Concept Walk by Takashi Iba

Today is off day between the preparation and starting day of SIGGRAPH2008. We walked aroud downtown, because we will have no time to visit during the conference days. We take a lunch in China Town, visit Little Tokyo and some museums, and finally take a dinner in Korean Town.

One of the place we visited is "Japanese American National Museum". The contents of the museum is deeper than we thought before. There are many displays and evidences about the elimination and persecution of Japanese American by the U.S. Govement during the World Wor II. Japanese Americans, who thought they were the citizen of United States and were proud of it, were obliged to live in internment camps just because their roots were Japanese. Thus, they lost their identity, and the community was mortally devided. The museum is trying to hand down the history from generation to generation in a positive way.

There are some touching words on the panel. Here, I would like to quote and introduce them. The museum starts the place named as "COMMON GROUND：The Heart of Community", and the following words are displayed on the panel.

WHAT IS COMMUNITY? An American Story

Most of us belong to a variety of communities
--- both Communities of place and communities of spirit.

Community is not just where you live,
Community is also about who you are.

Forming a community is a process.
It takes hard work and commitment.

Cimmunity is where you heart is.
....

I thought it's a very simple explanation of the concept of "community". It's important to focus on the process of community formation. We can say that community exists only as a process. So we should keep "nexus of communication "for forming the community. Moreover, community is deeply related to "indentity" of the people.

The following words are displayed in the last part of the museum.

THE HISTORY THAT BONDS US ALL
The Future of the Japanese American Community

"We live with ghosts or spirits all around us, they are a sense of history that bonds all of us. Culture is alive and evolving ... The facts are not as important as the process of change and acceptance ... For we too are simply ordinary people with a universe passing by us and through us." (David Mas Masumoto)


Children become adults.
The old ones leaves us.

Community persists ------
in the stories we tell each other,
in the stories we tell others,

We learn what it is we have to know
from our families
and our communities.

Stories are retold in other voices.

As we reinvent america,
from monolithic to multicultural,
to include all of us
in all our magnificent diversity,
we forever re-vision the American experience.

The words quoted in the top is written by David Mas Masumoto, who is a "Sansei" novelist. The words on the panel show that a community as a process goes over individuals. Therefore, retolding (reproduction) is important for forming community.

Another panel also in the last part of the museum is as follows.

BEING JAPANESE AMERICAN
Thriving Community, 1945-2000

"Being Japanese American is the deepest part of me.
It gives a unique dimension to being a woman.
It's an inescapable part of me. without it, I am not whole ...
America needs what our heritage has to offer."
(Harriet Ishimoto, Sansei)

The years since World War II have brought many changes to the Japanese American Community.
Our postwar communities are now often communities of spirit, not community of place.
...

These words show the meaning of "community" and "identity" appropriately. Reading these words, I did think about my identity and community, which are not considered in daily life.


Photos shown below are taken in / from China Town. There are high buildings in the center of down town, but there are only low buildings in China Twon, Korean Town, and Little Tokyo. The difference between center and others are much obvious. It seems to be strange for me.