1998 Formation of the California Japanese American Community Leadership Council

• Brought together, for the first time, the leaders of major Japanese American community groups from across the state.

1999 Creating a California Nikkei Leadership Agenda Symposium – San Jose (July 1999)

Identified four key focus areas:

• Leadership Development
• Diversity and Identity
• Preserving our Japantowns/Cultural Preservation
• Resource Development

2000 Nikkei 2000 Empowering Our Community for the 21st Century – San Francisco (April 2000)

National Conference addressing:

• Leadership
• Inclusive Nikkei Community
• Preserving and Creating Culture and Nikkei Values
• Japantown Preservation
• Political Involvement and Support
• Family plays a key role in our future
• Coalition Building and Global Networking
• Financial Resource Development

Leadership Program to Japan (September 2000)

• Organized in partnership with the Japanese Foreign Ministry

2001 Senate Bill 307 – Preservation of California’s Historic Japantowns in San Francisco, San Jose, and Los Angeles

• First piece of legislation in the nation to address the preservation of an ethnic community through a cultural preservation planning approach

Spectrum: Broadening the Views of Young Nikkei – Los Angeles (April 2001)

• National Japanese American Youth conference

Youth and Young Adult Leadership Development Planning Project – Call to Action

Preserving California’s Japantown Legacy

• California Civil Liberties Public Education Program grant to create historic markers

Leadership Program to Japan (March 2002)

• Organized in partnership with the Japanese Foreign Ministry

Hapa Issues Forum: Diversity and Inclusion Conference

Proposition 40 and Senate Bill 307

• Implementation of funding for historic and cultural preservation of Japantowns.

Nikkei Cultural Survival (Ties that Bind 2) – Los Angeles (April 2002)

Identified several focus areas:

• Leadership Development
• Connect the Community, Inclusivity
• Cultural Preservation of Place
• Preserving Language and Cultural Practices
• Infrastructure Development

Nikkei Community Internship Program (Summer 2002)

• 13 college students placed at 9 Japanese American community organizations in Southern California.

Why We Care: A New Generation Looks at U.S.-Japan Relations – Los Angeles (August 2002)

A panel discussion with:

• The Honorable Taro Kono, Member of Parliament, Japan
• Dr. Mitchell Maki, Acting Dean, College of Health and Human Services, CSULA
• Toshiaki Miura, Washington Correspondent, American General Bureau, Asahi Shimbun
• Eric Akira Tate, Attorney, Morrison & Forrester LLP, President JCCCNC
• Teresa Watanabe, Journalist, Former Japan Correspondent, Los Angeles Times
• Irene Hirano, moderator, Executive Director, Japanese American National Museum

2003 Leadership Program to Japan (March 2003)

• Organized in partnership with the Japanese Foreign Ministry
• Expanded to areas outside of California

Nikkei Community Internship Program (Summer 2003)

• 12 college students placed at 8 Japanese American community organizations across California.

Three Japantowns Taiko Concert Series (Fall 2003)

• October 4 – San Jose
• October 11 – Los Angeles
• November 23 – San Francisco

Leadership Program to Japan (March-April 2004)

• Organized in partnership with the Japanese Foreign Ministry
• Delegates included Nikkei leaders from California, Hawaii, Houston, Portland, Seattle, and Washington D.C.

Nikkei Community Internship Program (Summer 2004)

• 13 college students placed at 11 Japanese American community organizations across California.
• Past and current NCI interns presented and led discussions on the young Nikkei perspective of the community’s future at the California Japanese American Leadership Symposium

California Japanese American Leadership Symposium – Little Tokyo (July 2004)

• Assessed the current state of the California Japanese American community
• Cultural and community preservation, youth participation, caring for our elders, and political leadership development were among the focus issues.

California Japantowns Cultural Preservation Planning Symposium (October 2004)

• Gail Dubrow, Associate Professor in the College of Architecture and Urban Planning, University of Washington
• Donna Graves, Arts and Cultural Planner, former Executive Director of Power of Place, Los Angeles
• Diane Matsuda, Executive Officer of the California Cultural and Historical Endowment

2005 California Japantowns Cultural Preservation Planning Symposium (June 2005)

• Joe Tasutake, Japanese American Museum of San Jose
• Gail Dubrow, Associate Professor in the College of Architecture and Urban Planning, University of Washington
• Donna Graves, Arts and Cultural Planner, former Executive Director of Power of Place, Los Angeles

California Japantown Landmark (June 2005)

• Unveiled in San Francisco Japantown at the CCLPEP conference
• Unveiled in front of Issei Memorial Hall, San Jose the fall of 2005
• Unveiled at Union Center for the Arts, Little Tokyo, Los Angeles on August 16, 2006

Nikkei Community Internship Program (Summer 2005)

• 12 college students placed at 11 Japanese American community organizations across California.
• 50 alumni of NCI at the conclusion of the 2005 program
• formation of an NCI alumni group.

2006 Preserving California’s Japantowns

California Civil Liberties Public Education Program grant

• Statewide project ot document historic resources 43 pre-World War II Japantowns
• Principal researchers: Donna Graves (Arts and Cultural Planner) & Gail Dubrow (University of Minnesota)
• launched http://www.californiajapantowns.org website

Nikkei Community Internship Program (Summer 2006)

• 14 college students placed at 11 Nikkei community organizations across California.
• 5th Anniversary celebrated at a community luncheon at the JCCCNC on August 18th.