Miné Okubo: Citizen 13360 - Exhibit at the Oakland Museum

Miné Okubo was a Nisei artist, writer and social activist who recorded through art her life of confinement in US internment camps during the war. Her pen and ink sketches and observations of daily life in the camps became the book Citizen 13360, published in 1946. The title comes from the number assigned to her family unit. Despite nearly two years of confinement in camps at San Bruno's Tanforan Racetrack and Utah's Topaz Relocation Center, there is a refreshing lack of bitterness in the tone of her documentation and artwork.

The Oakland Museum of California is currently featuring a small exhibit of Okubo's work through August 1. There are a number of ink drawings and cliché verre prints, which is a technique using transparent material such as glass and light sensitive paper. These works depict everyday life within the camps, conveying its indignity and claustrophobia, but also a feeling of the inevitability of life itself, with its entire range of emotions, even humor.   

There is also a self-portrait which reflects Diego Rivera's influences, whom she assisted when he was creating a mural commissioned for the 1939-40 Golden Gate International Exposition. Okubo was a versatile artist with a Masters from UC Berkeley and training in Europe, and her successful career resumed after the war.

Copies of Okubo's Citizen 13360 are available at the Oakland Museum book store. I also recommend reading Miné Okubo: Following Her Own Road, edited by Greg Robinson and Elena Tajima Creef, published by the University of Washington Press in 2008 following Okubo's death. This is the first book-length examination of Okubo's work spanning 70 years. 

Museum notes on above images:

Untitled (Women bathing, Tanforan Assembly Center, San Bruno, California)
1942 / cliché verre
"The older women preferred the good old-fashioned bathtubs to showers. It was a common sight to see them bathing in pails, dishpans, or in tubs made from barrels."

Untitled (Bachelor playing solitaire, Tanforan Assembly Center, San Bruno, California)
1942 / ink on paper
"Nearly 400 bachelors were housed in the grandstand 'dorm.' They slept and snored, dressed and undressed, in one continuous public performance."

Quote from Citizen 13660

"In the camps, first at Tanforan and then at Topaz in Utah, I had the opportunity to study the human race from the cradle to the grave, and to see what happens to people when reduced to one status and one condition. Cameras and photographs were not permitted in the camps, so I recorded everything in sketches, drawings and paintings." 

Note on the Oakland Museum:

This museum was a favorite childhood hangout and holds many memories. I always loved its impressive mid-century modern architecture. Its galleries recently underwent a huge redesign, updating the look and becoming much more interactive for kids, so it's worth a visit to the art and history galleries. However the nature gallery is still undergoing changes and won't reopen till 2012.


Oakland Museum of California

1000 Oak St.
Oakland, CA 94607
Phone: 510-238-2200

New Hours
Wed, Sat, Sun 11 am–5 pm
Thurs & Fri 11 am–8 pm
Second Fridays open to 9 p.m.
Closed Monday and Tuesday
Free Every First Sunday

New Short Fiction: The Patriarch

I've been neglecting this blog lately because I've been more absorbed with working on my novel and other forms of fiction.  I received some interest from an agent, but she wants to see it again after some suggested tweaks, so I'm neck-deep in revisions.

For now, here's another short story I just posted in my fiction category: The Patriarch.  It has nothing to do with Tokyo or Japan, but if you like a taste of the surreal, you might enjoy it.  Let me know what you think, and if you haven't yet, check out my other story, The Punch Permed Proposal. 

Genji Antiques

Genji Antiques - which used to be located in San Francisco's Japantown - has moved out of their space. They are now doing business only from their warehouse location at 2090 Cesar Chavez.

I'll miss browsing this shop in J-town. I didn't often buy anything because most items were out of my budget - just the occasional vintage kanji-filled notebook or small decorative item - but I loved looking at their wonderful collection of furniture, art, dishware and kimonos and fantasizing about which antique tansu I wanted for my kitchen.

I receive a postcard from them with the change of address notice. I love the whimsical tiger samurai so thought I'd post it here.  Genji has a Facebook page with more info here.

Aka Tombo Restaurant in San Francisco

We stopped in for a late bite at Aka Tombo in Japantown because to be honest, nothing else was open.  This accidental discovery turned out to be a great sushi find.

Aka Tombo (Red Dragonfly) is only a few months old, and serves impeccably fresh sushi and other expertly prepared dishes. Service was outstanding, and the owner/chef perhaps too friendly for his own good - he gave us so many freebies I wondered how he's going to manage to stay in business. If you want a fun evening, sit at the counter and chat with the outgoing and friendly chef, whose name I still don't know. When we asked, he told us his name is Marlon Brando. I've googled him and still can't figure it out. So, from here on I'll refer to him as Brando-san.

As soon as we sat, a server brought us delicious complimentary chawan-mushi. These were a satisfying mixture of creamy and comforting, yet fresh and balanced. When we asked for a recommendation, Brando-san prepared his version of a delicious ceviche that was seasoned with shiso and jalapeno. For our main course we ordered maguro-don (fresh tuna over rice) and an ultra-luxurious ikura and uni don - salmon roe and sea urchin on rice. These dishes came with a clear soup.

The preparations were exquisite and everything of top quality. After engaging in some discussion about uni (check out the large live uni in Brando-san's display in my photo), we were treated to a sensuous morsel of uni flown in from Japan, topped with gold, in a tiny covered dish.

Our bill wasn't overly high for our remarkable dinner - but at that point we'd lost track of what we'd ordered and what we were treated to.  I'll return soon for my next sushi fix.

Aka Tombo
1737 Buchanan Street
(between post and Sutter)
San Francisco
415.674.1984

The Punch-Permed Proposal

I just posted a short story, The Punch-Permed Proposal, in my new "Fiction" category. Read it here and let me know what you think. I hope to post more fiction in future.

This is a sort of spin-off from my yet-to-be-published novel called Elephant Girl (working title).  I might end up including this story in my novel, but I felt it stood alone pretty well as a short story.

Dogenzaka, aka Love Hotel Hill

Everyone who's been to Tokyo has probably heard about "love hotels," where couples can rent rooms by the hour for a "rest" or for a whole night, called a "stay." In some areas you find a concentration of these specialty hotels, like in Shibuya's Dogenzaka area. There is something kind of peaceful and almost charming in a kitschy way about this love hotel district created for trysts. You step out of the stream of consumer madness in mid-Shibuya and suddenly find yourself in quiet back streets lined with accommodations offering respite or a promise of a brief fantasy getaway for lovers who need space, privacy or secrecy. 

Japanese love hotels can range from the bizarre to more generic, or even catering to a more female aesthetic, i.e., to appeal to the "Office Ladies" and their guys.  Overall, though, these hotels are clean, comfortable, even spacious, offering all the amenities to be found in your standard hotel and more. (Or so I've heard, anyway...hehe.)

I roamed the love hotel streets and took just a few snapshots, above. You can learn a lot more about these funky hotels on the Quirky Japan site, here. Their detailed article talks about how many of the cheesier (and sometimes more fun) theme hotels are disappearing as the clientele has changed (becoming more female) and the industry has tried to clean up its image.

Yanbaru Okinawa Shokudo in Shinjuku

Yanbaru's meal ticket vending machines outside.

Awamori in a cup from Yanbaru's vending machine. Cute shisa logo.

Yanbaru Shokudo is a no-frills working man's type of place where solid Okinawan dishes are served at a good price. You purchase your meal ticket in advance from vending machines out front - pictures help you decide what to order. There are hearty set meals including rice, stir-fry and soba for little more than 9 or 10 bucks. 

Have a seat at the counter and hand your ticket to one of the cooks on the other side. There are no waiters so you  pour your own water from one of the plastic pitchers - or get awamori in a cup from one of the machines, which is what I did. It was cheap but not too bad - love the shisa (Okinawan lion dog) on the label.

I ordered a soba and goya champuru (stir fry) set that also came with cha-han (fried rice). My sister had a similar set except her champuru contained bean sprouts, cabbage and fu - dried wheat gluten, used often in Okinawan cuisine.  These man-size meals were too much even for me to polish off, but I left very satisfied.