Last Ever Day at NJAHS

This is it! Here we are, on the last day at NJAHS. Final project, and now ninterns give yourself a pat on the shoulder. Its been fun, learned so much, and met much people. At least I know when I leave here, I left with something extra. I remember it was just the first day and I was shaking Rachel's hand. Now its at the end point where we soon will say our goodbyes. On to our last point with the video project of how to use 20$ in Japantown, we filmed our parts enjoying every little bit of it, and now just gotta put everything together. Memories built, new bonds, and new experiences. Make the last of it. Wooot feels like graduation. And so on..

Hanging with the other interns

Yesterday was intern day. For intern day, the Nikkei Community Interns got together and wnet around japantown. We got a tour by Steve Nakajo of japantown "back in the day" which was cool. He talked about how all the houses in the neighborhood were Japanese owned. We worked on our dance routine for the closing luncheon. Then we were served bento for lunch. All in all, it was a very relaxed day, but it was good to see everyone.

Ken Matsueda

NJAHS Intern

final day for high school interns

Today is their last day! Boo hoo!!! To celebrate we're gonna get our 20 dollars in Japantown video done. Woot woot, can't wait to watch the final product, it'll be pretty fantastic.It's been great, since Alvin is talking about me and Ken, I'll talk about him and the other interns.

Alvin: It was a pleasure working with you, you bring energy and excitement to NJAHS. Thank you for all of your hard work, punctuality, cooperation. You definitely are a great worker and have an AMAZING personality.

Eric: Thank you so much for being a great listener and worker. I really hope you got something out of this internship, I know at times you felt like you didn't, but just take a moment to think about all that happened this summer. You performed in front of 300+ kids, conducted a tour of Japantown, made a movie in 3 days, and learned how to budget $20 dollars and documented it. You should be very proud of yourself, don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

Luis: You are an incredibly dedicated worker, it doesn't go unnoticed. You are a self starter and won't give up until a project is done, even if it requires extra time. You have proven resilient even when our projects got turned upside down. Thanks Luis for being a loyal and dedicated intern.

[Alison]

Thank You NJAHS

Today is the last day of my internship at NJAHS. In my time in NJAHS, I have learned and did many new things. I performed in the Yosakoi Concert in front of hundreds of kids, gave a tour in Japantown, and made a movie about myself. I worked with two college interns, Ken Matsueda and Alison Sunahara, and worked with two other high school interns like myself, Eric Liu and Luis Lin. I also worked with Rachel Inouye and Rosalyn Tonai, my supervisors. It was great working with everyone in NJAHS because it wouldn't have been fun without them. They all taught me something and I want to thank everybody in NJAHS for everything. I'll always remember and cherish the memories I had with them.

-Alvin Tan

Making a video

$20 budget to spend in Japantown. What can you do that won't make you go bankrupt? The interns and I made a video to let people know a way to spend time in Japantown with a reasonable budget. We went to Yakini Q, we danced across the street, and took pictures by the Osaka Castle. So we learned that there is a lot to do that is not that expensive.

Ken Matsueda

NJAHS Intern

20 dollars a day in Japantown

Yesterday was the start of our final project, $20 a day in Japantown. This is a great last project that seems like it'll be a lot of fun to do with the guys. We figured out what we're gonna buy and from where. We developed the script and budget, so today when Max Nihei gets in we will start filming. This is going to be a lot of fun.

I am also excited to go visit the places, yesterday we went into many stores and checked out a few things. We went into YakiniQ on Post St. it is a Korean cafe that is inspired by French cuisine. So Luis and I were in there looking around and I think it was the owner who was really helpful and friendly. I asked her about what is good and popular here, she said the matcha latte is good and their original sweet potato latte?!?!? Yes, you heard me right, it is a sweet potato puree with cream and all that good stuff mixed together for pure goodness. I got a free sample and boy I got it yesterday, but I'm still hyped up about it. Plus the interior is so peaceful and relaxing. It was a really nice place that I would love to hang out at. The only thing is, it opens at 11 am, which is so incredibly late for me. But if I am ever in Japantown late at night, there is a good bet it'll still be open because it closes at 10pm. So I'm excited to go back today.

[Alison]

The Final Week

Time has passed and its the last week at NJAHS being a nintern. Its been fun and a enjoyable experience. We are on our last part on our duty, and that is making a 20$ video in Japantown. Its basically us ninterns explaining a way to conserve and use a minimum amount of money on materials or anything that might be usful to anyone. We're doing our script, rehearsing, and now we're prepapring the last event. At the end, we''ll see our accomplishments and what we've gained being in NJAHS.

- Eric

The Time We Script Our Own Video

Written at 8/2/2011 11:05AM

Currently it's Day Two of our video project. We are trying to make a video about how we can spend $20 during a trip in Japantown. This is going to be exciting because we plan our video better than last years and be the first one to exceed our expectations. You better be ready for this and hope you enjoy it. Busy planning at the moment.

- Luis Diego Lin-Xiao (NJAHS Nintern)

Journey into Japantown

Yesterday August 1st, me and the other interns at NJAHS were given the opportunity to explore Japantown. Our assignment was to go around and see what activities can be done in Japantown for a budget of $20. We visited the Paper Tree, we went to Yakini Q and we looked at the doughnut food at the shops in the mall. It was a lot of walking but I personally enjoyed hanging out and creating ideas for our video.

Ken M.

NJAHS Intern

We begin to make our videos to show people how to spend under 20 dollars in a day while at Japantown. First we begin to plan out the script and roles. We go to the stores to see what items we can purchase and what seems the best for the viewers. We want to include activities, foods, and crafts in our video. This video is made for the attention of people to come to Japantown and have fun with just under 20 dollars.

-Alvin

The Time We Began Our Revolutionary Tour

Written at 7/29/2011 6:35PM

So this is it, our tours are now officially open. We welcome anyone that have an interest in Japanese American history and their culture. I'm sure my specially design poster with tabs can attract tourist and Alison's design can be seen at the window. This will create opportunities to test out what we learned so far at NJAHS and educate the masses. Lets Do It!

- Luis Diego Lin-Xiao (NJAHS Nintern)

Japantown community

Yesterday July 31st, was the BNP which stands for Better Neighborhood Plan. This meeting was set to start at 12:30pm. I made it but I was late. I think that made it kind of difficult. But there was food, I saw my uncle, and I learned about how Japantown is trying to figure out which businesses to keep and which ones should go. I learned that the BNP is trying to make Japantown an SUD meaning a Special Use District. This would make the area affordable for seniors and college kids. All in all, it seemed like a lot of people were dedicated to making Japantown thrive.

Ken Matsueda (Intern)

Tours around Japantown

Hey guys, so we posted flyers for our tours of Japantown. We are free this week to give tours, so if you are interested call NJAHS. Luis made an amazing looking poster with pull tabs. I made a generic one for looking at. We will see what happens this week. Also in other news, look out for our $20 a day video. We will be working on it this week.

As for last week, we finished our DVDs from the digital storytelling project. It went really well, I am proud of my video. Roz says we will be debuting it in the New People movie theatre on August 14. I am so excited for it!!!

So it is the high school interns' last week. I'm very sad that we're nearing the end. This was a great experience and I really hope they got a lot out of it as well. We did a lot since our start, I really hope they got a good experience out of this and learned new skills.

Yesterday, Ken and I attended the BNP meeting in the JCCCNC. It was an interesting meeting. It was all older people either nisei or sansei and a lot of them have strong voices. I feel like I wasn't ready to voice my "youth" perspective. I notice a lot of older generation people have strong opinions, but I think to get the younger generations into Japantown, you need to ask the younger gen what brings them into their favorite places. then take that aspect and bring it into Japantown. On the notes, I mentioned that we need a youth council, it will provide the youth with leadership and give them a voice. The older gens need to be supportive of them and help them, not tell them what to do and how to do it. They need to mentor or be parents to this youth council.

[Alison]