Discover Nikkei Celebrates 11th Edition of Nikkei Chronicles with Call for Nikkei Food Stories

LOS ANGELES, CA – Discover Nikkei, a web-based project of the Japanese American National Museum (JANM) that promotes connections and understanding among the global Japanese diaspora, announces the 11th edition of its Nikkei Chronicles special series, an annual, themed open call for writings.

“Nikkei” refers to Japanese migrants and their descendants. This year’s theme, Itadakimasu 3! Nikkei Food, Family, and Community, calls for personal stories, essays, memoirs, academic papers, restaurant reviews, and other prose works on Nikkei food–how Nikkei use local ingredients, cooking techniques, agricultural practices, and tastes to create their own versions of Japanese food.

Submissions are accepted until Friday, September 30, 2022 at 6 p.m. PDT. Those that meet the guidelines and criteria will be published in the Discover Nikkei Journal on a rolling basis as part of the Itadakimasu 3! series. Submissions will also be eligible for selection as the Nima-kai community favorite. Nima are members of the Discover Nikkei online community called Nima-kai. “Nima” stems from the combination of Nikkei and “nakama” which is Japanese for “colleagues”, “fellows”, or “circle.” Writers are encouraged to submit their work early so that readers can vote for their favorites by logging in and giving it a “star”.

Four additional stories in English, Japanese, Spanish, and Portuguese will be selected by the editorial committee. The editorial committee features journalists Gil Asakawa (English), Masayuki Fukasawa (Japanese), Javier García Wong-Kit (Spanish), and chef Telma Shiraishi (Portuguese). Asakawa’s forthcoming book,Tabemasho! Let’s Eat!: A Tasty History of Japanese Food in America, will be published in August 2022. Fukasawa covers the Japanese Brazilian community in Brazil for the Diário Brasil Nippou in São Paulo, Brazil. Wong-Kit is a professor and director of Otros Tiempos magazine. Shiraishi is the chef of Restaurante Aizomê, which crafts Japanese food with Brazilian and Japanese ingredients. Selected stories will be featured and translated into Discover Nikkei’s other site languages.

All submissions must be sent by email and formatted using Microsoft Word or Google Docs. Submissions must include a short author biography, a headshot, and an image to illustrate the piece. Multiple submissions and submissions written by multiple authors are welcome. For more information, please visit 5dn.org/itadakimasu3.

Itadakimasu 3! Nikkei Food, Family, and Community is presented in partnership with the Asociación Peruano Japonesa, the Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Washington, JCI Brazil - Japan, and the Nikkei National Museum and Cultural Centre in Canada. The logo was designed by Jay Horinouchi.
 

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About Discover Nikkei

DiscoverNikkei.org is a major online resource that brings together the voices and experiences of Nikkei (Japanese emigrants and their descendants), who have created communities throughout the world. The multilingual website—available in English, Japanese, Spanish, and Portuguese—documents Nikkei history and culture and provides learning and networking tools for Nikkei around the world. At the same time, it seeks to explore the diverse and ever-changing meaning of the term Nikkei. The site’s rich multimedia content includes excerpts from life history interviews, first-person stories and essays, journalistic profiles, research papers, opinion pieces, short fiction, lesson plans, and listings for events worldwide. After 17 years, Discover Nikkei has published articles by over 1,000 writers worldwide and presented excerpts from nearly 200 video life history interviews. The content currently represents 15 countries, and it continues to grow.

About the Japanese American National Museum (JANM)

Established in 1985, JANM promotes understanding and appreciation of America’s ethnic and cultural diversity by sharing the Japanese American experience. Located in the historic Little Tokyo district of downtown Los Angeles, JANM is a hybrid institution that straddles traditional museum categories and strives to provide a voice for Japanese Americans as well as a forum that enables all people to explore their own heritage and culture. Since opening to the public in 1992, JANM has presented over 70 exhibitions onsite while traveling 17 exhibits to venues such as the Smithsonian Institution and the Ellis Island Museum in the United States, and to several leading cultural museums in Japan and South America. For more information, visit janm.org or follow us on social media @jamuseum.

Community Partners

Asociación Peruano Japonesa

The Asociación Peruano Japonesa (APJ - Peruvian Japanese Association) is a non-profit organization that represents the Peruvian Nikkei community and its institutions. Founded on November 3, 1917, APJ preserves the memory of Japanese immigrants and their descendants, develops cultural promotion and welfare assistance activities, and provides education and health services. APJ also promotes cultural, scientific and technological exchange between Peru and Japan, strengthening friendly relations between both countries.

The Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Washington

The Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Washington (JCCCW) was built in 1913 by Japanese immigrants as a community gathering place and Japanese language school. Founded in 1902, it is the oldest continuously operating Japanese language school in the continental U.S. The JCCCW features exhibits, classes, and activities to preserve and highlight Japanese and Japanese American history and culture.

JCI Brazil – Japan

JCI Brazil – Japan is a local São Paulo, Brazil chapter of Junior Chamber International (JCI), a non-profit organization of active citizens from all sectors of society who embrace new ideas, collaboration, and diversity. JCI members are concerned about the future of the world and are committed to making an impact in their communities. 

Nikkei National Museum and Cultural Centre

Nikkei National Museum and Cultural Centre’s mission is to honor, preserve, and share Japanese culture and Japanese Canadian history and heritage for a better Canada. Since September 22, 2000, the cultural space has offered unique programming, exhibits, and events. The Museum’s Collections include over 2600 objects, 41,000 photographs, 38 meters of textual records, 650 oral history recordings, and 156 film reels of historically and culturally significant items. With the addition of family and community stories every year, the Nikkei National Museum and Cultural Centre ensures the legacies of people of Japanese ancestry in Canada live on into the future.