From the Japanese American National Museum, Pacific Asia Museum & CSULB
Let's take a Japanese turn for things to do to get out in a promised warming break from the persistent July gray. In Little Tokyo, there will be a Saturday afternoon screening of a Sansei son's discoveries about what exactly his daddy and some other unsung Japanese Americans did during the Great War, a film about how, while their own families were incarcerated and under suspicion by authorities, a group of skilled linguists and soon-to-be broadcasters beamed U.S. propaganda, 'Calling on Tokyo' to undermine the morale of the then-Japanese enemy. In Pasadena, this could be a perfect weekend to catch up on a just-opened photographic exhibit, 'One Hundred Not so Famous Views of LA,' artist Barbara Thomason's take on Hiroshige's famed woodblock collection, 'One Hundred Famous Views of Edo' (now Tokyo, of course). And on Sunday, especially if the weather turns fine, how about a day in the Earl Miller Long Beach Japanese gardens, where 40 local experts will demonstrate the art of origami (paper folding) and there will be calligraphy lessons as part of the weekend celebration of Tanabata, the 'Star Festival.'
Photo: 'Broadway Train Tracks' by Barbara Thomason, on exhibit in Pasadena
