Japantown Returnings Premiere Brings Down the House

SAN JOSE--Fantastic! Well done! Whoo hoo! Bravo! were just a few accolades expressed during the standing ovation at the end of the premiere showings of Japantown Returnings, held at Wesley United Methodist Church on May 31.

This was a staged- reading and music performance highlighting San Jose Japantown’s 135-year history. It was fresh, exciting and finally, a public display and acknowledgment about the Japanese American legacy, their presence and impact on the history of this city. The telling gives the audience a glimpse of Issei (first generation) immigrants arriving from Japan in the 1890s to Nisei and Sansei voices to the present day. Over 400 people witnessed this engaging performance.

“It brought tears to my eyes,” exclaimed Diane Nishiura, recalling stories she heard about her husband’s grandparents who helped construct the original structures in Japantown during the early 1900s. The actors/readers told blended stories and the Nishiura’s were one such highlight. “It was the Nishiura’s that built several structures in Japantown,” Wayne Adachi, Wesley Jazz Ensemble director, stated. This is just one story of many and Adachi noted that while only about 20 percent of interviews were used in the telling, they were indeed significant.

“This is all about story-telling… telling the story of Japantown,” stated Mark Teagle, the playwright of Japantown Returnings. “We tell these stories in the context of Japantown. This is the brain child of Wayne Adachi, who said we should do a story about the history of Japantown and it should have music,” Teagle explained, knowing Adachi is the leader of the Wesley Jazz Ensemble. Consequently, songs of the times were intertwined within the story-telling which enhanced the production.

“We couldn’t fit in all the interviews and everyone’s name, but we wanted to make the play personal.” Adachi recounted. “So, we included names like Yu-Ai Kai when we could and you know in a play of this nature, somebody knows somebody and will remember.”

Teagle weaves humor and language of the times in his characters, while the Wesley Jazz Ensemble played both upbeat and poignant pieces depicting the music of that period, but not just familiar well know compositions like “Take the A Train,” but ones rooted in San Jose, like “Tanforan” from the 1977 album “Yokohama California.” It was sung by Peter Horikoshi, Wendy Horikoshi, Kelli Ann Ebisiu, and Mark Teagle and the audience could hear Sansei voices searching for their shaded past.

 Photos drawn from San Jose Japantown: A Journey, by Curt Fukuda and Ralph Pearce as well as curated photos by Jim Nagareda, flashed on the screen at strategic times…depicting a Japantown of long ago to slides of the changing face of a contemporary Japantown. It is a place where the people have retained a sense of who they are as Japanese Americans with all the diversity that entails. All these themes are explored in this production.

Important today as the play came to its conclusion was the Day of Remembrance event, held annually at the San Jose Buddhist Betsuin. It is a time the Japanese American community gathers to remembers Executive Order 9066 that allowed for the illegal incarceration of 120,000 Japanese Americans along the west coast. “In remembering the injustices we faced,” said the character Kiyomi, “the Japanese American community rose up together and said “Never Again.” “Never Again!”

Accolades go out to the director Tasi Alabastro; the playwright, Mark Teagle, and the Wesley Jazz Ensemble’s musical director, Wayne Adachi. What is significant is all three have a relationship to San Jose’s Japantown making the process of creating Japantown Returnings all the more heartfelt and meaningful.

Under discussion is perhaps having future performances, so keep a look out for its return. There is also a video being edited of this performance and will soon be available to the public. Leianne Lamb, Contemporary Asian Theatre Scene Board President sees the educational value of this play. “As it goes through transitions there will hopefully be access to children, schools, and our town’s future generations.”

Thanks go to the Silicon Valley Community Foundation for the grant which funded the production. And to the sponsors, Wesley United Methodist Church, Contemporary Asian Theater Scene and Japanese American Museum of San Jose.

For  those who missed  the production or wish to see it again, you can check out the video of the performance  (only one-hour in length) through the following link to youtube: (youtube.com/watch?v=yZWGtCJSNxo)

"Japantown Returnings" playwright, Mark Teagle Ileft) and Musical Director and leader of the Wesley Jazz Ensemble, Wayne Adachi

Vanessa Hatakeyama (left), Executive Director of Japanese American Museum San Jose and Leianne Lamb, Board member of Contemporary Asian Theater Scene introduce the peformance of "Japantown Returnings."

Integral to the production was Jim Nagareda (left) with Director, Tasi Alabastro

Actors swing dancing to "My Girl" sung by Ted Hasegawa and accompanied by the Wesley Jazz Ensemble (below)

The peformers from left: Nick Louie, Steve Nakano, Mai Abe, Dana Soliman, and Anne Yumi Kobori.