ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Jan 4—Feb

M/M Paul Ogasawara $ 100 Tobis Matsumura 38.48 Kinu Chikami (In memory of Joe S. Chikami) 500 Margaret Saito (in memory of father Tom Saito) 250 Sumiyo Ogawa 100 M/M Yuso Kurihara 120 Helen Hikiji 109 Harriet Yamada 60 M/M Ronald Yorizane 100 Prudy Gin 50 Jeannie Kazahaya 60 M/M Sho Kitayama 100 Glenn Yata 200 M/M Richard Mercer 25 M/M Richard Sakoda 50 Lynn Hori 50 M/M Kenny Yukimasa 60 M/M John Ciranna 60 Jim Noe & Harriet Yamada 40 M/M Geoff Chow 20 M/M Ben San Miguel 20 M/M Stanley Chow 100 Thomas Sato 50 Brock Nishimura 750 All U.S. Kendo Federat’n 1000 Greg Yoshiyama 38.46 J.S. Igarashi 500 Anonymous 100 Thank you for your kind generosity and continuing support.

友

達

Japanese School held their annual New Year’s party on January 28. This year’s event was a pot-luck and there was a lot of delicious food to choose from. The Japanese School student enter-tained their family, friends, and special guests with singing and dancing. They are a talented group. A raffle was held at the end of the evening and everyone took a gift home. Congratulations to Judo on their 80th Anniversary tournament in memory of Sensei Shigeo Tashima. We would to like to commend Judo on the success of the tournament. This tournament will be an achievement that Judo will remember for years to come. Just a reminder that SEJSCC is a NO SMOKING facility! Everyone please abide by the rules. When smoking outside of the facility, please do not leave your cigarette butts on the sidewalk or in the street. Please be courteous to our neighbors. Pick up the butts and throw them in the trash can. The theme for the Recognition Dinner this year will be “Island Style”. Preparing the Ono dishes will start on Friday night. The menu will be Kalua Pork, Potato Mac Salad, Miso Green Beans, Chinese Chicken Salad, Pineapple Chicken, Korean Barbeque Beef, Rice, Inari, Haupia and Desserts. The dinner will be held on April 21st. Please join us in the festivities and come thank our honorees for all their hard work. April will soon be here and it’ll also be time for our Center clean up. The date is set for Sunday April 29th from 9 am to 12 noon. We need several volunteers from each group to help out in this effort. We will be cleaning the walls and classroom floors, washing the windows and doing some garden-ing. Don’t forget to bring your gloves and rake! No activities will be scheduled during the cleanup hours. The Center belongs to all of us so please come out and help. Refreshments will be served for all volunteers. Thank you for your support. Thank you to everyone for your continued support throughout the years. I look forward to seeing you all in our upcoming events. The next Tomodachi will be in May. Richard Shinomoto

P R E S I D E N T ’ S M E S S A G E

Volume 18, Issue 2 March 2012 Newsletter

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

R E C O G N I T I O N D I N N E R & A WA R D S — A P R I L 2 1

Tomodachi

Keep April 21 open and join us at our annual Recognition Dinner and Awards night! This year we are honoring Mr. George Kato and Mrs. Fukuyo Tanaka, two exceptional people who have long dedicated their time and efforts to our community center functions and requirements. George was a past SEJSCC Board President and for many years has been responsible for public relations for our Board inviting our local and county leaders to our functions and representing our Center at theirs, also coordinated through them the procurement of service recognition certificates from state, county and city officials. George initiated the scholarship program for our Center and remained in charge. He was also actively involved in other Nikkei organizations in Southern California. He was involved with Judo and on the building committee for our major addition built in 1994. Now he has retired from our Board, taking some time to relax . Mrs. Tanaka is our Kendo lady who often dons the chef’s cap for many of our Center dinner events and for Kendo and Judo functions as well. She has been a loyal and active supporter for about 25 years. We are grateful for their contributions and distinguished support. We will also honor our outstanding scholarship recipients. Come and applaud these outstanding people. It should be an enjoyable and gratifying evening . An island style dinner will be served as mentioned in our president’s message. Wonderful entertainment will follow ending with many raffle and door prizes. Tickets are available from any club representatives or call Richard Shinomoto at 562.754.8582 or call our Center 562.863.5996 and leave your name and phone number. Please check Page 5 for further details.

S E J S C C BOARD MEMBERS If you wish to contact any of the board members, please call the Center and leave a message. Jim Niiro Linda Kusuda Mary Iwami Kimie Matsumoto Fred Matsumoto Mas Onoda Richard Shinomoto Hy Shishino Tosh Teramoto Bob Yamada Carrie Nakatani Wong Marvin Kobayashi Ted Yoshimura

Tomodachi

“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 Gridley 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; Advertising & Mailing: Mary Iwami, Mas Onoda, and Norwalk Nikkei Seniors, online application and distribution Kirk Iwami, Dick Mercer .

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

Each year, students from all classes participate in the nengajo (New Year cards) contest. All students vote for the best one in each age division. Please view their work on the bulletin boards in the hallway. The theme for this year is the Year of the Dragon. Winners were awarded prizes at the New Year’s Party. The fami-lies enjoyed the New Year party with entertainment by the stu-dents and teachers who sang and danced. This year, the stu-dents performed the algorithm exercise and algorithm march. The highlight of the evening was the “Soran Bushi” performed by elementary students. On February 4th, Gakuen students learned about the traditions of the Setsubun festival. The students observed Setsubun by eating the number of beans equal to their age for good luck. The students learned about the tradition of getting rid of bad luck by throwing roasted soy bean and bringing good fortune into their homes. Kindergarten students made masks of the oni demon. There was no school on February 8th. All teachers attended a workshop given by instructors from CSU Long Beach headed by Hiroko Kataoka sensei. On March 3rd, the Gakuen will celebrate Hinamatsuri (Doll Festi-val/Girl’s Day). The students will be viewing the doll display for this festival and listening to a presentation. Students will also enjoy treats provided by the PTA.

G A K U E N N E W S Kimie Matsumoto

The Norwalk Karaoke Club’s first article for the 2012 new year begins with the 2011 year-end event — the annual Christmas party held on December 19 chaired by George Real. Included was a delicious bento and cake and games with a holiday theme. George also led in singing a Lain round “Dona Nobis Pacem” (Give Us Peace) which was a challenge both musically and lyrically but expanding members’ musical repertoire. Special recognition was given to Ed Korin for his hard work making CDs as well as the English translations for all class songs. The Akebono New Year’s songfest marked the beginning of the 2012 new year. The program was held on February 19 at the Sycamore Plaza in Lakewood. There were 8 solo num-bers from Norwalk in addition to Akemi Jensen’s beautifully graceful odori performance “Echizen Kaze Mai”. Also per-formed was a group song “Sanbyaku Rokujyugo Ho No March” (Three Hundred Sixty-five Steps march) sung to a strutting boisterous melody tune coordinated by Chieko Kim and Ed Korin. Joining in the group performance were mem-bers spouses Yayoko Koren and Eiko Tokuishi and two mem-bers of the Orange County Nisei Karaoke group Shoko Tsuji-moto and Sachiko Kusumi. Also joining in for support was Tokuishi sensei. Thanks to members donating gifts for door prizes and decorative floral plants: Chieko Kim, Ed Korin, Betty Oshiro, Ellen Oye, Kiyoko Tanaka and Patsy Tsuda. Class members express sincere appreciation for family mem-ber and friends’ attendance to the program: Yayoko Korin, Aileen Murashima, Roger Tsuda, Leann Vandergrift, Janice Igarashi, Richard Oye and Eiko Tokuishi.

Our Gakuen teachers attended the Teachers Workshop given by CSU Long Beach instructors at our Center on Feb. 18th .

Gakuen students receiving certificates at their New Year’s party.

Everyone enjoyed watching the elementary students dance the Soran Bushi.

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

S E J S C C U P D A T E S

It is the end of the winter season for our junior teams. The time has just flown by and it seems like we just started playing last week! Our senior teams began their spring league the first Sunday in March. Good luck to all teams. NYS families, just a reminder, mark your calendars — the junior basketball banquet will be held on Saturday, March 17 at our Community Center. For those of you who have never attended, it is a fun-filled night for the players and their families. The pee wee teams will be gathering in the dojo and the older teams will be in the gym. Remember, NYS will be hosting April bingo dinner. Please come out and support our Community Center—have a nice dinner and then stay and play bingo. Fall/Winter Basketball—4th Grade Boys Team: Wolves The season got off to a great start for the Boys 4th grade Wolves. At the VFW tournament in October, the boys were the Consolation Champions. Led by coaches Roger and Westin Hirai, the SEYO season continued with a winning streak and the boys became the UNDEFEATED white division champs! These boys have come a long way and their parents and coaches are very proud of the way they are playing ball and their teamwork. Next up is tournament season and the boys are looking forward to keep their no loss record alive.

Front Row: James Kwan, Andy Nguyen, Sam Hawman, Connor Yoon, David Huh, John Kim and Marcus Param. Back Row: Christopher Acebal, Kyle Acosta , Justin Lee.

Electrical and Fire Extinguishing System The L.A. County Fire Department approved our system late Feb-ruary . The process required their technician to check the setup of each of the ceiling extinguishing nozzles to meet very precise county codes and measured distance from the stove.. The de-partment will continue checking our fire suppression system every 6 months.. We must emphasize to everyone using our stove to BE SURE TO TURN ON THE EXHAUST FAN! It’s a fire code. Next Project: Outside Sink and Indoor Mop Sink Our next project is to make plans to bring water and drain lines to a location close to the kitchen for a mop sink. At the same time to create an outside sink (using our previous stainless kitchen sink) and locate it close to the back door. New Stage Curtains Ordered The Board ordered a new set of gym stage curtains to be in-stalled in time for the Recognition Dinner. It will be burgundy color appearing very similar to our old ones.

WOLVES

The Dragons 7th grade boys white division won 1st place 9-0 in the Seyo league.

DRAGONS

Dragons, not in order: Drew Ramos, Paul Zipagang Jr, Matthew Faller, Bryce Dayap, Tyler Veneracion, Christopher Mangune, Kaleem Syed, Jared Reyes, Brian Chang, Coach Jeff Ramos, Asst: Archie Veneracion.

Everyone using our refurbished kitchen is enjoying it The conversion would not have happened so efficiently and properly without Ted Yo-shimura’s involvement. He initiated the plans and contacted the vari-ous contractors to do specific jobs. Much of the work he did himself taking time from his work to have it completed in time for our Cultural Festival last year. We are grateful to his expertise and desire to do it right. The only wait encountered was inspection and approval after each job by the county and city. Thank you Ted and helpers Linda Kusuda, Bob Yamada, Davd Fusato and Mas Onoda for our efficient kitchen.

The fume hood over the stove is now installed so our kitchen is now complete.

Some of Coach John Wooden’s famous quotes: “Winning takes talent; to repeat takes character” “It isn’t what you do, but how you do it” “Talent is God-given, Be grateful. Fame is man-given, Be grateful. Conceit is self given, Be careful” “The main ingredient of stardom is the rest of the team” “It’s the little details that are vital. Little things make big things happen”.

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N O R W A L K K E N D O D O J O N E W S

Southeast Japanese School & Community Center Activities List

If you are interested in any of the activities at the Center, please contact the person listed below Southest Gakuen: Kimie Matsumoto 562 926.2536 Hikari Taiko: Mary Jane Mayeda 562 924.1454 Shuji (Calligraphy): “ “ “ Norwalk Nikkei Seniors: Toby Fusato 562 .860.7368 Ikebana (Flower Arrgmt): Ogawa Sensei 714 893.1245 Tanden/Yoga Class: Mrs. Koyasu 562.865.9652 Guitar Class: Yuji Hata 562 695.1908 Japanese Classical Dance: Akemi Jensen 562 691.2764 Norwalk Youth Sports: Rich Tamaki rytamaki@yahoo.com Nawahine ‘O Kawena: Karen Toyoshiba 562 949.0203 Kendo: Jean Kodama Sensei email: norwalkkendo@gmail.com Hawaiian Karaoke Club: Leslie Goshi 323 722.7229 Karate: Brock Nishimura 714 826.9128 Ukulele Class: Kamaki Keawe Call Karen: 562 949.0203 Norwalk Karaoke Club: Ed Korin 714.870.1013 Norwalk Dance Club: Edna Kurihara 714 847.1173 Judo: Jim Glick 714.315.8503

Join us for our ANNUAL

CENTER CLEAN-UP DAY

APRIL 29—Sunday

9 am to 12 Noon Bring your gloves, buckets and energy

to tackle our yard and Center.

Reminder;

BINGO Hosted by : Norwalk Youth Sports

April 7, Sat. April 7 Chicken Teriyaki, Noodles

6:30 pm Salad, rice and drinks

Dinners served at 6 pm.

$5 per card all night, $20 prize each game, last game coverall $250!

January 6th was our first practice of 2012. Many thanks to our dojo moms for presenting their traditional first-keiko feast, which as usual included fresh mochi and zenzai, among other delicacies, and as usual was so yummy! Our first tournament of the year was the triennial Mori Hai Tourna-ment on January 22th in Torrance, held to honor Mori Torao sensei , considered by many to be the founder of kendo in the United States. Good job to everyone who participated, and hearty congratulations to Hahn Lance (3rd place, 0-6 kyu) and Moon Joshua (honorable men-tion, 0-6 kyu). These were the very first tournament trophies ever for each; we are proud, happy, and looking forward to many more! On Friday, February 10th, we hosted an iaido practice with Oda Ka-tsuo sensei from Japan, iaido hanshi 8 dan and kendo kyoshi 7 dan. He conducted an iaido seminar that weekend at the Pasadena Bud-dhist Church, sponsored by the Southern California Iaido Federation. Norwalk attendees included Toh Shauna, Leroy Sylvain, and Tekin Korhan, as well as Yamaguchi Takeshi sensei, Okuno Isamu sensei, Ralutin Dennis sensei, and Kodama Jean sensei. Congratulations to Tekin Korhan for being awarded iaido 3 kyu at the promotional ex-amination that Sunday. The Steveston Kendo Tournament was held February 11th. Every year the dojo sponsors two outstanding kenshi to go to Steveston, Canada; this year’s selections were Yoon Courtney and Hahn Dan-ielle. Also competing were Hahn Lance, Lim Mitchell, Trost Jeffrey, Yoon Brian and Kariya Yoshijiro. Congratulations to Yoon Courtney for taking 2nd place in the 11-13 group and to Kariya Yoshijiro for taking 2nd place in the 3 dan group. Congratulations also to Hahn Danielle and Yoon Courtney, who were on the SCKF youth team which took 2nd place. Lim Mitchell, Kariya Yoshijiro, Yoon Brian, and Trost Jeffrey were on the SCKF senior team, making it to the quarter finals against the Canadian national team, which eventually took 1st

place. Everyone did great, not to mention having a fun time playing in the snow! Finally, thank you to Henmi Morihei sensei, Kodama Jean sensei, Kariya Yoshijiro, and Amano Shingo for putting on a kendo demonsta-tion February 29th for the Whitney High School 7th graders’ Japan Day. Apparently we were a big hit!! Norwalk Kendo Dojo practices Mondays from 7:00 to 8:30 pm and Fridays from 7:30 to 10:00 pm. New members are welcome; begin-ners are accepted on the first Friday practice of each odd month. The iaido group practices from 9 to 10 pm on Mondays; iaido begin-ners are accepted in January, April and July. For information about Norwalk 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 norwalkendo@gmail.com.

Mori Hai Tourney 1-22 in Torrance: FR: Kim Christie, Han Danielle, Yoon Courtney, Hahn Lance, Moon Joshua, Ji Daniel, Kim Andrew; BR: Baik Ethan, Lim Mitchell, Henmi Morihei, Yamaguchi Takeshi, Kodama Jean, Kariya Yoshijiro, & Yoon Brian.

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Page 5

menu Harriet chose a gourmet fare. The list included hummus to go with slices of pita bread, gyros (very thin slices of meat) served with a dab of white garlic sauce, a Greek salad with slices of cu-cumber, chopped olives and topped with feta cheese and grape tomatoes. The refreshment plate was complete with a mini puffed pastry filled with nuts, sweetened sweet potato and cran-berries. Handy kitchen assistants were Jim Noe, Helen Hikiji, Ben and Rosie San Miguel. After the 73 guests from the dancing clubs of Em Yamada, Prudy Gin, Gardena Valley, Langley, and our own NDC and friends had sometime to relish their refreshment and socialize, it was time to do some line dancing. Edna Kurihara chose Mambo Italiano and Beautiful Sunday to get dancers off their seats and on their feet. The social took on an international theme and appearing in her Dutch attire was Connie Ciranna looking very chic. Thanks to DJ Yuso Kurihara for doing a fine job. Thanks, too, to all who pitched in to help throughout the evening. The friendliness of the organiz-ers, club members and guests certainly is the key to claim the Center as a “best value” gathering place to enjoy dancing and socializing. Please join us at the Spring Fling, March 24th.

N O R WA L K D A N C E C L U B Rosie San Miguel

N O R WA L K N I K K E I S E N I O R S

The Nikkei Seniors’ Shinnen Kai luncheon was to be held at the VIP Restaurant in La Palma, but due to the heavy rain and drainage prob-lems surrounding the restaurant, the City of La Palma ordered the closure of the restaurant for a few days. The Restaurant informed the seniors of this problem at 5:30 pm, the evening before their event…...so after scrambling for a new luncheon location and thanks to the “telephone tree” committee, all of the members were notified of the change of the restaurant location and all 55 seniors showed up the following day at KING PALACE BUFFET in Bellflower and en-joyed the delicious food and socializing.

The Seniors’ February meeting happened to fall on “VALENTINES’S DAY’, so they enjoyed eating a lot of chocolate valentine candies with their lunch and also the delicious home-baked cookies made by Harriet Sugita. We thank our seniors for kindly preparing the mailing of our Center newsletters that are sent out 6 times a year. The May issue will comprise of raffle tickets for our Cultural Festival so it will be a larger mailing effort. Seniors happily welcome back Roy Takeshita and Taz Hayashi from illness and surgery. They have been missed.

The annual Recognition Dinner and Awards Night APRIL 21 - Saturday 5:30 Social Hour, 6:30 Dinner

Service and Scholarship Awards, Entertainment, Prizes and Raffle Drawings and Door Prizes Join us to applaud our honorees and enjoy the evening starting with a Island Style Dinner Contact any club rep for tickets or call 562.863.5996 and leave your name and address requesting dinner tickets or contact Richard Shinomoto — Send in your ticket stubs and check by April 14. Tickets: $25 adult ($10 tax deductible) $10 student, $5 child under 12

For info call Richard Shinomoto 562.754.8582

Quotes for the Day I hear, I know. I see, I remember. I do, I understand. Confucius

********

Today ’ s efforts

lead to tomorrow ’ s

success.

NDC Winter Social January 28, 2012 With the dampness and chill of a winter evening it was a pleasant surprise to have a very nice showing of 85 guests. Helen Hikiji, chairperson for the dance, welcomed everyone with lots of cheer to celebrate the Chinese New Year. Char sui baos were served with a delectable Chinese salad. Irene Yip, owner of a sandwich shop in Long Beach, was very generous to bake several buttery and light delicious cakes. A topping of whipping cream on each slice made it a perfect dessert. There is something unique in watching the line dancers. They are a happy group with happy expressions on their faces. Edna Kuri-hara introduced her selections of line dances and started with Black Velvet and finished off with Old Time Rock and Roll. The evening went very smoothly. It was particularly great to see many newcomers enjoying themselves. Thanks to DJ Yuso Kuri-hara for being dedicated in providing the music and making it so convenient with the print out list of dances. NDC International Night Social Feb. 25 You can usually expect the unexpected when Harriet Yamada chairs the evening’s social. Deviating from the usual refreshment

Toby Fusato

NON-PROFIT ORG.

U.S. Postage

PAID

Permit No. 109

Norwalk CA 90650

Southeast Japanese School & Community Center “Tomodachi” a Bimonthly Newsletter March 2012 Norwalk CA 90651-0434

CALENDAR Operating Bd Mtg-1st Wed Monthly 7pm Center Bd Mtg-2nd Wed Monthy 6:30pm Mar 17 NYS Jr. Basketball Banquet 24 NDC Spring Fling 7-11 pm Apr 7 Monthly Bingo 6:30 21 Recognition Dinner & Awards 28 NDC Western Social 29 Center Clean-Up Day 9-Noon

May 5 Monthly Bingo 6:30 26 NDC South of Border Social Jun 2 Monthly Bingo 6:30 28 NDC South of Border Social July 14 Monthly Bingo 6:30 28-29 Cultural Festival