Project Team
Project Director
Donna Graves has nearly twenty years experience developing public history projects throughout California that document and interpret our state’s diverse history. Most recently, she served as Project Director for the City of Richmond’s Rosie the Riveter Memorial, and worked with the City and National Park Service to initiate, plan and implement the Rosie the Riveter/WWII Home Front National Historical Park, which includes an interpretive exhibit about the experience of local Japanese Americans and Italian Americans. Graves was invited to write the essay "Bay Area Women During WWII", for an on-line historic itinerary, Over Here: WWII in the San Francisco Bay Area, developed by the National Park Service and National Trust for Historic Preservation in 2004 and has published work in journals such as PLACES and Public Art Review, and contributed to edited collections New Perspectives in Public Art: Content, Context, and Controversy (Smithsonian Institution Press, 2002) and Public Art by the Book (University of Washington Press, 2005). Graves is the co-author of Sento at Sixth and Main: Preserving Landmarks of Japanese American Heritage, with Gail Dubrow.
Contact Donna at dgraves3@mindspring.com.
Project Manager
Jill Shiraki has been working with the non-profit community over the past 15 years in the areas of cultural and arts program development, community outreach/organizing, and project management. Most recently, she served as Project Director for the California Nisei High School Diploma Project, providing statewide educational and community outreach on Assembly Bill 781. AB 781 legislation grants retroactive high school diplomas to Japanese Americans whose high school years were interrupted due to the forced evacuation and internment during World War II. Prior to that, Shiraki was Director of Programs for the Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California, which allowed her to develop a broad range of programs for a diverse audience in cultural and performing arts, visual and literary arts, social and recreational programs, and educational forums.
Contact Jill at jshiraki@sbcglobal.net.
Project Director (May 2005 - January 2007)
Gail Dubrow is Dean of the Graduate School and Vice Provost at the University of Minnesota. For the past two decades, Dubrow has led numerous projects documenting historic sites and buildings for the National Park Service as well as state and local government. These projects have included a Draft National Study of Japanese American Cultural Resources, a study documenting the Historic Context for the Protection of Asian/Pacific American Resources in Washington State, and a Plan for the Protection of Asian/Pacific American Heritage in King County, Washington. Her publications include two award-winning books: Sento at Sixth and Main: Preserving Landmarks of Japanese American Heritage, with Donna Graves (Seattle Arts Commission, 2002; Smithsonian Books, 2004) and Restoring Women’s History through Historic Preservation, co edited with Jennifer Goodman (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2003).
Expert Advisory Committee
Eiichiro Azuma
Professor, Asian American History, University of Pennsylvania
William Deverell
Director, Huntington-USC Institute on California and the West
Anthea Hartig
Director, Western Office- National Trust for Historic Preservation
Lane Hirabayashi
Professor of Japanese Internment, Redress, and Community, UCLA
Akemi Kikumura
Senior Vice President, Japanese American National Museum
Valerie Matsumoto
Associate Professor, Dept of History, UCLA
Lynne Nakata
Interpretive Specialist, National Park Service Western Region
Gary Okihiro
Professor, International and Public Affairs, Columbia University
Ben Pease
Cartographer
Bill Sugaya
Preservation Planner
PHOTO ABOVE: Berkeley's Nisei Babes basketball team, 1938, Private Collection |
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Project SponsorCalifornia Japanese American Community Leadership Council (CJACLC)
is the leading state organization helping to preserve and bring new recognition to the three remaining historic Japantowns in California, located in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and San Jose. CJACLC was established in 1998 through a grant from the Sumitomo Global Foundation to organize and coordinate statewide issues concerning the Japanese American community. CJACLC is the sponsoring organizations for Preserving California Japantowns.
CJACLC Project Oversight Committee
comprised of CJACLC members and regional representatives, will provide support, direction, and serve as community advocates for Preserving California’s Japantowns.
Alan Nishio, Chairperson
Chris Aihara
Jerry Hiura
Donna Ishii |
Paul Osaki
Vernon Yoshioka |
CJACLC Council Members
Kaz Maniwa, Chairperson
Japanese Cultural & Community Center
of Northern California
Irene Hirano, Executive Director and President
Japanese American National Museum
Bill Watanabe, Corporate Secretary
Little Tokyo Service Center
Laura Takeuchi, Treasurer
Japanese American Services of the East Bay
Chris Aihara
Japanese American Cultural and
Community Center
Wayne Doiguchi
Japanese American Chamber of
Commerce of Silicon Valley
Sam Fujii
Nanka Kenjinkai Kyogikai
Charles Igawa
California Association of Japanese
Language Schools
Dale Ikeda
Fresno Regional Representative
Margaret Iwanaga-Penrose
Union of Pan-Asian Communities
Glenn Kawafuji
Leadership Education for Asian Pacifics
Steve Nakajo
Kimochi, Inc.
Alan Nishio
Historic Preservation Commmittee Chair
Jon Osaki
Japanese Community Youth Council
Paul Osaki
Japanese Culturual & Community Center
of Northern California
Miyoko Miko Sawamura
Sacramento Regional Representative
Kristy Shimosaka/Amy Phillips
Youth Representative
Brian Takeda
Nikkei Federation
John Tateishi
National JACL |
