All posts by Frank Abe
Top 10 Iconic Japanese American Photos
Koji Steven Sakai on the 8Asians.com blog places the courtroom photo of the Heart Mountain Fair Play Committee number five on his list of the “Top 10 Iconic Japanese American Photos” of all time, ahead of the 442 and behind another local icon, the photo of Fumiko Hayashida holding her daughter Natalie while being evicted from their home on Bainbridge Island.
Post-screening discussion on Bainbridge Island
Bainbridge Island audiences get it. They’ve embraced the exclusion very easily simply as part of their history, much like the residents I met in Eden, Idaho. Thanks to the 100 Islanders who came out Friday night for the DVD screening and discussion at Sakai Intermediate School. And thanks to Kay Sakai for sharing her memory not only of James Omura living on Bainbridge, but of working in the hospital on the night of the Manzanar Riot! See the photo gallery on our Facebook movie page, photos courtesy of Vivian Esteban Hwang, and a video glimpse of the audience watching the screening, courtesy of Vern Nakata.
Newspaper cover story
I admit was floored when I saw the Northwest Asian Weekly put its review of our DVD on the front page this week. I mean, I was glad to talk to their correspondent, Andrew Hamlin, but not this. Editor Stacy Nguyen didn’t think so either, at first, but she read the piece and thought it was a great story. So she put it up there.
Regarding the reference in the piece to anti-war movements of the 1960s, I hope readers don’t come away with the notion that the Heart Mountain draft resisters were in any way pacifists or somehow reluctant to fight in WW2. These were guys who said they would be glad to fight – just as soon as their rights were first restored and their families released from camp. And the proof of that is that some of the guys who served time in prison for refusing to be drafted from inside a concentration camp, later gladly reported for duty, as free Americans, when drafted into service for the Korean War.
Incidentally, the DVD will be back in stock early this week at Kinokuniya Books at Uwajimaya in Seattle. Thanks for those who have asked for it there, it helps keep the bookstore interested in carrying Japanese American material. If you can’t make it there, it’s also available here.
Remembering David Ishii, Bookseller
Thanks for visiting from our tribute in Crosscut Public Media on the passing of David Ishii, Bookseller.
David put a public face on the wartime incarceration of Japanese Americans for generations that passed through his store, read the exclusion order framed on the wall, looked through his shelves of Asian Americana and Pacific Northwest history, and stoipped to talk to him about redress, the resisters, or the nearby birthplaces of John Okada and Monica Sone. David was a friend of our film, and his passing leaves a deep hole not only in our hearts but in the life of the city he enriched with his passions for baseball, fly fishing, the opera and all the arts. He connected us all and built community.
See also our comments in The Seattle Times, “Longtime bookseller David Ishii was quite a story himself.”
Photo courtesy of Deb Todd
Seattle DVD release and screening at the Wing Luke Musuem
Thanks to the more than 75 who came out today for the Seattle DVD release at the Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience. Some were waiting in line for the museum to open at 10am to get a ticket for the 1pm screening, then quickly filled the Tateuchi Story Theater. This was one of our most rapt audiences, who laughed in all the right places; even the babe in arms enjoyed the film quietly.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts and questions and it was a pleasure to meet so many of you afterwards, including Miyoko who told me the story of why Jim Akutsu switched churches after the death of his mother. For Mike Tagawa, who told me of his days as an original Black Panther, here’s the ITVS documentary with lost footage of the Panthers that just aired last week on PBS. I’m sorry I lost track of the woman who wanted the Japanese lyrics to the Song of Cheyenne, I wanted to direct her to this image of the actual scrap of paper that we found in James Kado’s wallet. It is this song to which Mako fit the melody of the Japanese Hawaiian work song, “Hore Hore Bushi,” and which we were delighted to be able to include on our new Two-Disc DVD.
I also want to thank the staff for their terrific arrangements for todays’s DVD release: community programs manager Vivian Chan, education director Charlene Mano-Shen (who said the audience was “blown away” by the experience, and who is pictured above welcoming them) and Hanh Pham and Trayvian in The Marketplace. Speaking of which, only at The Marketplace can you now obtain the hard-to-find 18×24 inch film festival poster for CONSCIENCE AND THE CONSTITUTION, for the nominal price of $5, half of which goes to support the museum.
If you saw the screening today, or any past screening, please leave your feedback here.
DVD review in International Examiner and preview of Seattle screening
Thanks to Moira Macdonald of The Seattle Times for highlighting in her column in the “Movietimes” section our first public screening of the new Two-Disc Collector’s Edition DVD of “Conscience and the Constitution.” And thanks to those who have RSVP’d on Facebook. No reservation or ticket needed. Just come by the Wing Luke Asian Museum in the Tateuchi Story Theater, 719 South King Street, Seattle, on Saturday, Feb. 18 at 1:00 p.m. Producer Frank Abe will screen the film and debut a new DVD featurette, “The JACL Apologizes,” on events that occurred after the film’s release, answer questions, and sign DVD’s.
Also in Seattle, see the new review in the International Examiner. Having read the paper for decades, it’s an honor to be included in the IE Arts section edited by poet and greengrocer Alan Lau. This review from Chizu Omori is among the most detailed yet. Looks great online but the article is truly impressive in print, pick up the paper if you can.
Finally, this Saturday, Feb. 11, Seattle University is hosting the The 25th Anniversary of the United States v. Hirabayashi Coram Nobis Case: Its Meaning Then and Its Relevance Now, with a lineup starting with Tom Ikeda and Peter Irons and ending with the Sansei attorneys on the legal team. Should be quite a reunion with old friends.
In memoriam: Gordon Hirabayashi
Obscured in much of this week’s news coverage of the passing of Gordon Hirabayashi is the fact that Gordon was not only a Constitutional test case, he was a Nisei draft resister like the Heart Mountain boys. His case, along with those of Fred Korematsu and Min Yasui, was opposed by the wartime Japanese American Citizens League because, as Mike Masaoka puts it on our DVD, “they were criminal cases,” and JACL favored its own civil habeas corpus case fronted by the irreproachable Mitsuye Endo. Listen to how Mike explains it in our bonus DVD audio feature, “Masaoka on test cases.” Read the New York Times obituary.
Final DVD artwork
All of the new DVD artwork is now posted in our Online Press Kit for viewing and download. Still waiting for the empty cases to arrive from New Jersey before the factory can cut the inserts and assemble the packages. In the meantime, here are samples of the labels and the inserts, which if you click on and enlarge, will show you details of all the bonus features on both discs.
 |
 |
|
|
Front cover
|
Back cover
|
Scene selection menu
|
 |
|
|
|
Outtakes menu
|
Interviews menu
|
Disc One label
|
 |
||
|
Disc Two label
|
Disc One insert
|
Disc Two insert
|
Preview of DVD casewrap and menu screens
Thanks to the 144 of you who have up to this moment Liked our new page on Facebook and are visiting here for the first time. We’re gearing up for delivery of the finished DVD’s. The discs are replicated and labeled, the artwork for the casewrap and insert has been perfected and in the hands of the production house for printing and cutting, and the flip-tray clamshell cases are on order. All that remains is for the assembly of the pieces into the cases and the final shrink-wrap. And the shipments. We have several pre-orders to fill plus those who were promised DVD’s with their VHS orders over these last few months; we thank you for your patience and believe the wait will be worth it.
The casewdrap design for the DVD is shown here. Click on the image to examine the text and design in closeup. Also to the right is the design for the Outtakes menu on Disc One, which you can click on and enlarge to preview the titles of the 11 new outtakes.