2011 Southern Arizona Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Conference
Theme: “Reach, Inspire, Connect”
Saturday, March 19, 2011
7:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Pima Community College, West Campus
2202 W. Anklam Road, Tucson 85709

Keynote speaker: Rear Admiral Colin G. Chinn, Medical Corps, U.S. Navy Director – Tricare Regional Office (West). Chinn is one of the highest ranking Asian Americans in the military. For bio/photo of Chinn, click here.

Workshops: special youth track, hands-on computer lab on the AAPI Census, Leadership Education for Asian Pacifics (LEAP) overview, new AZ AAPI Health Coalition, immigration, anti-Asian sentiment, Growing up Asian, Mixed-race, more.

Registration fee $40 up to March 4, 2011, thereafter $50, and $10 for all students (middle, high school & college). Registration fee includes breakfast snack, workshops & lunch.

The purpose of the conference is to bring together community members, business owners, students, and employers to share common goals, life/work experiences, history and commitment ,and to power individuals to build a healthy & productive community.

The first Southern Arizona AAPI conference was held in April, 2009 at the Tucson Chinese Cultural Center, with financial guru Robert Kiyosaki as the keynote speaker.

Registration form online at Pan Asian Community Allliance (PACA), www.panasiancommuntyalliance.org , or call Dorothy Lew at 520-512-0144, or email info@panasiancommunityalliance.org.

Sponsored by Raytheon, PACA, and Pima Community College.

And Happy Girl’s Day today to all girls & women, which is part of my Japanese-American culture. Enjoy sushi.

Taste of Asia flyer

Come to the Inaugural Taste of Asia (a taste of food, music, cultural performances & exhibits) all at one site, the beautiful Tucson Chinese Cultural Center (1288 W. River Rd.) on two days, Friday April 30 and Saturday, May 1st.

This cultural event runs 4 to 9 p.m. on Friday, 11 to 9 p.m. on Saturday. Admission is $3 (children under 12 free). Food and beverage tickets will be sold separately.

Food vendors will be offering delicacies from the countries of Thailand, Laos, Korea, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, India, Kazakhstan, and China, and there will also be Filipino and Japanese food for sale at the Marketplace. The performers will be diverse as well: Tucson Chinese Association Lion Dance Team, martial arts dojos, tai chi, Leiola Hula Halau, Fine Stream Gamelan, Arirang Korean Dancers, Odaiko Sonora, Tucson Sino Choir, and many more.

I am especially looking forward to hearing a Japanese traditional musical duo “Muso” on Saturday at high noon, performing shakuhachi flute (by Paul Amiel) and koto (by master teacher Hiroko Coates).

Being Japanese American from Hawaii, I will be looking for my cultural foods and music, but also expanding my knowledge about all the other Asian/Pacific Islander cultures as well. This is similar to smaller Asian/Pacific Islander heritage events which have been held in Tucson, but this is the first annual Taste of Asia.

For further info, call 520-292-6900 or log onto www.tucsontasteofasia.com or www.tucsonchinese.org. The Tucson Chinese Cultural Center is on the north side of River Rd., just east of La Canada.

Everyone is welcome to taste a Taste of Asia 2010.

“White Light Black Rain: The Destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki” documentary

Hiroshima after the A-bomb

Monday, March 1, at 7 pm

Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering (AME) Auditorium on UA campus, 1130 N. Mountain,
Northeast corner of E. Speedway Blvd. and N. Mountain Ave.

Free, and open to the public
Free, easy parking east of building
sponsored by Voices of Opposition, http://www.voicesofopposition.com/, call 520-622-6419

“With shocking archival footage, stunning photography, and heartrending interviews, this extraordinary documentary gives a deeply moving look at the painful legacy of the first use of nuclear weapons in war. Featuring interviews with fourteen atomic bomb survivors – many who have never spoken publicly before – and four Americans intimately involved in the bombings, this film provides a detailed exploration of the bombings. It is an important documentary for all to see in this nuclear age.” (from email sent from the Tucson branch of WILPF the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom)

Released on August 6, 2007 (on the 62nd anniversary of the bombing on Hiroshima), this HBO documentary is by Japanese American Sansei (3rd generation) filmmaker Steven Okazaki who met with 500 survivors. Read more here.

I wrote about a Hiroshima/Nagasaki Never Again event back in August, 2009 (click here), since my paternal grandfathers left Hiroshima in 1892 for the Kingdom of Hawaii, but we must have had relatives still living there in 1945.