ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS March –April

M/M Fred Matsumoto $ 100 M/M Haruto Miyataki 100 June Sutherland 136.56 Edison Int’nl Matching 136.56 Thomas Sato 50 Brock Nishimura Verizon VIP Program 750 Sonoe Koyasu 300 George Kato 150 Isamu Murakami (in memory of Masako) 200 Mary Shimomura 100 M/M George Okimoto 1000 M/M George Okimoto 60 Betty Oshiro (Life membership in memory of Larry ) 1000 Thank you for your kind generosity and continuing support.

友

達

Southeast Japanese School & Community Center 14615 Gridley Rd. Norwalk CA 90651-0434 Website: www.SEJSCC.org 562.863.5996

Carnival is just around the corner (July 25th and 26th). For those who would like to

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Hi everyone The 2011 Recognition and Awards Dinner was held on April 16th. The dinner theme this year was “island style”. Preparing the Ono dishes started on Friday. The Kalua pork was prepared by Diane Mercer and NYS; the Potato Mac Salad (potatoes were donated by Calvin Chang) was prepared by Judo; the Miso Green Beans was prepared by Carrie Nakatani; the Haupia was prepared by Linda Kusuda; the Chinese Chicken salad was prepared by Rascals in Gardena; the Inari sushi and pineapple/strawberry fruit centerpiece by Kendo; and the Pineapple Chicken and the Korean Barbeque Beef was prepared by Cherrystones Restau-rant in Gardena. Hikari Taiko, Ayame Kai, Norwalk Karaoke Club and Na Wahine ‘O Kawena performed and provided the entertainment. We were also entertained by Kamaki (our ukulele instructor) and Vic Ligot singing Hawaiian melodies. Thanks to you all. Award recipients honored were: • Outstanding Service Awards: Hy Shishino and Megumi Domen • Koichi and Toyo Nerio SEJSCC Scholarship awards: Matthew Deguchi, Jeffery Hing & Chelsey Honma • NYS Scholarship Awards: Chelsey Honma, Matthew Deguchi, Bryan Santos, Corey Igawa, and Ryan Kawahara • .Judo Scholarship Award: Emilio Zamorano CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL!! I would like to thank all the NYS teams who helped with set up for the dinner and assisted with packing up the kitchen supplies and appliances on Sunday. Thank you to the Japanese School parents who served the dinner and to the Wednesday Night Mens Basketball who had KP duty and washed all the pots and trays all night. The kitchen is getting a face lift and will be closed for the next 3 months. Ted Yoshimura, Bob Yamada, Linda Kusuda and David Fusato have generously donated a lot of their time and have been very busy in the kitchen.

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P R E S I D E N T ’ S M E S S A G E

Volume 17, Issue 3 May 2011 Newsletter

Southeast Japanese School & Community Center 14615 S. Gridley Rd. Norwalk CA 90651-0434 Website: www.SEJSCC.org 562.863.5996

Smiles were prevalent throughout the evening at our annual Recognition Night. Families and friends gathered to cheer and applaud our service and scholarship recipients making for a proud and pleasurable evening. There was plenty of tasty food on our dinner plate and our first thought was “its a lot of food”, but like anything good it disappeared quite readily bite after bite. Service honorees Megumi and Hy have always been in the forefront helping with our events and it was good to see them relaxed for a change. Mr. Mendez, mayor of city of Norwalk spoke impromptu words of admiration giving praise to those present for the Center’s continued development and programs enriching all ages and all accomplished through years of volunteered efforts and unwavering spirit. He was also impressed with the achievements of our young scholarship recipients. The Gakuen did a fantastic job presenting a Silent Auction benefiting Japan’s earth-quake and tsunami victims. They raised over $3200. Thank you teachers and par-ents for your hard work. We are very grateful to our membership who step forward for any occasion to help make events successful.

R E C O G N I T I O N D I N N E R & A W A R D S

Mark your calendars and come join us for our Ondo practice on Monday and Thursday practice which will begin on Thursday July 7 from 7:30 to 8:30 pm at the Center. Everybody is welcome to join in the fun and learn the dances. Our Cultural Festival (was formerly Carnival & Ondo) will be held on Saturday July 23 beginning at 3 pm and Sunday July 24 at 2 pm. There will be plenty of food, games and demonstrations by Kendo, Judo and Karate. Entertainment will include Classical dances, Na Wahine ‘O Kawena Hawaiian Hula, Jamaki’s Maika’I Jammers, and Bingo in the gym. Appearing on the outdoor stage will be Taiko drummers and singers from our Karaoke Club. Our festival is a good time to meet with old friends and enjoy delicious food. Each year parking is a problem at the Center during this event. We ask our workers who are setting up and working on Saturday to please park on the street . Although we allow as many handicap parking as possible, we would like to have plenty of parking for the elderly so they don’t have too far to walk. Richard Shinomoto

FR L-R Norwalk Councilwoman Cheri Kelley, Honoree Hy Shishino, Honoree Megumi Domen, Councilman Mike Mendez, BR: George Kato and Richard Shinomoto.

The Norwalk Karaoke Club members have been busy during the first quarter of 2011. The Akebono singers were invited to present a pro-gram at the Wintersburg Sr. Fellowship luncheon at the Wintersburg Church on February 16. Representing the Norwalk Karaoke Club were Chieko Kim, Ed Korin, George Real and Patsy Tsuda. The Akebono New Year’s Party on February 20 was held at the West-minster Rose Center. Member’s comments were positive for the beau-tiful facility and for the food served. Thanks to the following for bringing gifts to be used for door prizes: Harufumi Ishida, Ed Korin, Ellen Oye, George Real and Patsy Tsuda. The Norwalk Karaoke Club members were asked to work at the regis-tration table at the recently held Recognition and Award Dinner Pro-gram held on Saturday, April 16. Thanks to Ed Korin, Mary Nomura and Richard Oye, who performed during the entertainment portion of the program. A special thanks to Tokuishi Sensei for providing the au-dio equipment for the evening.

S E J S C C BOARD MEMBERS If you wish to contact any of the board members, please call the Center and leave a message. Jim Niiro George Kato Linda Kusuda Mary Iwami Kimie Matsumoto Fred Matsumoto Mas Onoda Richard Shinomoto Hy Shishino Tosh Teramoto Bob Yamada Carrie Nakatani Marvin Kobayashi

N O R W A L K K A R A O K E C L U B

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“Tomodachi”, P. O. Box 434, Norwalk CA 90651-0434. Tel: 562,863-5996. Published 6 times annually by the Southeast Japanese School and Community Center, 14615 Grid-ley Rd, Norwalk CA 90650. A no charge newsletter informing all participants of activities on a one per household basis. Bulk Mail Postage Paid at Norwalk, CA. Editor: Mary Iwami; Adver-tising & Mailing: Mary Iwami, George Kato, Hy Shishino, Mas Onoda, and Norwalk Nikkei

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C E N T E R C L E A N - U P — M A Y 1 At the Recognition Dinner held on April 16th, the Japa-

nese School teachers organized a Silent Auction to raise funds for the victims of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. We were able to raise $3,214.00. We want to thank everyone for donating so many items and for purchasing them. We want to thank the teachers for their hard work.

“Hanami”, the “cherry blossom viewing” ritual in Ja-pan was celebrated on April 2nd . Students learned about the Japanese tradition and also enjoyed “sakura mochi” made by the parents. The sakura leaves were donated by Mr. and Mrs. Minoru Matsumoto.

The Annual Speech Program will be held on May 21st at 6:30 PM. Students and teachers are working very hard every Saturday for this performance. Students will receive trophies for their efforts. Many of the classes will use slides to enhance their speeches.

New student registration will be conducted June 4th and 11th at the school between 9:00 and 1:00. Kindergarten class (for 5 year olds) usually fills up fast. Our beginner class is for 6 year olds and above. Please tell your friends who might be interested in enrolling their children.

Thanks to the Murata Landscape Company, our trees and shrubs have had their annual big trimming and reshaping. They really look

great! Five men came along with Robert Murata on Friday April 29th and spent the morning working on our numerous cypress trees in the back, thinning our front trees, wall shrubs, borders of gazanias, etc. They also loaded all the debris on their truck for

the dump yard. Each year they do an unbe-lievable amount of work . We are so grateful for their kind help. Many of our NYS teams were involved in the FOR Basketball Tourna-ment on May 1 so their parents helped remove the supplies out of the kitchen and boxed them next day after our Recognition Dinner. On May 1st, the Gakuen parents, Judo, Kendo, hula group, taiko and others cleaned the stage, walls, classrooms and dojo. It’s this total effort which makes our Center looks as nice as it does. Thank you all for coming out to help during your busy schedule.

G A K U E N N E W S Kimie Matsumoto

We are sending our raffle tickets with this May Cen-ter newsletter. Please join us for this annual fun event now named Cultural Festival rather than Car-nival & Ondo. Join us for Ondo dancing practice beginning July 7 at 7:30 pm and every Monday and Thursday thereafter until the festival.

Gakuen students helping make Sakura Mochi with Sensei Nishiyama.

J A P A N E A R T H Q U A K E / T S U N A M I F U N D We hope you have read our letter which explains what we are doing to help the people in Japan. People have responded already and we have sent our first check to the US-Japan Council Earthquake Relief Fund in April totaling $5399. We will continue this course as long as we receive donations. Some charitable organizations charge an administrative fee to process donations. The US-Japan Council does not and for that reason we are directing these funds to them. Write your check payable to SEJSCC noting “Japan Relief Fund” in the left memo part of your check and send it to our Center in care of Carrie Nakatani. We are making a difference!

A New Kitchen A Long Awaited Dream Comes True By Linda Kusuda Our kitchen’s facelift began several years ago when Maggie Konishi donated $3,000 to upgrade the kitchen, and the stove, which has been the bane of many of the Center’s occasional “chefs”. Maggie will soon see her dream come to fruition thanks to Ted Yoshimura of Kendo who volunteered to head the kitchen remodeling project. Ted combined input from the Center’s members and designed a kitchen that will be more efficient and safer to use. He will be adding a three compartment sink, a low cook stove with space for a wok stove, a wider service counter top, five work tables, an additional storage cabi-net, a new air intake and exhaust system, a microwave shelf, a new hood, new electrical outlets and a new floor. And what about our trusty stove? The old stove stays. It seems that professional stoves do not have automatic ignition system that our many users wanted. Thus buying a new stove would not have made a difference. Ted has literally spent hundreds of hours planning, researching, de-signing and coordinating with cabinet and shelf makers, sheet metal, electrical, plumbing and fire suppressant workers. We commend his thoroughness for the kitchen project. Preparing the kitchen for its new look began with two NYS teams who cleaned out and packed up the contents from the kitchen cabinets and shelves and moved everything including the kitchen tables to Room 1. Then Ted, with help from Bob Yamada and Dave Fusato, and Linda Kusuda washed and abraded the walls, knocked down a small wall, repaired a wall, and prepped the walls for a new paint job. The goal is to have the kitchen ready and running before the summer Cultural Festival (formerly known as the “Carnival”). We are all looking forward to seeing and using the new kitchen. Again, we thank Maggie Konishi for initiating the kitchen remodeling and up-grade. We also thank Karen Toyoshiba for her Luau style “Ishoni” fundraiser and many other donors and organizations who donated additional funds to make Maggie’s dream come true.

H I K A R I T A I K O Mary Jane Mayeda

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N O R W A L K Y O U T H S P O R T S

Norwalk Youth Sports (NYS) held their biggest Junior Basketball Ban-quet ever on March 19, 2011. With over 900 people in attendance, both the dojo and gym were used to accommodate the enthusiastic families. Congratulations to our graduating 8th grade teams, the Ballaholics, Thunder, and Blue Magix. Thank you to Sport Chalet for donating the centerpiece frames and to the Loft Restaurant for another excellent catering job! Our gratitude to Center Board President Richard Shinomoto and the rest of the SEJSCC executives. We sincerely appreciate the leader-ship of NYS Activities President Rich Tamaki and other NYS board members. Thanks to the generosity of players and parents, NYS raised $2,051 for the Red Cross Japan Relief fund at this banquet. Our thanks to Michelle Ando for spearheading the effort and to the players who brought their piggybanks, saved allowance money and all who donated!! Also,this evening would not have been a success without the efforts of the parents of the 30 NYS junior teams, especially the team parents. Most of all, our thanks to the most impor-tant part of Norwalk Youth Sports, the players!

Roy Fujii

Hikari members have generously donated to the Japan Earth-quake/Tsunami fund. We decided to give our donation to the Fukushima Prefecture thru the Nanka Fukushima Kenjinkai lo-cally. 100% went to the Fukushima people. They were one pre-fecture hardest hit during the disaster. Thank you members and families who donated to this worthy cause. Hikari Taiko is also part of two other groups known as “Silk and Thunder”. Along with Korean Drumers/Dancers and Chinese Dancers we give concerts throughout Los Angeles and Orange County. We gave a concert in March at the Korean Cultural Cen-ter in Los Angeles. On Friday, July 22 at 6:30 pm, we will be performing at the Anaheim Pearson Park Ampitheater for their Summer Family Series Nite. I hope many of you will be able to join us for a thrilling and wonderful concert. Gorgeous costumes and new routines will debut there. The three groups perform 2-3 concerts a year together. Each group also performs as their individual groups. Hikari gave a taiko performance and workshop at Cal Tech in April. Thanks also to Kurt Hamra, Lilli Chen, Rachel and Susan Suna-hara, Helen Hikiji and Harriet Yamada for coming to the Center’s Clean-up Sunday.

Reminder... June Host: Ikebana/Yoga July Host: Hikari Taiko

BINGO Serving: Dinner at 6 pm June 4, July 9

6:30 pm Come join us!

Younger teams in the Dojo.

Older teams in the gym.

Donations of saved monies, and yes, NYS T-shirts!

N O R W A L K Y O U T H S P O R T S C O N T ’ D

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N O R W A L K K E N D O D O J O

Ballaholics were undefeated champions for the SEYO winter season! BR l-r Asst Coach Rudy, Bryce Sibrian, Justin Quintana, Nick Luna, An-drew Bui, Coach Jesus. FR: Jordon Wong, Tyler Sibrian, Jesus Zam-brano & Matthew Mislang.

N O R W A L K D A N C E C L U B Rosie San Miguel

Blue Krush, 4th grade girls took championship at the West LA basketball tourney. From L-R: Exuberant are Kylie Mathes, Miya Yi, Janelle Sasaki, Alyxe Tamaki, Ashley Kuwahara, Jamie Kwong, Laine Misaka and Jessica Kato. Missing Angie Gagnon.

NDC International Night Social— February 26 A treat is always in store when Harriet Yamada has a turn in host-ing. On this particular night, Harriet selected two of Porto’s Baker of Downey most popular baked goods. The empanadas and po-tato balls were very tasty. Thanks to her husband Jim for making a special delivery. A fresh toss green salad and slices of sweet oranges were healthy choices to blend in the overall taste; these were kindly donated by Harriet and Helen Hikiji. DJ Yuso Kurihara made it a casual and relaxed evening with his music. His wife Edna chose a unique combination of line dances. A Japanese line dance called “Beautiful Sunday” and “Mambo Italiano” were introduced. Thematically, they were appropriately chosen. Present at the dance were most than 60 dancers repre-senting Em Yamada, Prudy Gin and the NDC and friends.

A special refreshing treat included a delicious homemade Fuji apple dessert with lime and lemon prepared by Helen and Rosie San Mi-guel. Thanks to DJ Yuso Kurihara for his taped music and inspiring the dancers to have a good time. There are always certain individuals who arrive early to help with the set-up, assist during refreshments and still have the thoughtfulness to help at the conclusion of the evening. The organizing committee extends a word of appreciation and sincere thanks to all of you. NDC Western Social—April 23 Experienced and creative, co-chairs Helen Hikiji and Edna Kurihara did a remarkable job improvising the preparation and serving of refreshments due to the on-going kitchen remodeling. Hot dogs with buns, cowboy baked beans, coleslaw, fresh strawberries and deco-rated Easter cupcakes were served buffet style. Coffee was brewed at home and hot water pots were made available for those prefer-ring tea. Generous serving portions were given with considerate donations given by Helen, Edna, Connie Ciranna and George Ishi-kawa. During intermission, Edna led the “Ten-step Polka” twice. It started at a slow pace and progressed to a faster beat. The line dance con-cluded with the very popular “Circle Waltz”. The Management Com-mittee was pleased that 63 guests attended the social. Plans are underway for the South of the Border Social on May 28th. Please come to enjoy the evening.

NDC Spring Fling—March 26 The evening was crisp after a few days of rain and the dancers looked forward to a nice casual evening of socializing and dancing. Helen Hikiji, host for the evening, planned a menu that included a moist and tasty turkey pinwheels, a garden salad and potato chips.

On February 18th, we were honored to host a special iaido prac-tice with Oda Katsuo sensei from Japan, iaido hanshi 8 dan and kendo kyoshi 7 dan. He was in town to conduct an iaido seminar in Pasadena over the weekend, which was well attended by iai-doka from Norwalk Dojo, Southern California, Northern California, and even British Columbia. It was an amazing two days of instruc-tion. The same weekend, Kariya Yoshijiro was in Canada to represent us at the Steventon Kendo Tournament. He took 2nd place in the 3 dan division, and was on the Southern California senior team which took 3rd. Way to go! Congratulations also to our trophy winners at the North-South Tournament on April 17th; Yoon Courtney (2nd place 11-13 years) and Yoon Brian (3rd place 1-2 dan). We had a contingent of seven kenshi who traveled up to San Jose for this event. Unfor-tunately, they missed out on the April 16 Center Recognition

Dinner where we loudly applauded Domen Megumi who was hon-ored for her many years of service to the Center. Congratulations Domen san, and we at Norwalk Dojo thank you as well! Finally, a big congratulations to the following kenshi for achieving new ranks at the spring promotional examination: Ji Daniel (5 kyu), Kim Christie (4 kyu), Hahn Danielle (3 kyu), and Yoon Brian (2 dan). Norwalk Kendo Dojo practices Mondays from 7:00 to 8:30 pm and Fridays from 7:30 to 10:00 pm. New members are welcome; be-ginners are accepted on the first Friday practice of each odd month. The iaido group practices from 9 to 10 pm on Mondays; iaido beginners are accepted in January, April, and July. For infor-mation about Norwalk Dojo, including upcoming and past events as well as how to join, please see the dojo website at http://www.eanet.com/norwalk or send email to norwalkkendo@gmail.com

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Joint Practice/Shiai with Gardena & Torrance at Gardena On April 11 at Gardena JCI, 3 dojos (Gardena, Torrance & Norwalk) participated in the joint practice/shiai. We had 10 yonens participate in this shiai and the medalists are as follows: 1st Albert Lee 2nd Felix Berkan, Conor Uyekawa, Joshua Chen 3rd Joseph Chavez at the conclusion of the shiai and awards presentation, we had ran-dori (free practice) for the juniors followed by a senior practice where we had special instructions by Gardena Head Sensei, Micky Matsu-moto and Norwalk Head Sensei Masao Fukuma. OCK Invitational at Lakewood on March 27 2nd Jason Sams, Emilio Zamorano Southeast Japanese Community Center Recognition Dinner & Awards On April 16, the annual Recognition Dinner took place . From Judo we honored Emilio Zamorano as our outstanding scholarship student and received a scholarship from the Dojo presented by Dean Wada. He was also honored at the Nanka Installation Luncheon in Long Beach earlier in March. Congratulations Emilio! MexGames 2011 at Long Beach On April 24, the Mexican Consulate hosted the 2011 MexGames at Cal State Long Beach Pyramid for all youths of Mexican decent ages 15 and older. From Norwalk, we had solo representation by Emilio Zamorano who showed a lot of heart fighting 7 matches. 2nd Emilio Zambrano

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J U D O D O J O N E W S

San Jose Sensei Memorial Invitational at San Jose On Feb. 20 San Jose Sensei Memorial Invitational (the largest annual tournament in the West Coast) took place at San Jose State Univer-sity. From Norwalk, we had an unprecedented 17 compete finishing with 8 medals. 1st Alan Lee 2nd Billy Matsubara, Emilio Zamorano 3rd Dominic Sorrentino, Kay Sugahara, Dereck Hsu, David Agama, Gabriel Benitez This was our first ever road trip competition as a club with 40 people total. We like to give special thanks to Scott Momii for doing an out-standing job organizing this trip and Dean Wada for his generous donation for our bus transportation. Nanka Installation Award Luncheon at Long Beach On March 5, Nanka Yudanshakai hosted the annual luncheon in Long Beach to recognize outstanding members from each club in Southern California. Norwalk has selected Emilio Zamorano as our most out-standing member. Nanka Novice Tournament at West Covina on March 6 1st Andrew Ravelo, Kay Sugahara, Billy Matsubara 2nd Nathan Hu, Emilio Zambrano 3rd Hunter Rodriguez, Joseph Chavez, Tanner Sonoda, Conner Uyekawa, Trevor Sonoda, Desmond Wong Mojica Spring Invitational at Baldwin Park on March 13 2nd Andrew Ravelo, Louis Zhang 3rd Kay Sugahara Joint Practice/Shiai with West Covina at Norwalk On March 25 at Norwalk Dojo, we held our first joint prac-tice/shiai with guests from West Covina Dojo. It was a packed evening attended by over 100 people. 1st Albert Lee 2nd Joseph Chavez 3rd Hudson Tan, Jason Sams, Derek Hsu Special thanks to Johnson Chang for preparing a feast for us this evening!

Emilio Zambrano, right, (Silver Medal) at MexGames

Kay Sugahara at right( Bronze Medal) at San Jose Invitational.

NORWALK YOUTH SPORTS CHAR SIU BAO Pre-order Form Norwalk Youth Sports (NYS) is now taking pre-orders for baked and/or steamed Char Siu Bao by the dozen for pick up at the Southeast Japanese School & Community Center Festival on July 23—24, 2011. PRE-ORDER PRICE $16.00 PER DOZEN A limited number of Char Siu Bao will be available for sale at the Festival ($18/doz or $1.59 each)

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -Order form must be received by Weds. July 13 to be processed—- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

I would like to order (at $16 per doz.) ________ Dozen STEAMED Buns ________ Dozen BAKED bun

For pick up on (check one): _______Saturday July 23 (3 pm—7 pm) ________Sunday July 24 (2pm-6 pm)

Name_____________________________________ Please make check payable and mail to: NORWALK YOUTH SPORTS

Address___________________________________ c/o Lynn Chang

City _____________________ Phone__________________ 14615 Gridley Rd

Norwalk CA 90650

Total Amount Enclosed ________________Check # ____________

Chris Fukuma

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MAY 11 Center Bd Mtg 6:30 pm 28 South of Border Social JUNE 1 Operating Bd Mtg 7:00 4 Monthly Bingo 6:30 4 &11 Gakuen Registration 9-1 5 Rascals Basketball Begins 8 Center Bd Mtg 6:30 25 Summer Social 7-11 JULY 6 Operating Bd Mtg 7:00 7 Ondo Dancing Begins 7:30 9 Monthly Bingo 6:30 13 Center Bd Mtg 6:30 24-25 Cultural Festival

Coming Soon ….. our SEJSCC’s

48th Annual Cultural Festival (formerly our Carnival & Ondo)

JULY 23– 24 Sat. and Sun.

Cultural Arts Displays—Martial Arts Demonstrations Raffle Prizes— Boutique—Great Foods—Plant Sale Entertainment—Carnival Games—Ondo Dancing Although our carnival is in July, we are sending our raffle tickets early. We hope you will again support our big event. Write your name, address and phone number on each ticket stub and mail it back with your check payable to SEJSCC in the envelope pro-vided. Thank You!

CALENDAR

Recognition Dinner &Awards Night

NERIO/SEJSCC Scholarship recipients: L-R Mathew Deguchi, Jeffery Hing, and Chelsey Honma with presenters George Kato (left) and Akane Iwamura (right.) ,granddaughter of Mr. & Mrs. Nerio .

NYS Scholarship Recipients: L-R Ryan Kawahara, Bryan Santos, Chelsey Honma, Mathew Deguchi, Corey Igawa. Vlad Lorenzo (standing) presented the awards and reviewed their achievements.

Judo Scholarship Recipient Emilio Zamorano with presenter Dean Wada.

Mr. Mendez congratulating Hy Shishino with proclamation .

Happiness is a congratulatory hug from your daughter.

Good way to keep our youngsters occupied.

“Over the Rainbow” one of many songs by Kamaki and Vic.

Ellen Oye

Yumi at Silent Auction table.