Happy New Year

Yesterday, on pi day for this century, Ikuko and I went to a New Year party sponsored by the Japan Shumy & Culture Society and held at the Nisei Betsu Kaikan (Japanese American Veterans Hall) near Beacon Hill here in Seattle. When it was built after WWII to honor the memories of the fallen Nisei soldiers from Washington State it was in a mostly Japanese-American area. Times change, today it is in the middle of Little Saigon.

Entrance to the Memorial Wall

 Originally honoring the 57 KIA (killed in action) WWII Nisei veterans (from Washington) who volunteered or were drafted from the concentration camps (or to use the current politically correct term, internment camps) where they and their families had been sent following President Roosevelt’s order removing Americans of Japanese ancestry from the west coast, the memorial wall has been expanded to honor three from Korea, three from Vietnam and 1 from Grenada.

 The unit in which most of these men served was the 442nd RCT (Regimental Combat Team). This racially segregated unit was composed of Nisei troops and ended up as the most highly decorated unit in our history, based on its length of service and size.

Seattle Nisei Veterans Committee Logo

 I spent some time again looking at the pictures and other mementoes and found them quite moving. There is a Medal of Honor room and although it was closed today I have toured it on a previous visit. 

Back to the New Year party. You might think it strange to celebrate the New Year in the middle of March but most Asians celebrate the lunar New Year which began on February 19th this year and stretches for two or three or four weeks depending on the group celebrating.

This year is the year of the sheep or ram or goat depending on who is translating the word. In Chinese the word is yang and can mean sheep or goat. In Japanese the word is yagi and, again, can mean sheep or goat. If you want to differentiate the male or female animal in Japanese you add the male or female modifier. Sounds complicated but why worry, I’ll just call it the year of the sheep.

Party Guests

 The group of people at the party is getting smaller year by year. I think they have the same problem as other fraternal groups, the young people aren’t interested in joining and the older people are dying off. I did a quick count today and there were about 46 older women, four older men (including me) and around 20 younger people. The younger ones were, for the most part, children or caregivers of the older folks.

 Two of the younger people there today were a young (25?) man from Japan and a Buddhist priest.

After the priest led us in a silent prayer he gave a short lesson on the origin of the phrase “gochisosama” in Japanese which is said to the host(ess) after a meal. I learned something new. He (priest) said the initial “go” is an honorific, the “chi” character means “to run,” the “so” character also means “to run” and the "sama" is another honorific for person. So the total meaning is “you are an honorable person who has run and run.” It is understood that the running is connected to gathering the ingredients and preparing the meal. After that lesson we tucked into a nice box lunch (obento). It reminded me of the ones we used to get at the train stations in Japan.

An Excellent Obento 

 Next on the program were karaoke singers and some dancers. “Karaoke” is an interesting word. It was created about forty years ago from two words in Japanese. The first was “karapo” meaning “empty” and the second was “okestura” meaning orchestra. The first part of each original word was combined into the new word meaning “empty orchestra.” The empty orchestra plays the music and it’s up to the singer to supply the voice. If you’ve ever listened to karaoke you’ll remember that while the empty orchestra is always good the voices vary from excellent to not so good. But everyone seems to have a good time.

Traditional Dancers Celebrating the Year of the Sheep

 At the end of the singing and dancing the young man from Japan demonstrated a typical cheer that he leads during a sporting event. Very athletic and loud he was. I’m sure his team was inspired to work hard to win.

 After the program there was a typical Japanese ending to the party when door prizes were given out; not just a few people but everyone received a door prize. Ikuko got a box of Kleenex and a hand towel; I got a three pound bag of sugar. What a happy ending to a nice New Year party.