PRESS ANNOUNCEMENTFor Immediate Release
Contact:
Naomi Funahashi, Symposium Coordinator,nfunahashi@jcccnc.org
Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California
1840 Sutter Street z San Francisco, CA 94115
415.567.5505 z www.jcccnc.org

Preserving California’s Japantowns Symposium to Highlight
2004-2005 CCLPEP Preservation Projects
SAN FRANCISCO (June 1, 2006) – On
June 9, the Preserving California’s
Japantowns Symposium will bring
together experts and practitioners ofhistoric and cultural preservation,community development, anddocumentation of historic sites to discuss
the unique opportunities and challenges
of preserving California’s Japantowns.

The 2004-2005 funding cycle of theCalifornia Civil Liberties Public Education
Program (CCLPEP) provided $500,000
in grants for historic and culturalCurrent Parker Center in 1949
Photo credit: Generations: A Japanese American Community Portrait

preservation projects to research,document and celebrate California’s Japantowns. Sponsored by the CCLPEP, the Preserving
California’s Japantowns Symposium will offer preservation grant recipients an opportunity topresent the current progress and outcomes of their cultural and historic preservation work.

The 2004-2005 CCLPEP preservation projects are:•Birth of a Community
Project Team: Naomi Funahashi, Lewis Kawahara and Soji Kashiwagi (Grateful CraneEnsemble)
This comprehensive Japantowns project explores, educates and celebrates the birth andevolution of Japantowns in California through the development of a website featuring
interactive virtual walking tours of the three remaining Japantowns, a musical theatricaljourney about Japantowns, distribution of an acclaimed book “Generations, A JapaneseCommunity Portrait” on San Francisco’s Japantown to California public libraries and SanFrancisco schools, and the convening of the Preserving California’s Japantowns Symposium.
•The San Jose Japantown Historic Context and Intensive Survey
Project Team: Joe Yasutake, Leslie Masunaga, Kathy Sakamoto and Jerry Hiura
The Historic Survey Project, implemented by the San Jose Japantown Community Congress(JCCsj) in partnership with the City of San Jose, explores the history of San Jose’s
Japantown region, determines important historical phases and identifies and studies thesignificant structures associated with Japantown’s history through an intensive survey.

•The Matsui Project
Project Team: Wayne Maeda and Timothy FongThis project will consult with the Robert Matsui family to arrange for his personal papers
relating to Sacramento’s Japantown and his Congressional records on Redress andReparation for permanent deposit at the Japanese American Archival Collections ofCalifornia State University Sacramento for processing and digitizing in accordance witharchival and professional standards.

•Bronzeville in LA’s Japantown
Project Director: Martha Nakagawa
This individual project seeks to document and educate the general public via a website on theexistence of Bronzeville during World War II in Los Angeles’ Little Tokyo.

•J-Town/Bronzeville Suite
Project Director: Dave Iwataki
The J-Town/Bronzeville Suite, composed by Dave Iwataki, is a 3-part suite that musicallyrepresents Little Tokyo and Bronzeville before, during and after the relocation years.

•Japanese American Historical Mapping Project
Project Team: Dale Ann Sato (Project Coordinator/Oral Historian), and website
designers/producers Jonathan Lee (Special Brand) and Keri Kaba (KabaKreations)This project explores the family migration and community history of the pre-World War II
Japanese American farming communities in the Palos Verdes Peninsula area of Los Angeles
County. These communities will be documented with oral histories and personal interviews
accompanied by digitally mapped aerial photographs and satellite images for placement on
an educational website.

•Japantowns of Placer County
Project Director: David UnruheThis research project explores the four once thriving Japantowns of Placer County – Penryn,Auburn, Newcastle, and Loomis – and what remains of them today.

•Preserving California’s Japantowns
Project Team: Donna Graves, Gail Dubrow and Jill Shiraki
This project will document over 40 Japantown communities that existed prior to World War II,
broadening public awareness and encouraging the preservation of places and memories
significant to historic Japanese American communities across California. Project research will
be compiled in an illustrated report that will provide a powerful tool for local communities, andadvocates for Japanese American heritage statewide, to plan for the protection of places
where historic buildings and landscape still exist, and in locations where community fabrichas been demolished, to ensure that the community’s history remains a vital part of ourcollective memory.

Representatives of each of the 2004-2005 CCLPEP projects will present an overview of theproject, progress and outcomes at 10:30 a.m. in Imperial Ballroom A at the Miyako Hotel on
Friday, June 9. Additional workshop sessions will be held once at 1:00 p.m. and again at 2:30
p.m., allowing for symposium attendees to attend multiple sessions and learn about a range ofpreservation tools, techniques and strategies.

The Preserving California’s Japantowns Symposium is organized by the Japanese Cultural andCommunity Center of Northern California (JCCCNC) in partnership with the California JapaneseAmerican Community Leadership Council (CJACLC) and the support of the California Cultural &Historical Endowment, California Preservation Foundation, the National Trust for HistoricPreservation, and the Nichi Bei Times.

Join us in engaging our communities to learn about the cultural and historic preservation of ourJapantowns. Symposium fees are $40 general registration (by June 5), and $10 student/senior
registration. Registration fees include a continental breakfast, box lunch, and buffet reception.

For general information or questions, contact Naomi Funahashi at nfunahashi@jcccnc.org or(415) 567-5505. For registration, call JCCCNC at (415) 567-5505 or visit
www.californiajapantowns.org.

About JCCCNC
Envisioned by the Japanese American community, JCCCNC will be an everlasting foundation ofour Japanese American ancestry, cultural heritage, histories and traditions. The JCCCNC strives
to meet the evolving needs of the Japanese American community through programs, affordable
services and administrative support and facilities for other local service organizations. The
JCCCNC is a 501(c)(3) non-profit community center based in San Francisco.

About CCLPEPThe California Civil Liberties Public Education Program (CCLPEP) was created in 1999 as theresult of the passage of the California Civil Liberties Public Education Act (AB1914 and AB1915)
sponsored by Assemblymember Mike Honda. The legislation creates the California Civil Liberties
Public Education Program, CCLPEP. Its purpose is to provide competitive grants for public
educational activities and the development of educational materials to ensure that the events
surrounding the exclusion, forced removal and incarceration of civilians and permanent resident
aliens of Japanese ancestry will be remembered and so that causes and circumstances of thisand similar events may be illuminated and understood. The CCLPEP has funded $5.5 million
over the past six years in more than 160 projects. For more information about the CCLPEP, visit
www.library.ca.gov/cclpep.
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