Chasing Cherry Blossoms
Reframing the American story through the multicultural experience:
An educational community storytelling podcast series featuring conversations with Japanese Americans and beyond.
As Americans grapple with increasing tension and division, what can we learn from the past to connect with each other? The series features conversations with Japanese Americans and beyond, and explores identity, culture, and history in a multicultural society.
Produced by an educator and students with diverse backgrounds, the series aims to embrace and empower local communities with multicultural experiences to share their stories and reimagine the future together.
Episodes
11 episodes
Episode 11: Increasing Visibility: From Incarceration Camp to the National Medal of the Arts
Guest: Joan Shigekawa, Arts and Culture PhilanthropistMany artists with underrepresented backgrounds face additional challenges when they first try to set their career path. Gaby talks to Joan Shigekawa, who received the National...
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Season 2
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Episode 11
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28:18
Episode 10: The Last Japanese American Farmer
Guest: Russell Tanita at Tanita FarmRusty’s father was one of the thirteen children of Naomasa Tanita who started farming in Arizona in 1928. The family business grew into a farming empire, Tanita Farm, once the largest gr...
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Season 1
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Episode 10
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24:24
Episode 9: A Long Journey
Guest: Fumiko Sally Matsumoto Adams at Japanese American Citizen League Arizona ChapterGrowing up as a child of Japanese immigrants in the 1950s California often made Sally uncomfortable. After marrying her ...
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Season 1
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Episode 9
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20:05
Episode 8: The Secret of Longevity
Guest: Irene Tsukada Simonian at BunkadoThe COVID-19 pandemic forced many businesses to shutter, but as one of the few remaining original Japanese-owned businesses in Li...
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Season 1
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Episode 8
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24:07
Episode 7: The Strength of the Camps
Guest: Dr. Patricia Allyn Biggs at National Park Service, Manzanar National Historic SiteEvery year, Japanese American communities acr...
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Season 1
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Episode 7
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23:20
Episode 6: Being Asian American
Guests: Dr. Kathryn Nakagawa at Arizona State University / Baseline Flowers
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Season 1
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Episode 6
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22:54
Episode 5: Proud To Be Me
Guest: Cindi Kishiyama Harbottle at Japanese American Citizen League, Arizona ChapterIn the 1960s and ’70s, people used to travel long distances to see the Baseline Flower Fields in...
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Season 1
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Episode 5
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29:17
Episode 4: Asian Enough?
Guests: Kathy Masaoka and Yasuko Sakamoto at Little Tokyo Service CenterTin’s next destination is the Little Tokyo Service Center (LTSC), an organization that provides social welfa...
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Season 1
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Episode 4
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23:25
Episode 3: Where are you REALLY from?
Guests: Dr. Brett Esaki at University of Arizona and Dane Ishibashi at BunkadoTin begins her journ...
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Season 1
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Episode 3
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24:13
