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.
Chasing Cherry Blossoms
Episode 3: Where are you REALLY from?
Guests: Dr. Brett Esaki at University of Arizona and Dane Ishibashi at Bunkado
Tin begins her journey as a biracial Asian American by traveling to Tucson to meet Dr. Brett Esaki, an assistant professor in the East Asian Studies Department at University of Arizona. Dr. Esaki – whose grandparents met in a Japanese American incarceration camp – shares his unique perspective on the camps, and along with insights on the power dynamics of silence in the Japanese-American community. She then travels to Little Tokyo in Downtown LA to meet Dane Ishibashi, the manager of legacy gift shop Bunkado. Dane talks about his experience as a fifth-generation Japanese American and the recent changes happening in Little Tokyo.
Produced by Tinnley Sawan Subsin
Check out other episodes and slide shows on our website.
