community newspaper of its kind in the country. Currently, Kenji serves as the President of the Foundation, the Editor-in-Chief of the Nichi Bei Weekly, and Executive Producer of Films of Remembrance, a showcase of films related to the Japanese American incarceration during WWII.In 1998, Kenji received the distinguished Alumni Honors Award from California State University, Sacramento. In 1999 the then-English section editor of the Nichi Bei Times received the Community Service Award from New California Media for an article that documented the struggle for redress by Japanese Americans during WWII. In 2013, he was awarded a Consul General Award from the Consul General of Japan in San Francisco. In 2014 he helped launch the Nikkei Angel Island Pilgrimage to recognize the community's legacy at the Immigration Station. In 2017, he led the first pilgrimage to the site of the Wakamatsu Tea and Silk Farm Colony, the first sizable settlement of Japanese in America.Jon Osaki is an award-winning filmmaker who has directed and produced promotional, educational, narrative, and documentary films. His initial interest in film grew from his desire to share the stories of the Japanese Community Youth Council, where he has served as Executive Director since 1996. Over the past few years, he has had films screened at film festivals and community events across the country. As a filmmaker, Jon views this genre as the next step in his lifelong pursuit of social justice and equity. Learn more about Nichi Bei at nichibei.org and Jon Osaki at alternativefacts9066.com.Chapters is a multi-part series concerning the history and the lessons of civil rights violations or civil liberties injustices carried out against communities or populations—including civil rights violations or civil liberties injustices that are perpetrated on the basis of an individual’s race, national origin, immigration status, religion, gender, or sexual orientation.This project was made possible with support from Chapman University and The California Civil Liberties Public Education Program, a state-funded grant project of the California State Library.Guests: Kenji G. Taguma and Jon OsakiHosts: Jon-Barrett Ingels and Jonelle StricklandProduced by: Public Podcasting