S2E7 Nisei Week and Beyond: Uniting Generations Through Tradition with Helen Ota

In this engaging episode of the Japanese America Podcast, hosts Michelle and Koji take listeners on a nostalgic journey through the vibrant summer festivities of Japanese American culture. They share delightful anecdotes from events like Obon and Nisei Week, highlighting the unique traditions and foods that make these celebrations special. The episode features a captivating interview with Helen Ota, the 2025 Nisei Week Foundation President, who discusses her leadership journey and contributions to the community, including her work with the Cold Tofu improv group. For more information about the Japanese American National Museum, please visit our website at www.janm.org. 

CREDITS

The music was created by Jalen Blank

Written by Koji Steven Sakai

Hosts: Michelle Malazaki and Koji Steven Sakai

Edited and produced by Koji Steven Sakai in conjunction with the Japanese American National Museum

Transcript

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A dish you only eat during Obon or Nisei Week instantly says summer to you. Well, summer food for me it's somen. Somen is like the thinner cold noodle, but it cooks in like 2 to 4 minutes. Almost like an instant lunch or dinner or. I think for me, it's. I know you don't like it, but it's the dango. Oh. No. For Japanese Americans, it's the the little like donut. Yeah, I didn't know dango means donuts in America. And also the chili rice. Oh, yeah. Chili rice is good, but dango. Ah, I was expecting the mochi dango. And then I got the donut. I was so disappointed. But it's the only time I eat either of those things anymore is during Obon. We were just at the Venice Obon, and, that was like the. That was like the first thing I wanted to eat. So I can only eat it during the summer. And I obon and so it really makes me think of, obon. Boy, oh, you're making me hungry now. Welcome to season two, episode number seven of the Japanese America Podcast, the podcast where we explore the blend of Japanese and American cultures, history and traditions, as well as all the quirky and wonderful things in between. My name is Michelle and I'm one of your hosts. And I'm the other host, Koji Michelle. Have you been any Obon so far this summer? Yes, I went to Higashi Hongwanji Obon festival. Oh, nice. So what did you. What did you do there? I did, I performed there comedy. Yeah. Where? Where did you perform? Oh, they have a stage outside now. Yeah. And oh my gosh, they they got beer garden and and they also have teriyaki beef and chicken. So good. And they also have kakigori my favorite somen dango. Everything else. So good. Nice. We just went to the Venice one, which is pretty small, but, uh, it's not even in Venice, by the way. It's like Culver City, I think is where it actually is, but it's a it's a fun one. Uh, we just haven't been able to go to a lot because we've been traveling. But, uh, when we were in Kauai, we, uh, we drove by a obon, and we didn't get to go, but we were excited to see an obon in Hawaii. Kauai where we were. Oh, it's August, and if you ever spend time in Little Tokyo, you'll know this is a special month. It's nisei week. Yeah. Nisei week is an annual summer festival held in Little Tokyo, Los Angeles, celebrating Japanese American culture, history, and community pride. Originally created in 1934 uplift to Nisei while second generation Japanese Americans during the Great Depression. It's grown into a vibrant, multi-week celebration that welcomes people of all backgrounds, from taiko drumming and street dancing to the Grand Parade and the crowning of the Nisei Queen. It's a joyful blend of tradition, resilience and cultural expression. Koji what are some of your favorite nisei week memories? I remember growing as a kid, and I remember watching the parade and having a good time. I remember going to the festival as a kid, but probably my favorite memory was, I think the first year I worked at the museum and I, they forced me to be in the parade, which is, I don't know if you've ever seen the parade. It's like one block. It's like a block and a half, but it takes like three hours for some reason. So it's incredibly long. But I remember it was the year that I think a J-pop band or some famous J-pop person was there. And so we were standing there in the parade, and all of a sudden all these bands ran past us and I didn't know what was going on. And then somebody told me it was somebody famous, and they were all trying to go say hello to this guy. So that was that kind of scared me, but it was fun. What about you? Do you have any favorite? Have you been Nisei Week week? No. I always miss it because I'm always out of town in August. Okay, you can go next week. I know I'm going. I'm going, I'm going this year because I like all the festival food. I have to go. And the parade, I mean, the parade. You know, the good thing is, is short. So doesn't does it take a really, really long time. Oh, and I saw that the cruising in j town. I want to see that too. Oh the the new exhibition. Yes. At the museum. Yeah. It's about, uh, the, the car culture, the Japanese American car culture. So you guys, if you if you're around, you should definitely check that out. All right. This month we brought on Helen Ota, the 2025 Nisei Week Foundation president. Helen Ota is a long time performer and cultural leader in the Japanese American community. She's the artistic director emeritus at Cold Tofuy, the nation's premier Asian American improv group and member of the Grateful Crane Ensemble, a former Nisei Week princess and past president of the Nisei Week Foundation. Welcome, Helen. So, Helen, why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself? You know, that question is always so hard to answer or I don't know why. It's like, where do you begin? So I was born in Los Angeles, lived in Southern California all my life, raised in Torrance, and now I live in Los Angeles again. I've been in the Silverlake area since 2005. I've been involved with this with our community for many, many, many years as we kind of joked about earlier Koji. But it probably started in 1989 when I got involved with Newsweek. And from there I served as the artistic director of Cold Tofu Improv, which is the nation's first and longest running Asian American comedy, improv and sketch group. And that's how actually, Koji and I kind of got to know each other by way of the work we did at the Japanese American National Museum. I served for 15 years, and I performed with the group for about 25 years, and I still teach, um, improv today with tofu, which has been a joy. I've been involved with the Nisei Week Foundation for about, well, I guess in the early 2000, um, after I had been involved with Nisei week and, and then I've been in the nonprofit industry since the 90s, worked at the Japanese American National Museum. JACCC Go for broke a running joke is what's the next JA organization I'm going to work for? And then, uh, currently I'm an independent contractor, so I help different groups with fundraising, outreach, um, event planning. And I also perform as well. So I perform with the Grateful Crane Ensemble, um, as well as Asian Persuasion. It's a lot of fun. Tell us a little bit about Nisei Wek and the importance in the community. Sure. Um, well, Nisei Week is one of the longest running ethnic festivals in the United States. Um, first started in 1934, and the efforts was to really bring in people to come in and buy things at the different businesses and really invigorate Little Tokyo. And it's held every August over nine days. And so we I think the importance of it is outside of supporting the Little Tokyo community. It really does highlight sort of the Japanese and Japanese American culture arts heritage over the years. And what we've found is we've been able to work with some really great partners, like the organizations I mentioned earlier, the Museum, JACCC, East West Players, Little Tokyo Community Council. And I think what we what the festival does is bring people to Little Tokyo, but so do all of the other organizations. We're just one of many that sort of invigorates that community. What is your family? Think about your time as First Princess. You know, at first I think they were a little hesitant. So my my dad is what you would consider Kibei Nisei. And my mom is Shin Issei, so I think they were they knew of Nisei Week. I think they just didn't know what to expect. So I think they were a little hesitant, but they were very, very supportive. I think for me, seeing my parents and my family and actually even my uncles and my aunties and cousins come out to support me. When I ran for Nisei Week, you know, I think I didn't realise what a huge deal it was like. I understood what Nisei Week was up until that point, but I guess seeing my family and friends come out to support me in that way was really special. What did being part of Nisei Week teach you about Little Tokyo and the JA community? So back then in 1989. It was a little different. But what I learned is there's so many people involved, not just with Nisei, but within the community, especially within Little Tokyo. Whether it was organizations or businesses, there were so many different working components and so many individuals involved. I remember feeling a little overwhelmed by the sheer number of people and companies and organizations. We were meeting. So many people involved, so many organizations, so many businesses, especially back in 1989. What I learned is that everybody. Everybody has their own thing. But when it comes time to like, gather. And work towards one thing. And if that's supporting Nisei Week Festival, that at that point, then everybody somehow comes together and supports one another. Whether it's by way of supporting their Queen candidate or wanting to be in the parade or one of our honorees. You know, the pioneers, it's really great to kind of see how the community comes out for that. What is something about being on the Nisei court that people don't realize? Well, there's a lot of things. Obviously, the program has evolved over the years. So 1935 was when the first queen and court were selected. And so 90 years ago, and that was done by people coming into Little Tokyo supporting a business. And then they would be able to vote for who they wanted to be queen. So the person with the most votes got selected. So I'm assuming I don't know this for sure, that I'm sure the more you bought things, the more votes you got. I'm assuming. So that's how it started. It evolved, of course, into what we typically see in America or the US as a pageant. But today it's become, um, less about who will be queen and more about how do we take these 6 to 7 young women and get them engaged in the community and become active members and active leaders? So it's become more of a professional development program with the competition still. But now these young women are at various events throughout the year. They travel to Japan for the Nagoya Festival, Los Angeles to sister city and to Hawaii and San Francisco for their, um, cherry blossom festivals. So there's a lot going on, and it's not just during the summer. They're active for almost 16 months from training in April through the following festival year. So the following year they're running around quite a bit. Oh fun question. Any obachans in the community try to set their sons up for a date? Uh, no. And not all. By obachans I will say my I went to a wedding the year that I was part of the court, and when I got back, I was out of town. Wedding. When I got back, I got a phone call from a guy, a random guy, and who had asked me out for a date, and it turned out that my cousin had given that person my, well, our family's phone number, because back then we didn't have cell phones, obviously. And so that was probably as close as you're going to get to as someone trying to set me up, I went on that date, I went out to lunch with the person. He was as nice as can be, but, you know, it didn't work out. It was just one date and that was it. Do you get to keep your tiara? Yes. We do. So, uh, nowadays, the, uh, Queen and the court get to keep their their crown. When I ran, actually, I don't remember getting a specific crown, but I represented the South Bay Japanese American Citizens League, and they gave me a crown. So I think when we had to wear one, I just for that particular one. What about the sash? And the sash too. Yes. So what's interesting is the sash nowadays the the candidate or the court, they, they get a lot of pins from the different organizations that they help out or um, in Hawaii, San Francisco, Japan, they may get some pins. So now their sashes are filled with all these pins from different groups. Yeah. It's kind of an interesting way to sort of show how active they are throughout the year. Did you wear the sash after your duty was over? Um, I'm going to admit this. Yes, I did, but not not because I wanted to walk around telling people I was a former first princess. When during my time with Cold Tofu, the improv group. We did a couple of sketches and it was called. One of them was called Mister Nisei Week, and we actually performed it at one of the coronations in the Aratani theater. So it was our take on what would it be if the men ran for Nisei Week? And we just basically replicated what the candidates do today and had our guys, um, do the same thing. And so I used my sash because because I was the emcee in the sketch. Do you think with the, um, gender equality, should we have, like, a JA prince? Yeah, there's actually been talk about having a Nisei Week King over the years, and we've I don't think anyone's really sort of hopped on that idea to sort of make it happen. Uh, I think it would be fun. I nominate my son. Oh, yes. But they have to be able to dance and sing. Oh, no. I take them back. He can't do that. He has no rhythm. Okay. Well, actually, Koji, there's no talent judgment. So he could. Koji's son is very talented in baseball. Baseball. That's it. Oh, well, there you go. Oh, that's right, that's right. So he could show off his baseball skills. That's very funny. And talking about your time as a president, the theme of Kansha gratitude for 2025 is deeply meaningful. What is most profoundly appreciated within the Japanese American community? What challenges remain that must still be addressed with courage and vulnerability? Kind of going back to what I said earlier, what's really profoundly appreciated within the community is how this community somehow, you know, comes together when it counts. You know, when I think about all the different organizations that not only reside in Little Tokyo, but within the different communities within Southern California and the individuals who are involved. Who come from all walks of life. You know, there's so many different mission statements or reasons why we get involved. And sometimes they come together and sometimes they conflict, which is okay. I think, you know, we all can't be the same in that sense. But I think what we truly appreciate is even with that, when it's time to come to support one another, you know, we're facing some challenging times right now. Little Tokyo was deeply affected by the what was happening with Ice agents and protests. They're so close to the action that a lot of businesses were affected. And so I feel like when those moments happen or when Covid or when the fires happened earlier this year, the community somehow gathers immediately to support the groups that need that, you know, that help. And I think for Nisei Week we really kind of see that moment as very meaningful. And we are grateful for it because a lot of that for us, we see that when it's time for Nisei Week Japanese Festival, all the organizations really come together to help and support the festival. Come out to the parade or as I said earlier, support their candidates or support the different honorees and pioneers that we're recognizing and, you know, supporting the businesses and organizations while we're there. And we've been also lucky to be able to partner with a lot of those organizations, as I mentioned earlier. So for us, you know, Kansha for us this year is really being able to say thank you. And, you know, really, we're so grateful for that support. I think some of the challenges, you know, we always talk about how do we get the next generation involved and, you know, keep them involved. And I think that's been a really good discussion. And they're part of that appreciation and gratitude moment as well, because we really do want them involved. The challenge is how do we provide them those opportunities to be involved and engage and lead at certain points, all while under that same conversation, making sure that we don't forget those who come before us, who are still involved. They hold institutional knowledge and history, and they're a very important part of that conversation, too. So it's a balance of really making sure that when we have discussions about engaging the next generation to ensure that we are able to sustain everything we want to do, that we cannot ignore the important generation that has come before us and who are still around, and making sure that, you know, there's what is an intergenerational commitment and involvement. If someone listening today wants to get involved in Nisei Week but feels disconnected, what would you say to them? I would say, come out to the festival and experience it at least once. There's so many things to experience. We have the Plaza Festival that typically happens on the second weekend. We have taiko gathering. We've got the big public dancing and closing ceremony on the last day, August 17th. Or they can come out for the big parade on the first Sunday of our festival, or even come out to our coronation, which is actually we're doing something new. It's called the Coronation and Awards Celebration. So there'll be a split focus will be announcing who will be the Queen and court at coronation on August 9th. And then the other part of that programme will be recognising and honouring our Grand Marshal Parade Marshal Francis K Hashimoto, Community Service Award winners and our Inspiration Award honorees. So I would say, you know, just come out for that festival and experience it and really kind of feel the community coming together. There's there's a thing about coming out to something in person and really connecting with the community, connecting with the organization, or connecting with the people who are attending these kinds of, um, moments, whether it's the Nisei Week Festival or a program out of any of the many organizations there. Thank you Helen. And if you've never experienced Nisei week, this is your year to dive in. The 85th Nisei Week Japanese Festival takes place in Little Tokyo, Los Angeles across two weekends, and I guess we've already missed weekend one. But there's still weekend two, which is on August 16th and 17th from Taiko drumming and street dancing to cultural exhibits, food and iconic Grand Parade, it's a celebration of Japanese American heritage, resilience and joy. Whether you're reconnecting with your roots or just curious to learn more Nisei week welcomes everyone. For the full schedule and event details, you can visit the official website at Nissei Week.org If you were a Crowned Nisei Week Queen tomorrow, what would your Royal decree be? Let me just say I wanted to be a Nisei queen so bad I didn't. I didn't understand why they didn't let me. I think it'd be awesome. They should totally do it for dudes. Um, I think that'd be a really great opportunity for the boys to learn something. So I'm going to say, you know, my son is 13. We have seven years to get that happening. But my my first royal decree would be that everyone has to bring Japanese food to me, and so I could taste it and tell them what I think of it. That would be my decree. What about you? What would your royal decree be? Well, I guess eat dango, be happy. I get that, I guess that's to myself because I like a dango donut. But see, I am gonna eat dango and be happy myself. So everybody. I was going to ask you which dango? It's the dango. The the donut dango. Donut dango. Okay. And be happy. Exactly. Well, you can't. I mean, it's hard to be unhappy when you're eating fried dough. I mean, it's it's pretty good tasting. If you grew up in America and you were, you know, Japanese American and grandma in America, would you have wanted to be queen? I guess, but I want to be a princess because Queen has more responsibility. You know Princess don't have that much responsibility. You just have to be pretty. No, you don't have to be pretty just to be. Or sit pretty. sit pretty I just wanted to be a pretty person. So there you go. I thank you all for listening to our podcast, where you're deeply grateful for your continued support and enthusiasm for the Japanese America Podcast. Your engagement, feedback and passion, and inspire us to keep sharing stories and perspectives that bridge cultures and bring two people together. Thank you for being part of our community and for tuning in to each episode. We are excited to continue this journey with you, exploring the rich and diverse tapestry of Japanese American experiences. Stay tuned for more exciting content, and don't hesitate to share your thoughts and ideas. This podcast is a program of the Japanese American National Museum Museum's mission to promote understanding and appreciation of America's ethnic and cultural diversity by sharing the Japanese American experience. Please rate, review and subscribe to our podcast and be sure to join us next month when we look into teachers. Teachers, and camps. So yeah, there are there are a bunch of teachers in camps. Did you know that they were, uh, they were these, uh, Caucasian teachers that that worked in the works in the concentration camps? Yes, I've heard about that. I want to know more about this. Yeah. And a lot of them got a lot of, uh, flack for for coming in and helping these these kids that were seen as the enemies that they were. They're being told, why are you helping? Why are you teaching these kids who are bad? And so a lot of them, I think, deserve a lot more recognition than I think that they've gotten so far. So I'm excited to be able to talk about it. Yeah, I'm excited to learn more about it. Okay. All right. Thank you guys. Well thank you. Bye.