ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS August-September

M/M Fred Tanaka $100 Benjamin Ogami 100 James Ozawa 100 M/M Yasukuni Fushimi 20 M/M Paul Yonezawa 30 Anonymous 100 M/M Dan Ikemoto 100 M/M John Oshiro 50 James Miyamoto In memory of Mary Ishii 20 May E I Cambra 100 M/M Roy Nagaoka 100 Minoru Matsumoto 300 Okimoto Automotive Ctr 250 M/M Roy H Okimoto Sr 500 Patsy Uyematsu 55 Karie Lasko In memory of Mary Ishii 100 M/M George Okimoto 100 M/M William Matsubara 100 Sonoe Koyasu (Yoga Class) 398.45 Norwalk Karaoke Club 200 Ayame Kai Odori 100 Sonoe Koyasu 150 Amy Miyakawa 200 Dorothy Nakagawa 50 M/M Moon Jew 125 Anonymous 100 Jiro Oka In memory of his father James Oka 40 Thank you for your kind generosity and continued support.

友

達

P R E S I D E N T ’ S M E S S A G E

Volume 16, Issue 5 September 2011 Newsletter

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

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Hi Everyone! During the festival, you may have noticed the newly remodeled kitchen. Thanks to Ted Yoshimura, our kitchen has new cabinets, a new sink, flooring, exhaust fans and vents, service counter and work tables. Ted not only spent long hours working on the kitchen himself, he coordinated and managed the project. Dave Fusato, Bob Yamada and Linda Kusuda generously dedicated many hours assisting Ted with the kitchen. Thanks to all of you, the kitchen looks fantastic. The kitchen is now open for business. After weeks of preparation, the July Festival and Ondo finally arrived. The Center membership really did a good job of promoting two days of fun, good eating, social interaction, enrichment and entertain-ment. If you haven’t seen old friends for awhile, chances were that you met them there. We’re grate-ful to the loyal community that supports our major fundraising effort. Year after year they come to spend a day or a few hours of relaxed time to view demonstrations, exhibits, and be entertained. This year, entertainment was provided by our Karaoke groups, NaWahine ‘O kawena, Kamaki and his Uku-lele group, Hikari Taiko, Classical Dance, Hawaiian Delites and Cerritos Ukulele. The demonstrations provided by Karate, Kendo, and Judo added cultural dimension to our learning. I hope you were able to see the Ikebana exhibit of floral arrangements. Thanks to our personable outdoor MC Tom Yokoyama. Tom sets up his au-dio system and during the show he offered bits of insight about music and the people. He also has a great singing voice. We cannot forget how Kathy Nishi-moto led all the Ondo dancers on Saturday and Sunday with the help of the Yamamoto family. Thank you. I would also like to thank Mike Hong for the electri-cal and lights for all the booths. Hopefully everyone attending had a good time and many thanks to our hard working mem-bers who helped make it a big success. A huge thank you to Sensei Long of our Judo Dojo who brought his refrigeration unit truck to the Cen-ter so everyone can use it for the festival. Along with that he donated 1000 pounds of ice for every-one’s use. Sensei Long’s generosity would not have been possible without retired electrician Larry Henderson and his electrical expertise. He brought a fellow electrician and together installed a three phase electrical box to run the refrigeration unit for his truck . I understand this work could cost up to $1500. We are deeply grateful to them for their time and effort and Sensei Long’s kind extension to use his refrigeration truck duration of the festival. Also a huge thank you to continued generosity from our friends in the nursery business who donate plants annually for our Plant Sale: Garibaldo’s Nursery of Bellflower, Pacific Nursery, Inc., Higo Nurs-ery, both of Gardena, Green Spot Nursery of North Hollywoodand S. Y. Nursery of Cerritos. Thanks to all the volunteers who helped out on Monday night after the festival; Kendo: Ted and Yumi Yoshimura, Steve Yoshimura, Megumi & Sumi Domen, Mrs. Hamamura, Mrs. Amano, Yoon family, Hahn family, Yoshijiro Kariya, Emil Nuygen, Jeffery Chang, DoloRosa Choi, Mrs. Nagasawa; Japanese School: Fred and Kimie Matsumoto, Yumi Ryan, Justin Kushi, Judo: Alex & Chris Fukuma, Johnson Long, Chung Hai, Bill and Billy Matsubara, Andy Chavez, Wayne Sugahara, Emillio Zavala; NYS: Glen Masumiya, Sam Chu, Susan Tagami, Gary Escovar, Ron Trias, Gilbert, Steffeni Kikuta and others Stan Kimura, Toshi Teramoto, Linda & Karin Kusuda. I’m sorry if I missed anyone. Our Ono Hawaiian Pancake Breakfast and Boutique is just around the corner. Mark your calendar for October 8th. The tickets are only $5.00 each. If you are interested in purchasing tickets, please con-tact Rich Tamaki. You can have breakfast and do your Christmas shopping all in the same day. After you finish shopping, stop by the kitchen and pick up lunch. Judo will begin selling lunch items around 9 o’ clock. Richard Shinomoto

Rising Stars Program High school students are encouraged to partici-pate in this vital leadership program to become effec-tive and successful indvidu-als. Develop confidence and obtain knowledge on what it takes to be an effective person in your careers and society. Turn to Page 4 for this life changing program.

Cheers after Ondo and Soran Bushi dances!

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H I K A R I T A I K O The weekend of July 22nd, 23rd, and 24th was very busy for Hikari. We had the concert at Pearson’s Theater in Anaheim on Friday and festival performances on Saturday and Sunday. The following week-end was a wedding at the Long Beach State University Japanese Gar-dens. That was a beautiful setting for the wedding with lush greens, tall trees and a huge pond. We have performed there many times and it’s always a nice setting. I’d like to thank the many members who helped setup for the festival, did booth duty at the Plant Booth and helped take down on Sunday evening. Also to the classes that performed and those that did the drumming for the odori dances. We were involved in many ways dur-ing this weekend and we needed the members to help out so we appreciate all the help. Coming up in August is a school program for the St. Lillian Catholic Church in Mission Viejo, a private birthday party and an-other wedding in Rancho Palos Verdes. Hikari Taiko is accepting begin- ner students (all ages) for a new class starting September 11th at 12:15 pm for one hour. Please call Mary Jane 562 924.1454 if interested. First class is free.

G A K U E N N E W S Mary Jane Mayeda

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

Kimie Matsumoto

The Norwalk Karaoke Club members enjoyed the recent Cultural Festival held on July 23 & 24. Akemi Jensen coordinated the program lineup of singers in addition to other associated duties. Thanks to all the perform-ers — Akemi Jensen, Yoko Kato, Chieko Kim, Ed Korin, Mary Nomura, George Real, Nobu Saito, Patsy Tsuda and Tom Yokoyama. Also perform-ing were members of the Hawaiian Karaoke Club Morimasa Kishimoto, Stan Shimomura and Harry Yoshimura. Tokuishi Sensei also joined the group of singers making a well-rounded program that included songs in English, Japanese and Spanish for the audience’s enjoyment. Last but not least, a very special thanks to Tom Yokoyama who comes early each year to set up the audio equipment and stays until the end of the long day to serve as the well-qualified master of ceremonies for both the kara-oke program and the ondo portion of the festival. On August 6, the Norwalk Karaoke Club, together with the Ayame Doko Kai odori group hosted the monthly bingo night. Membership in both organizations have decreased considerably however, it always seems that they pull together for this worthy cause and are able to donate a sizable amount to the center. Thanks to all members for their generous food donations and a very special thanks to members’ spouses who sup-port us: Yayoko Korin, Richard Oye, Ming Real and roger Tsuda. Betty Oshiro coordinated this effort with assistance from Mary Nomura, last year’s chair.

Pearson’s Theater, Anaheim

Hikari Taiko performing at wedding at LB State Japanese Gardens

J U D O D O J O

Welcome back to the new school year. We are excited to have an adult class on weekday evenings this year. It will be a beginner class only on Tuesdays and Thursdays 7:00-8:30 PM. Please let your friends know. We still have room in our kindergarten and be-ginner classes. Registration will be held the first day of classes on September 6 for adult class and September 10th 8:45 AM for chil-dren. Our “Back to School Day” will be held on September 24th. Parents are encouraged to sit in the classes and talk to teachers about the organization of the classes. Schedules will be sent home soon. “Undokai”, the traditional field day held each year in Japan during the month of October will be observed at Gerdes park on October 1st. This will be a family event to welcome the new families to our school. We’re looking forward to another wonderful year. Information about our school can be obtained on our website www.sejscc.org/B-Sch.htm.

State Games of America was held on Aug 6 at the Jenny Craig Pavilion , University of San Diego. It was an Olympic style Sports Festival of many sports including judo. From Norwalk, we had 10 competitors with the following finishes: 1st Kyle Morishima, Jason Sams, Albert Lee, Alan Lee 2nd Ismael Sakez 3rd David Agama Nikkei Games was held Aug 21 at the Pyramid, Long Beach State Uni-versity. From Norwalk, we had 19 competitors with following finishes: 1st Hunter Rodriguez, Jason Sams, Ismael Sakez 2nd Andrew Ravelo, Felix Berkan, Billy Matsubara, Alan Lee 3rd Damian Gonzales, Emi Zamorano, Emilio Zamorano, Alan Lee Golden State Open was held Aug 27 at the Anaheim Convention Center. It was a huge Martial Arts Festival of a variety of styles. From Norwalk we had 6 competitors with everyone placing. 1st Alan Lee 2nd Albert Lee, Jason Sams, Ismael Sakez 3rd Kay Sugahara, Derek Hsu Recent Promotions: To Blue: Jason Sams, to Green: Billy Matsubara, Derek Hsu, Louis Zhang, Ismael Sakez, to Yelloe: Damian Gonzales, Jose Gonzales.

Team Norwalk at State Games of America in San Diego.

Student flying over 4 adults at the Norwalk Judo Dem-onstration.

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

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

Our Seniors Boutique tables did well at the Cultural Festival generating $1368 in sales due mainly to our ladies lending a hand making scrubbers, water bottle holders, kitchen tow-elettes, colorful beaded/flowered hair clips, donations of new/unused items and Dave Fusato’s sale of the whirligigs. Dave’s creativity even included “a Hello Kitty” design. Thanks to all who kindly helped in this effort and also shared in working the tables. At the August 9th meeting, members enjoyed a very special time celebrating the 100th birthday for Ocean Miyake with a potluck luncheon and cake. Ocean is unique in that he is one of the oldest surviving members of the famous US Army 442nd regimental combat team of WWII who helped rescue the lost battalion in France. He has been honored at various events recently in the Los Angeles area including receiving proclamations from cities and Senator

Inouye. He was born in Santa Monica, attended Venice High School and UCLA before enlisting in the army. He attrib-utes his long and healthy life to good fortune and blessing by the Pope while stationed in Rome. Ocean is friendly, has a calm demeanor, smiles easily and enjoys coming to our meetings and playing bingo. We’re proud and happy to have him as a member and friend. “Show and Tell” meeting was an interest-ing and fun time when members brought their collection of key chains, hats, frogs,

Russian dolls, antiques, ducks etc. on Aug 23. Seniors can look forward to their annual BBQ luncheon on Sept. 27. It’s a time we can feast on juicy hamburgers and hotdogs with loads of condiments, salads and desserts “on the house”.

Leah Winter

Way to go Huskies! The 9th grade girls team won 1st place in their division at the Hollywood Dodg-ers Tournament in Las Vegas. Pictured here, they proudly wear the coveted black t-shirt awarded to champions: Kaelyn Kawamoto, Nikki Morinishi, Ingrid Gau, Allison Tran, Noelle Mathes, Kimi Ta-gami, Alyssa Wakamiya and Jazmine Gandhi.

Huskies

The Rockets 7th grade boys team played hard in the summer Nikkei 3-on-3 games and brought home the gold! The tournament is played at the Long Beach State University Pyramid each August. Congratulations to Jared Kawa-moto, Justin Chan, Ryan Murase and Cary Makiyama pictured at right.

The Blazers competed in the 9 yr. old division at the Pyramid’s Nikkei Games on August 13th, Saturday. They had two teams below.

Braeden, Nolan, Grant and Anthony won Gold! Zachary, Kevin, Luke and Grayson won Bronze!

Rosie San Miguel

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Yamada, Masa Morimoto, Prudy Gin, Langley and the NDC and friends. Special guests were Karen Toyoshiba and her hula group, the Na Wahine ‘O Kawena who danced three numbers during inter-mission. The guests enjoyed seeing the ladies do a combination of “Malia, My Tita”, which entailed a cha-cha rhythm and “Kou Kimo Mambo”, using a gourd or ipu. Karen performed an impressive solo number, “Ke Aloha”. The ladies completed the program with a beautiful dance which was another combination of two songs “Mahina ‘O Hoku and Aloha Wau ia ‘Oe”. Mahalo to all the attendees, the wonderful cooks, DJ Yuso Kurihara, and the NDC members who helped with the set up and cleaning, most espe-cially, mahalo nui loa to Karen and her hula la-dies for bringing a touch of Hawaii during inter-mission. Aloha until we see you at the Anniver-sary Dance, September 24th.

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N O R W A L K D A N C E C L U B NDC Hawaiian Social—August 27 Hosting the end of the summer social were Helen Hikiji and Gloria Sakoda. The menu consisted of an easy re-laxed menu. Tasty spam musubi were gener-ously made by Helen, Edna Kurihara and Harriet Yamada providing everyone with sec-onds to enjoy. Adding a healthier fare was Gloria Sakoda’s Asian cabbage salad with her own special homemade dressing. Edna and Helen donated additional sides of ginger and marinated cucumber slices. With fruits at their peak of sweetness, the watermelon slices, cantaloupes and pineapple went per-fectly well on a warm summer evening. Ma-halo to the kanes, who offered their help (kokua) , Richard Sakoda, Richard Oye, Ben San Miguel and Ken Yukimasa appeared quite at ease in the kitchen. In attendance were the dancing clubs of Em

To All High School Students: BE A RISING STAR

A reminder……BINGO OCT 1 hosted by JUDO 6:30 pm serving Won Ton Soup, Orange Chicken w/ Broccoli, Rice, Salad at 6 pm

NOV 5 hosted by NaWahine‘O

6:30 pm Kawena and Ukulele serving Kalua pork, cabbage salad, and rice at 6 pm. Come join us! Play $5 per card all night .

What does it take to be successful in school, in a future career(s), and in your community? What skills can you develop to be an effective leader? By participating in the Rising Stars Youth Program you will learn and ex-perience the skills needed for future success. The Rising Stars Program was started nine years ago to teach leadership and community organizational skills to high school students. The 2011-2012 program will begin October 22, 2011 and continue to April 1, 2012. the students will participate in a series of fun and interactive workshops held one or two Saturdays per month. The workshops include: “Teamwork”, which involves learning about different personality styles and how to deal with personalities that are similar and different from your own. “Assertiveness”, explores the advantages of assertiveness versus pas-sive behavior in school and at work, and where to draw the line between assertiveness and overly aggressive behavior.

“Speak to Persuade”, will teach practical elements of an effective presentation, including body language, eye control, hand gestures, as well as structuring the speech. “Financial Literacy”, will teach basic and practical financial skills, including budgeting or college. “Cultural Values”, will show how to recognize stereotypes based on biases that may affect the student in their education and ca-reers, and how to deal with it. “Networking”, will teach the benefits of networking and how to approach and talk to people in various settings. The high school students are invited to apply to the Rising Star Pro-gram on its website at Nikkeifederation.org. Enrollment is limited to 25 students. Don’t miss this opportunity that will change your life.

N O R W A L K K E N D O D O J O On August 12-13, the all United States Kendo Championships were held in Atlanta, Georgia. Our own Yoon Courtney made the Junior Girls Team for Southern California Kendo Federation and underwent nine months of grueling training to prepare for the tournament. She fought hard and we are extremely proud of her! Congratulations also to our trophy winners at the Nisei Week Kendo Tour-nament on August 28th: Trost Jeffrey (3rd place adult 0-4 kyu division) and Yoon Courtney (2nd place 11-13 division), and to Hahn Rex for win-ning 3rd place at Nikkei Games on August 21. Finally, thank you and gokurosama to everyone for helping with food preparation, booth setup and booth duty both days of the Cultural Festi-val. It was a huge effort, especially with all the new food handling proce-dures that were added this year. Thank you also to everyone who partici-pated in the Kendo demonstration on Saturday, and to the brave souls who performed soran bushi in keikogi and hakama; it was awesome that Kendo had its own row in the performance. And an extra big thank you to all the officers for their hard work planning, preparing and executing this event! Norwalk Kendo Dojo practices Mondays from 7:00 to 8:30 pm and Fridays from

from 7:30 to 10:00 pm. New members are welcome; beginners are ac-cepted on the first Friday practice of each odd month. The iaido group practices from 9 to 10 pm on Mondays; iaido beginners 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 web-site at http://www.eanet.com/norwalk or send email to norwalk-kendo@gmail.com.

Kodama Jean, Yoon Courtney and Yamaguchi Takeshi at the U.S. Championships in Atlanta.

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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 Southeast Gakuen: Kimie Matsumoto 562 926-2536 Hikari Taiko: Mary Jane Mayeda 562 924.1454 Adult Japanese Class: “ “ Norwalk Nikkei Seniors: Toby Fusato 562 860.7368 Ikebana (Flower Arrgmt): Ogawa Sensei 714 893.1245 Norwalk Dance Club: Edna Kurihara 714 847.1173 Guitar Class: Yuji Hata 562 695.1908 Japanese Classical Dance: Akemi Jensen 562 691.2764 Norwalk Youth Sports: Rich Tamaki 562 883.3383 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 Tanden/Yoga Class: Mrs. Koyasu 562 865.9652 Judo: Jim Glick 714.315.8503

Thanks to NYS, Judo, Kendo, Taiko, Karate for their photos and to Mary Jane Mayeda and Mia Fujii for their Festi-val photos. Editor lost her camera.)

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Southeast Japanese School & Community Center “Tomodachi” A Bimonthly Newsletter September 2011 Norwalk CA 90651-0431

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

Have a delicious breakfast and do your Christmas shopping early at our …….

OCTOBER 8 Sat. 8:00 -2:30 PM Fabulous handmade Crafts, Clothing, Jewelry, T-shirts, Giftware, Books, Silk Flowers, Sushi, Foods etc.

Over 40 vendors. For information call Edna Kurihara 714 847.1173, Helen Hikiji 714 994.1566

7:00-11:00 AM Benefits Youth Sports program and scholarships. Tickets…..$5.00 Breakfast includes eggs, rice, Portuguese sausages, pancakes, pineapple slices, juice, tea and coffee.

CALENDAR Highlights Operat’g Bd Mtg—1st Weds Monthly, 7 pm Center Bd Mtg—2nd Weds Monthly, 6:30 p Sept 10 Gakuen Classes Begin 8:45 am 10 Monthly Bingo Games 6:30 pm 24 NDC Anniversary Dance Oct. 1 Monthly Bingo 6:30 pm 8 Pancake Bkft & Boutique 22-23 VFW BB Tourney 22 NDC Halloween Social Nov 5 Monthly Bingo 6:30 pm 26 NDC Fall Social Dec 3 Monthly Bingo 6:30 pm 4 Annual General Mtg Luncheon Judo’s Mochitsuki 31 New Years Dinner/Dance

Norwalk Judo Dojo Norwalk Judo Dojo is now taking pre-orders for baked and/or steamed Char Siu Baos and Chicken Baos. A limited number of Char Siu Baos will be available for purchase at the Boutique for $1.50 each or $18 per doz. Chicken Baos will be $1.75 each. Orders may be picked up at the Boutique kitchen window on Saturday, Oct. 8th. Thank you for your support. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - cut and return with check by Sept 30- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - CHAR SIU BAO & CHICKEN BAO Pre-Order Form ______ Doz. STEAMED Char Siu Bao @ $16 Total Enclosed _______ ______ Doz. BAKED Char Siu Bao @$16 Check No. _______ Pick up orders Sat. Oct. 8th between 9 am to 1:30 pm ______ Doz. STEAMED Chicken Baos @ $18 Please make check payable to NORWALK JUDO Mail to: Norwalk Judo Dojo Name: ___________________________________ c/o Dean Wada Address __________________________________ 2111 Yucca Ave City: __________________________Phone:_________________ Fullerton CA 92835

Southeast Japanese

Language School

Begins Sat. Sept. 10,

may register that morning.

Join us on October 8th

Pancake Breakfast & Boutique