Current Events

Current Events
As of Dec 17, 2014
1/25, 2015 11am-4pm, Portland State University, Smith Memorial Student Union
Mochitsuki is Portland’s annual Japanese New Year celebration and has been a premiere
event in the local community since 1996. The goal of Mochitsuki is to celebrate tradition
by sharing Japanese and Japanese American culture. We welcome you to join the
celebration while enjoying the great food, performers, and activities presented at
Mochitsuki! http://mochipdx.org/
Before Memories Fade: Uncovering the Story of the Kida Family of White Salmon (12/13,
2014-2/22, 2015, Oregon Nikkei Legacy Center) Both heartbreaking and inspirational, Before
Memories Fade gives voice to a family's story that was at risk of being lost forever. Using firsthand materials and community recollections, our all-volunteer exhibit committee has been able
to walk in the footsteps of Kenjiro and Kay Kida and their son George. While this branch of the
Kida Family ended when George passed away in 1998, the memory of the family continues to
be carried in the hearts of their friends and neighbors. Visitors will be able to watch videos and
view photos of our exhibit committee visiting historic sites, interviewing friends and neighbors
of the Kida Family, and uncovering clues that tells us more about not just one Japanese
American family but the Nikkei experience itself.
http://www.oregonnikkei.org/exhibits.htm#exhibit
O-Shogatsu, New Year’s Celebration (1/1, 2015, 10am-2pm, Portland Japanese Garden)
Member only event. The Sheep (Hitsuji) is a symbol of peace, security, harmony and tranquilityessential elements to any Japanese Garden and a wise contemplation for the start of a new
year. O-Shogatsu, Japanese New Year, is the most important festival of the year in Japan. It is a
time for family and friends to celebrate this auspicious day together and wish for good health
and blessings in the New Year.As part of the celebration of the New Year at the Garden,
members and their guests are invited to participate in a hands-on experience with Sumi-e, the
traditional art of ink drawing. Guided by Sumi-e instructor Chiho Murphy, you need no
experience to enjoy this traditional New Year’s practice. Sample traditional Japanese desserts
from Yume Confections, sip tea from Jasmine Pearl and join the Garden family as we celebrate
the coming year. http://japanesegarden.com/events/o-shogatsu-new-years-celebration/
JASO & FPL Shinnenkai New Year Celebration 2015(1/14, 2014, 6:30pm, World Forestry Center,
Portland) Japan-America Society of Oregon and From Portland With Love are excited to
announce a Shinnenkai Celebration. Shinnenkai is the Japanese tradition of welcoming the
arrival of the New Year. http://www.fromportlandwithlove.org/
Brewed in Japan: Beer and the Entrepreneurial Spirit in Japan (1/15, 2015, 6pm, Portland
State University, Smith Memorial Student Union 327/8/9) Dr. Jeffrey Alexander reveals how
Japanese consumers adopted and domesticated beer in just a few generations, despite its
entirely foreign origins. His recent book, Brewed in Japan (UBC Press/University of Hawai’i
Press), spans the earliest attempts at beer brewing in the 1870s to the recent popularity of local
craft brews, charting beer’s steady rise to become the "beverage of the masses." The fortunes
and fumbles of Japan’s major brewers shed light on a variety of issues, including technology,
modernization, women, war, consumer preferences, and popular culture. Brewed in Japan
explores such themes as the advent of Western-style taverns and beer gardens, early
entrepreneurship in the beer market, the total control of beer production by Japan’s Ministry of
Finance during the Second World War, the rapid rise in women’s beer consumption postwar,
and the continued dominance of long-surviving firms like Asahi, Kirin, and Sapporo. Based on an
array of Japanese-language sources, this presentation will illustrate how post-war marketing
campaigns and shifting consumer preferences made beer Japan’s leading alcoholic beverage by
the 1960s. Free and Open to the public.
http://www.pdx.edu/cjs/events/brewed-japan-beer-and-entrepreneurial-spirit-japan?delta=0
Earthquakes, Wars and Rebels: Images of Disasters in Manga and Anime in Japan (2/12, 2015,
6pm, Portland State university, Smith memorial Student Union, Room 327/8/9) Professor of the
Columbia University Hikari Hori, is one of the leading experts on Japanese popular culture,
ranging from animated films (animé) to illustrated novellas (also known as comic books; the
Japanese term is manga), which enjoys remarkable worldwide popularity. Professor Hori will
examine how Japan is one of only three countries, along with the United States and Britain, that
exports popular culture worldwide, and also analyze several of the classic representations of
this popular culture. She will explore how natural and man-made disasters were visualized and
interpreted in Japanese popular culture. Free and open to the public.
http://www.pdx.edu/cjs/events/earthquakes-wars-and-rebels-images-disasters-manga-andanime-japan?delta=0
Free Admission Day (2/16, 2015, 10am-4pm, Portland Japanese Garden) Everyone is welcome
and encouraged to invite their friends, family, and fellow community members to visit the
Garden on this Free Admission Day. Garden Guides will be stationed throughout the Garden to
help answer questions and speak about the Garden’s history, culture, and traditions.
http://japanesegarden.com/events/free-admissions-day/
Memory Wars in East Asia II, Master Narratives of Modern Korean History Told in Museums
in Korea by Dr. Ken Ruoff (2/26, 2015, 6pm, Portland State University, Smith memorial Student
Union) This lecture is the second in the “Memory Wars in East Asia” series presented by Dr.
Ruoff. He focuses on the ways that governments and citizenry in the East Asian countries
remember their modern histories, particularly the colonial/imperialistic eras. This lecture
analyzes the manner in which exhibits at key museums in and around Seoul ranging from
Independence Hall to the newly opened National Museum of Korean Contemporary History
portray the modern history of the Republic of Korea (South Korea). According to Ruoff,
“Presently in East Asia, there is what might be termed a nasty ‘memory war’ transpiring
between countries such as Korea, China, and Japan over how to interpret the past, especially
conflicts between these countries, even as individuals in these countries themselves disagree
over how to interpret their country’s modern experience.” “When analyzing any historical
narrative,” he adds, “it is important to focus not only on what details are present in the
narrative, but also on what details are missing, and this is very much the case with the
narratives of national history that are presented at heritage sites throughout East Asia.”
http://www.pdx.edu/cjs/events/memory-wars-east-asia-ii-master-narratives-modern-koreanhistory-told-museums-korea?delta=0

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