ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Nov—Dec 24

Kiyoko Shimizu $125 M/M Randall Kurihara $50 Isamu Murakami In memory of wife Masako $100 June Sutherland $136.56 Edison International Matching gift $136.56 Brock Nishimura Verizon VIP Program $750 Anonymous $100 Chiyeko Uyemori In memory of husband Bob $300 Anonymous $500 Norwalk Judo $250 Ritz Mori $80 Grace Nakada $50 M/M Yuso Kurihara $100 M/M Dan Ikemoto $100 M/M R J Kobayashi $100 Anonymous $1,000 Norwalk Kendo For gym floor $500 Edna Kurihara $100 M/M Roy Okimoto Sr $500 M/M George Ishii $1,000 M/M Ernest Ikuta $1,500 M/M Paul Ogasawara $100 Mragaret Saito In memory of father Tom Saito $250 Thank you for your continuing support

友

達

Hi everyone! Happy New Year! Hope everyone had a nice holiday season. I would like to introduce myself. My name is Richard Shinomoto and I will be your new President on the Board of Directors. I have been on the Board for a few years having began my affiliation with Southeast Japanese School and Community Center since 1989. Coaching my son’s basketball team as well as helping out with his Judo interests led me to become President of NYS (3 years) and for the Norwalk Judo Dojo (5 years). I’ve enjoyed being a part of our Center’s growth and activities and watched and helped our last President Hy Shishino these past ten years. He has done an outstanding job taking on countless responsibilities and looking into the welfare of our Center. We thank Hy for his long and unending service and hope he can now relax a little. The Board has come up with a new rotation system for the Presidency so each year there will be a new director taking on the responsibilities. I look forward to the continued support from you, our leaders, members and friends, who helped make decisions, worked hard to make our Center a better place. As you might have noticed, the gym has gone under some construction with a new ceiling. Starting on January 5th and for approximately six weeks, the new gym floor will be assembled, refinished, and presented with new vibrant colors. I would like to express my gratitude to Kendo and NYS (Norwalk Youth Sports) for cleaning the gym walls down and giving them a new paint job. I know the work is much appreciated by everyone including me. Finally, there will be a “Issho Ni” fundraising night scheduled for March 14th. Karen Toyoshiba (NaWahine ‘O Kawena—our Hula instructor) is spear heading this event to assist in the upgrades we are doing to our facility and in the future. These improvements cost money and we hope to help defray some of the costs. NYS will be setting up and taking down tables, chairs for the event, Kendo will be helping cook their usual awesome meals, our Dance Club will be in charge of gym decoration and collection of ticket sales and tickets for the raffle drawings. Entertainment will be provided by our Center hula group, NaWahine ‘O Kawena, Taiko and others. For more information contact Karen Toyoshiba. Thank you very much for your participation, cooperation and continuous support throughout the years and I hope to see you all in our upcoming events. Richard Shinomoto

P R E S I D E N T ’ S M E S S A G E

Volume 15 , Issue 1 January 2009 Newslet ter

Southeast Japanese School & Community Center 14615 Gridley Rd. Norwalk CA 90651-0434 Website: www.SEJSCC.org 562.863.5996

Tomodachi

Have you noticed how bright and clean our gym has become? With the onset of our new gym floor, it became necessary that our ceiling needed attention. Hy Shishino and the Board have been back and forth of what to do for a long while—–take the dingy flux off and paint, paint the flux, or make a lowered ceiling. Finally early December an emergency meeting was called when the owner of George Thomas Co. came and explained how a lowered ceiling would work. A decision was made right then to have it done; it would take about ten days, plenty of time before NYS began painting the walls and

before the holidays and floor in-stallation. It was one of the Board’s best decisions. It’ll be just beautiful when the new light hardwood floor is installed! The Pacific Floor Co. of Northridge has installed gym floors for the Lakers and many southland high schools, colleges and universities. They are reputable and costly but it will last 50 years! The support under prime floor was a big plus too.

O U R G Y M I M P R O V E M E N T S

On Jan. 5-6 entire gym floor was removed. Lowered ceiling being installed, scaffold to the right.

Tomodachi Page 2

G A K U E N N E W S

明けましておめでとうございます。本年もよろしくお願い申し

上げます。 Thanks to all our supporters, our school had another suc-

cessful year. We are looking forward to an even better 2008-year, the year of the ox.

Thanks to our wonderful parents, the students enjoyed cultural experiences all year long.. On the last school day of the year, students enjoyed toshikoshi soba, a tradition for New Year’s Eve to pass from one year to the next. A very special visitor from North Pole came to school and visited all the students and brought presents. The first day of school for the New Year will be January 10th. Students will again experience culture with a taste of ozooni, a tradition of mochi eating on New Year's Day. The students will listen to a presentation to learn about the New Year celebration in Japan. All students participated in the annual nengajoo contest. The cards are on display in the hallway. Students will vote for the best card in each of three categories: most original, most artistic, and most comical. A few of our best ones were sent to national contest. In the past we had a number of winners from our school. After two long weeks of winter beak, the students will be ready for the end of the first semester. We will be preparing for the mid-term examinations to be held at the end of the month. The annual New Year celebration dinner will be held on Janu-ary 31th at 6:30 PM in the Dojo. It will be potluck. All students of the school will provide the entertainment. Mark your calendars. At the dinner, we will also have a silent auction to raise funds for the students who will travel to Japan with Mrs. Matsumoto. If you would like to donate some items (new) for this event, please bring them to the Gakuen office.

H I K A R I T A I K O

BOARD of DIRECTORS If you wish to contact any of the board members, please call the Center and leave a message. Jim Niiro George Kato Linda Kusuda Mary Iwami Kimie Matsumoto Fred Matsumoto Mas Onoda Richard Shinomoto Hy Shishino Tosh Teramoto Bob Yamada

Tomodachi”, P. O. Box 434, Norwalk CA 90651-0434. Tel: 562,863-5996. Published 6 times annually by the Southeast Japanese School and Community Center, 14615 Grid-ley Rd, Norwalk CA 90650. A no charge newsletter informing all participants of activities on a one per household basis. Bulk Mail Postage Paid at Norwalk, CA. Editor: Mary Iwami; Adver-tising & Mailing: Mary Iwami, George Kato, Hy Shishino, Mas Onoda, and Norwalk Nikkei Seniors.

Mary Jane Mayeda (Cont’d from Page 1) To protect our new floor, EVERYONE needs to take extra care about cleaning their shoes before entering the gym, be responsible for their spills by immediately wiping off all residue, and after each activity dust mop following the wood grain with conscious effort. Moisture cleaning should be done minimally but dust mop a must.. Grit and dirt cannot remain and get beaten onto the floor finish. Floor refinishing will be done professionally as needed. We will talk of these concerns at our Operating and Center Board meetings and post regulations However, you can bet Kendo, dance club, our basketball team and hula class members will enjoy their practices from here on!

Happy New Year! May you have another good year with good health and good things to happen. Let us count our blessings and be thankful for all the good things we take for granted and cherish the things we have! The end of 2008 Hikari performed for the Mot her Goose parade in El Cajon for the third year. We also performed for the grand opening of the new Fountain Valley Performing Arts Theater in December. The next day we appeared in the Orange County Register as one of the performing acts there. Two days later, we performed for a Christ-mas party at the Torrance Marriott Hotel for Alpine Audio Co. Then we went to Yamashiro Japanese restaurant up in the Hollywood Hills to celebrate Suntory & Spirits Christmas party. They sure had good sushi for all to enjoy. Celebrities were there too … none that I could remember names but for one Lance Bass of InSync band and re-cently was on Dancing of the Stars show. Whitney High School Asian Club also asked if we could teach them how to play taiko and learn a couple of songs for their Talent Show coming up next year soon so we were busy with that for 4 sessions. Being young and enthusiastic, they learned quickly. The highlight of course in December was our own Christmas party with around 100 people attending. Great potluck food was shared, games, awards, accomplishments and each class performed 2-4 numbers. Congratulations to Ryan de la Vega for wining the annual Tak Murata Award for 2008. Thanks to the Christmas committee for a very nice job decorating and getting everything together—Harriet Yamada, Helen Hikiji, Julie Koga, Nancy Aisawa, Sandy Wada, Claire Thompson, Kiyoko Tanaka, Linda Kusuda, Kurt Hamra and Glen Mayeda.

Kimie Matsumoto

Taiko group at their Christmas party.

Ryan de la Vega is 2009 recipient of Tak Murata Award. Standing to his right is Mary Jane Mayeda and Julie Koga on his left.

Tomodachi Page 3

N O R W A L K K A R A O K E C L U B

The Norwalk Karaoke Club members were happy to accept the Nisei Karaoke Club’s kind invitation to join them at a Christmas party. The party was held on December 16 at the Orange County Buddhist Church with an attendance of approximately 50 people. The audi-ence members all participated in group singing throughout the eve-ning along with individual song and dance performances. Many door prizes were given out as part of the festivities. Several delicious des-sert and jello plates made by the Nisei ladies topped the delicious bento meal for the evening. As the year 2008 closes, we lost another dear member—Micki Kawauchi. Sincere condolences to the Kawauchi family are extended.

The 2009 New Year will again offer a busy calendar. Scheduled thus far are: Business Meeting—January 11, 2009 Entertain at Wintersburg Sr. Fellowship—January 21, 2009 New Year’s Songfest—February 8, 2009 Entertain at Keiro Retirement Home—May (Date TBD) Fall Songfest—October (Date TBD) We wish you a very happy new year!

S P E C I A L F E A T U R E : H Y S H I S H I N O Occasionally a feature article will appear on people at SEJSCC. This is a perfect opportunity to acquaint you with Hy and his back-ground . He is our outgoing president. Most of us who know him would initially say he’s a hard worker and has a lot to say and retains more about people, names and incidents than anybody. I called him a “genius” because at his age he should have forgotten most of it! We can’t say enough about Hy for his genuine care and concern for our community center. He’s done an outstanding job in his ten years of leadership, giving direction to new changes and making lasting repairs reaffirming his thought “you got to spend to make it worthwhile”. Hy was born in Los Angeles to issei parents with 3 siblings. At-tended L.A. High School with anticipated graduation in 1942 but was deprived of his diploma along with other Japanese graduates at that time in California. He grew up among mixed ethnic groups, many were of Jewish faith at LA High. He played NAU basketball while in high school from 1939 on. He recalls NAU game cover-ages in the Rafu Shimpo by owner Aki Komai. In October 1942 his family was interned at Gila, Arizona. I asked him what he did and his first thought was “we made camouflaged nets for the army. But it was piece work”. Signs of his industrious ways were evident then. He was paid $90 for each huge piece! It was a chance to make money. He didn’t stay long in Gila as he tagged along with seven friends some of whom had obtained jobs in Minnesota. His first exposure to culinary work began with friends at a summer resort in Minneapolis. His job was to make salads! Then he moved on to the Radison Hotel to work under a Russian cook. It was at this time he attended a Lutheran church close by and made lasting friends with the minister and his wife. With money he made in interment camp, he purchased a home in 1945 and brought his family to Minnesota. He has fond memories of friendships made there — people of German and Scandinavian decent were kind and receptive. In 1946, he was drafted into service but released on a “dependency discharge” as he had family to care for. After selling his home, the family moved to Inglewood and he con-tinued to work at various prominent restaurants. He met his wife Mitzi in 1950 and married her in 1953. They have two married children. In 1957 he helped begin a new independent church, St. Thomas Lutheran Church in Gardena. He was dedi-

cated assuming many responsibilities and becoming an elder and some-times gave the sermon in the minis-ter’s absence. During this period, he witnessed many incidents that went on at these various restaurants where he worked - the murder of Mickey Cohen and other racketeers. Luckily he stayed out of harm’s way! As the children grew, Hy and Mitzi became active in PTA, little league and scouts etc. He helped with the school’s pancake breakfast serving 1500 at that time! Sounds familiar? They also received the Lifetime PTA Award from Center Park School. He became involved with our Center around 1989 when he joined the dance club. It was more social than learning the fine steps of dance. One of Hy and Mitzi’s greatest joys was watching grandchildren Jillian and Jena play basketball for Norwalk. Their outstanding Blue Angels team stayed together for 11 years winning many tournaments. He was so proud of them and the team. Hy helped with our events and eventually became a member on our Board. Due to his willingness and dedication, he was appointed President and many of you know what a great job he has done. It was his choice to step down last December. But his involvement continues in other projects: helping with a docu-mentary about a caucasian family who assisted the Japanese during internment, being an integral coordinator for various camp reunions, helping Little Tokyo Historical Society, and the Japanese American National Museum relative to internment. These meetings and duties will keep him busy. Hy has always been a strong advocate for causes. Hy represented the Center at many Nikkei organization meetings and enjoyed the opportunity to talk about our Center creating SEJSCC exposure to the Southland Nikkei community. We are fortunate that Hy is so friendly and proud of our Center.. We thank Hy for the many fundraising dinners he cooked and thank him for being that “old traditionalist” of doing so much himself and not relinquishing jobs from plumbing problems to shopping for sup-plies at Costco. Thank you Hy for being that exceptional leader and person! Editor

F U N D R A I S E R D I N N E R E V E N T Tickets are now available for the March 14, 2009 Fundraiser Dinner Event. Contact the following people for tickets: Ellen Oye , Edna Kurihara , Rosie San Miguel , or Karen Toyoshiba. NOTE: Tickets will not be sold at the door. Buy your tickets early and come join the fun! ”ISSHO NI” with members of Norwalk Kendo Dojo, Norwalk Youth Sports, Norwalk Dance Club, and NaWahine ‘O Kawena — a fun-filled evening is in store for you! Enjoy the delicious Japanese dinner, entertainment throughout the evening and wonderful door/raffle prizes too!

Fifty seniors took their late year Vegas trip on Nov. 17-19 staying at the Cal Club. The weather was perfect and everyone’s anticipation for a fun and lucky trip was high. After playing Bingo, munching on goodies that were passed around on the bus and viewing a video , we arrived. It didn’t take long to get acclimated with the casino. Slow and easy and pace yourself they say. Well, for some that worked! Tuesday, the bus took about 16 of us to Desert Rose Golf Course. It was just pleas-ure play, no tournament and a good diversion. Among us was George Hatanaka who just turned 93 yrs. old and still scoring in the 90’s con-sistently. We marvel at his strength, mentally and physically, and his easy going ways. And he does well at the crap table! So we look to him as an example of what can be!! Thanks to Tosh Iwata for arranging the trip, Taz Hayashi for the videos and John Sugita and Harry Yoshi-mura for calling the Bingo. Christmas was celebrated at King’s Palace on Dec. 9th with chairladies

Tomodachi Page 4

N O R W A L K N I K K E I S E N I O R S

Southeast Japanese School & Community Center Activities List

If you are interested in any of the activities at the Center, please contact our Center 562.863.5996 and leave a message. Southest Gakuen: Kimie Matsumoto Hikari Taiko: Mary Jane Mayeda Shuji (Calligraphy): Matsumoto Sensei Norwalk Nikkei Seniors: Betty Oshiro Ikebana (Flower Arrgmt): Ogawa Sensei “ “ Karaoke: Eunice Kusonoki Guitar Class: Yuji Hata Japanese Classical Dance: Akemi Jensen Norwalk Youth Sports: Rich Tamaki Nawahine ‘O Kawena: Karen Toyoshiba Kendo: Jean Kodama Sensei email: norwalkkendo@gmail.com Hawaiian Karaoke Club: Leslie Goshi Karate: Brock Nishimura Ukulele Class: Kamaki Keawe Call Karen: Norwalk Karaoke Club: Ed Korin Norwalk Dance Club: Edna Kurihara Judo: Jim Glick Tanden/Yoga Class: Mrs. Koyasu

N O R W A L K D A N C E C L U B Edna Kurihara

New Year’s Eve Dinner Dance In the setting of a beautifully decorated gym, an enthusiastic but well behalved group of people celebrated the coming of the year 2009 at the New Year’s Eve event hosted each year by the Norwalk Dance Club. A buffet dinner was catered by Paul Tran of Unique Catering and as always was excellent judging by the comments of everyone. Throughout the evening of dancing we had a lot of different activities going on. There was a rice guessing contest. Four people came up with the correct amount of 2009 grains of rice. We had a scavenger hunt with one table coming up a winner by finding the most items. A Balloon twisting contest brought out a few very original and unusual shapes. Line dancing, the conga line and the raffle door prizes were also done before the evening was over.

Mistress of ceremonies, Harriet Yamada kept the evening moving and before we knew it, it was countdown time to ring in the Year of the Ox. Then down came the balloons, the hugging and good wishes for the New Year and of course the clean-up. See you at our next dance scheduled for Saturday February 28, 2009!

The table of Kitayamas, Miyatakes, Yukimasas and Kuriharas won the Scavenger Hunt!

Becky Shinomoto won the number of rice grains in bottle contest; standing next is Harriet Yamada MC and Edna Kurihara.

Money balloons fall at midnight send party goers scurrying.

Sachi Maehara, Nancy Ohira, Kay Murayama, Aiko Uyeno and Aileen Murashima planned an enjoyable program. Games were played and Christmas carols sung. Harry Yoshimura and Morimasa Kishimoto sang well to entertain us. Jan Ken Po was played to win the table poinsettia plants. Thank you ladies for a nice time. We’ve missed some of our members who have not been well: Larry Oshiro underwent another surgery, Yoshiko Hondo, Harry Yamamoto. In November we were saddened to have lost Bob Uyemori and Jim Isobe to illnesses. They both were long time friends of each other and passed away within a week’s time. Our deepest condolences are extended to their families. We thank Chiyeko Uyemori for her generous donation in Bob’s memory. The January Shinenenkai luncheon is planned for the 27th at China Star in La Mirada . New officers for 2009 will be installed.

Tomodachi Page 5

N O R W A L K K E N D O D O J O Norwalk Dojo held its annual Christmas party on Dec. 19. A good time was had by all! A big thank you to everyone who helped with preparation and clean up, and thank you to all our guests for helping make it festive occasion. Menjo (rank certificates) were handed out to everyone who received a new rank at October’s shinsa. Good at-tendance awards were presented to Kim Esther, Park Richard, Hahn Rex, Chang Jeffrey, and yoon Brian (best listed first). Monthly dojo tournament awards were also presented: 0-5kyu 1st place Kim Esther, 2nd place Yoon Courtney, 3rd place Kim John; 4-1kyu 1st place Chung Alex, Choe Andrew, 3rd place Kim Patrick; adult kyu 1st place Yoon Brian, 2nd place Chang Hannah, 3rd place Ma Phillip; yudansha 1st place Chang Jeffrey, 2nd place Yoshimura Steve, 3rd place Kariya Yoshijiro and Hahn Rex.

And this year’s outstanding kenshi are Kim Esther and Yoon Court-ney. They will be going to the Steveston, Canada tournament next February with their trip subsidized by the dojo We anxiously await completion of the gym floor restoration in mid-February so we can resume keiko. Once we do, we will practice Mon-days from 7:00 to 8:30 pm and Fridays from 7:30 to 10:00 pm. The iaido group will practice from 9 to 10 pm on Mondays. New members are welcome, however the next opportunity to join will be in March. For information about Noralk Dojo, including upcoming and past events as well as how to join, please see the dojo website at http://www.eanet.com/norwalk or send email to: norwalkkendo@gmail.com

N O R W A L K Y O U T H S P O R T S Susan Fukuda

The NYS teams started the SEYO Winter League in the beginning of December then took a break for the holi-days. They start up again in January with the season ending on February 22. Many thanks to coaches and parents who helped paint the gym walls on Dec. 20.

The Hot Shots are the 3rd Grade Gold SBY 2008 Champions. FR: Kayli Arii, Tracey Nakamura, Stephanie Bererabe, Kalei Iwami, Nicolie Kawakami, MR: Dayna Arii,(Team Mom), Eliice Huang, Megan Yamami, Allison Lou, and Coach Brian Yamami. BR: Coach Kirk Iwami.

Cheetahs—In between the SBY Fall League and the SEYO Winter League, the Cheetah were able to take a break from basketball, celebrating the end of the year with a bowling party.

Mark your calendars and Join us for this fun night! March 14th

Tomodachi Page 6

Tomodachi Page 7

Southeast Japanese School & Community Center “Tomodachi” A Bimonthly Newsletter January 2009 Norwalk CA 90651-0431

NON-PROFIT ORG. U.S.Postage PAID Permit No. 109 Norwalk CA 90650

Happy New Year!

ATTENTION GRADUATING HS SENIORS! Graduating High School seniors are encouraged to apply for the NERIO/SEJSCC Scholarships offered to qualified applicants. The applications will be avail-able around the third week of this month on our Cen-ter website: SEJSCC.org. Be complete with your an-swers. Submission deadline is March 20. Awards will be announced at the annual Recognition Dinner and Awards night on April 18, 2009 and recipients must be present to receive the awards. More information will be announced in our February flyer.

Reminder….

BINGO Feb 7 - 7:30 pm Host: Karate, Weds BB and Hawaiian Karaoke Serving: Miso Salmon Dinner at 7 pm

CALENDAR Jan 14 Center Bd Mtg 6:30 pm 24 Winter Social 7-11 31 Gakuen New Years Party 6:30 Scholarship Apps Available now Feb 4 Operating Bd Mtg 7:00 pm 7 Monthly Bingo Games 7:30 11 Center Bd Mtg 6:30 28 International Nite Social 7-11 Mar 4 Operating Bd Mtg 6:30 pm 7 Monthly Bing Games 7:30 11 Center Bd Mtg 7:30 14 Issho Ni Fundraiser 5:00 21 NYS Jr. Banquet 21 Scholarship Applications Deadline

NEW HULA CLASS on Sundays A new hula class will begin on Sunday, Jan. 4th at 9:30 am. Interests have been ex-pressed for a weekend hula class by people who work during the weekday and

cannot attend the Wednesday hula class. If anyone is interested in joining this class, contact Karen Toyoshiba.

TOMODACHI NEWSLETTERS/FLYERS on website or email The idea of having our newsletters and flyers available on the website or email will soon be a reality. Look for instructions in our February issue to indicate your wish. Our Tomodachi address master is unrealistically huge and we no longer want to pay the printers or the U.S. Postal Dept. for costs that could be drastically reduced. Help us do this—read our February issue..