コミュニティ

The Nisei Week Parade Marshal is awarded to those in the community who have made a profound impact on the local Japanese / Japanese American community.

Los Angeles Clippers

The L.A. Clippers established its home in Los Angeles in 1984, after starting in New York. Led by Chairman Steve Ballmer, the L.A. Clippers in 2018-19 are competing in the franchise’s 49th season and 35th in Los Angeles. They extended a franchise record, completing its seventh consecutive winning season in 2017-18. The team has logged the NBA’s 5th-best record over the course of head coach Doc Rivers’ five-year tenure.

The Clippers are committed to the city of Los Angeles and through the L.A. Clippers Foundation, provide resources and opportunities that make a positive difference toward leveling the playing field for youth in Southern California. The Clippers also make an effort to engage with the diverse communities of Los Angeles and has partnered with the Nisei Week Foundation since 2005 to put on the Japanese American Community Night.

Visit the Clippers online at clippers.com or follow them on social media @LAClippers.

The Nisei Week Inspiration Award recognizes exceptional individuals who represent the Nisei Week “spirit” by volunteering their time in the Japanese / Japanese American communities.

Alan Nishio

For the past five decades Alan Nishio has been involved in Little Tokyo and the broader Japanese American community. From his initial volunteer work with the Japanese American Community Services (JACS) organization to his present work with the Little Tokyo Service Center (LTSC) and the Japanese American Cultural and Community Center (JACCC), Nishio has served with many others in defining the history and shaping the future of the Nikkei community.

Nishio has served on the board of directors of LTSC for 35 years and was board president for over a decade. In addition, Nishio’s other community leadership roles include serving as a board member for the JACCC and an advisory council member for Kizuna.

His initial involvement in Little Tokyo was in 1969 as a board member and treasurer JACS. During this time, JACS created the JACS Asian involvement office that initiated and supported a number of community service programs that continue today. In the 1970s, Nishio served as the chair of the Little Tokyo Peoples Rights Organization (LTPRO), who advocated for the rights of residents, small businesses and cultural and community organizations during the Little Tokyo Redevelopment Project.

In the 1980s, Nishio, who was born in Manzanar, was actively involved in the successful campaign to gain redress for Japanese Americans who were unjustly incarcerated during World War II. He was a founder and co-chair of the National Coalition for Redress/Reparations.

He was also a member and chair of the California Japanese American Community Leadership Council (CJACLC), a statewide organization that sought to preserve and protect California’s remaining Japantowns.

Nishio is a member of the U.S.-Japan Council (USJC) and was a delegate in the inaugural Japanese American Leadership Delegation in 2000, sponsored by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan.  He also participated in USJC delegations advancing the work of nonprofit organizations in Japan following the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami. In recognition of his work in the Japanese American community and advancing U.S.-Japan relations, Nishio was awarded “The Order of the Rising Sun with Gold Rays and Rosette” by the Government of Japan in 2016.

Retired, Nishio formerly served as the associate vice president for Student Services at California State University, Long Beach (CSULB). He also taught in the Department of Asian and Asian American Studies. His 40-year career in higher education also included serving as a founding staff member and director of the Asian American Studies Center at UCLA and as assistant director of the Center for Social Action at USC.

In addition to his work within the Japanese American community, Nishio was a past president and member of the board of the California Conference for Equality and Justice, a human relations organization based in Long Beach. He also was a trustee of The College Board, an educational association best known for its SAT and Advanced Placement examinations.

As a cancer survivor, Nishio is active in efforts to raise awareness and funds for research and education regarding leiomyosarcoma (LMS), a rare and aggressive cancer.

Nishio received his bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of California, Berkeley and his master’s degree in public administration from the University of Southern California.

The President’s Award is an honor the Nisei Week Foundation President can bestow on an individual or organization for their notable contributions to Japanese arts, culture, or community.

Madame Sosei Shizuye Matsumoto (posthumously)

Sosei Shizuye Matsumoto was born February 21, 1916, in Honolulu, as Shizuye Yagi. After attending high school in Los Angeles, she enrolled in the French American Fashion Design School and graduated in 1941. At that time, she also began training in chado, the “Way of Tea” ceremony. She moved to Kyoto, Japan, and for six years trained under Tantansai, Fourteenth Generation Grandmaster of the Urasenke School of Chado, and Shoshitsu Sen, Fifteenth Generation Grandmaster.

Following World War II, Sosei Matsumoto moved to Los Angeles and saw few practitioners of the tea ceremony. Her desire to start a school was thwarted by the unsettled times, with Japanese Americans returning from wartime internment camps.

On May 4, 1948, she married Edward (Eddie) Tetsuo Matsumoto, an electronic engineer, who built a tearoom for her in their first home on Coronado Street. After moving to her permanent residence on Occidental Boulevard in 1955, he built a new tearoom for her, later to be named “Showaken”.

In 1951, she was invited to the signing of the US – Japan peace treaty in San Francisco, where over a four-day period she served tea to more than 3,000 American and Japanese officials, including President Truman and Prime Minister Yoshida. Later that year, she started teaching the Urasenke Tea Ceremony in Los Angeles, convening the first tea ceremony classes ever held in the US; one of her ceremonies is shown in the Twentieth Century Fox film, “East Is East”.

Throughout the 1950s, Matsumoto Sensei introduced millions of Americans to chado through appearances on CBS and NBC television. In 1968, she presented the tea ceremony at the Olympic Arts Festival in Mexico City. Her more than 60 years of teaching and lecturing resulted in more than 120 chado teachers and thousands more tea ceremony devotees. Over the years, her students included Japanese and American-born people interested in learning the ancient Japanese tea ceremony.

Matsumoto Sensei exemplified the character of a “chajin” or tea person. She not only knew and could teach all the procedures for chado, but she also manifested the true spirit of self-discipline and compassion for others, which only a few students are ever able to attain.

In 1989, she received the title Meiyo Shihan, Honored Master, from her instructor Shoshitsu Sen. This is the highest teaching certificate available for instructors of Japanese tea ceremony. She taught, lectured and demonstrated widely throughout Southern California and the Southwest at a long list of cultural, educational and civic venues, including regular tea classes at UCLA. In recognition of her long service to preserving Japanese culture, she received the Fifth Order of the Merit (The Order of the Sacred Treasure, Gold and Silver Rays) from the Emperor of Japan in November 1990. She was also honored by the Japanese American Cultural and Community Center, Japanese American National Museum, and other community organizations.

Since 1990, she voluntarily offered Keiro Retirement Home residents tea ceremony classes once a month, which continue to be offered by her students. In 1994, then first lady Hillary Clinton presented her with the NEA National Heritage Fellowship, the nation’s highest honor in the folk and traditional arts.

Throughout her career, Matsumoto Sensei continued to receive numerous awards in recognition of her great work, including the Chado Bunka Sho award from Urasenke Konnichian in 2010, Certificate of Commendation from the U.S. Senate & Alliance in California Traditional Arts in 2018, and an award from the Smithsonian Institution in 2019. Matsumoto Sensei has left a rich and enduring legacy in the Way of Tea in Los Angeles.