Speaker Series

Speaker Series: The Cultural Significance of AKIRA

Join the curators of the exhibition AKIRA: The Architecture of Neo-Tokyo for an introduction to the production process of Japanese animation in general and to the details of the classic ground-breaking animated film AKIRA’s genesis. Hiroko Myokam will highlight the archiving situation of these important artifacts of a historic milestone in animation history in today’s industry. Stefan Riekeles will elaborate on the specific cultural value of AKIRA’s background artwork which continues to inspire artists and an audience alike to this day.

Documentary Film – Fall Seven Times, Get up Eight: The Japanese War Brides

Despite lingering wartime enmity, tens of thousands of Japanese wives — the biggest influx of Asian women in U.S. history — crossed the Pacific. They began new lives in difficult and to them mysterious circumstances, scattered across the country in places where they were often the first Japanese ever seen. What was it like to abandon family, friends and country, and marry a former enemy? Even for those whose choice of spouse proved to be a tragic mistake, there was no turning back. Many in Japan viewed them as social outcasts and even today the words “war bride” in Japanese carry such a stigma — of bar girls, even prostitution — that people don’t like to say them. Now these women are in their 80s. This is their story, of lives shaped by one irrevocable decision.
Kathryn Tolbert was a

New Geometries for New Realities in the Middle East and Beyond

The U.S.-Japan bilateral alliance represents one of the strongest anchors of security, prosperity, and innovation in the world, and the two countries share strong relationships with like-minded countries in other key regions for enhanced national and economic security.

Speaker Series: Preserving the Floating World

Stephen Salel, the Curator of Japanese Art at the Honolulu Museum of Art, discusses the author James A. Michener (1907–1997), who assembled the third largest collection of Japanese woodblock prints (ukiyo-e) in the United States.

Speaker Series: GAMBATTE! Legacy of an Enduring Spirit

Explore the lasting impacts of Japanese American incarceration through the lens of renowned photographer, Paul Kitagaki, Jr