Posts by Koji Steven Sakai
Koji Steven Sakai is a graduate from the University of Southern California’s Masters of Professional Writing program. He has held several prestigious fellowships from The Writers Boot Camp, The Producer’s Guild, Film Independent, Visual Communication, and the Screenwriting Expo. Koji’s first film, Haunted Highway, was directed by Junichi Suzuki and distributed by Lions Gate DVD. Most recently, he wrote and produced, The People I've Slept With, a feature romantic comedy directed by Quentin Lee. The People I Slept With has screened at prestigious festivals around the world, enjoyed a short theatrical run and is currently on DVD and television. In addition to his work in film, Koji is a regular contributor to Discover Nikkei and 8Asians. He is also the Manager of Public Programs at the Japanese American National Museum. He is in charge of the concerts, lectures, workshops, family days, screenings, and other public events.
What LA Thinks Japanese Food Is Vs. What Japanese Really Eat
I admit that when I first saw the title of this LA Weekly article, “L.A.’s Idea of Japanese Food vs. What Japanese Really Eat,” I wanted to hate on it. Say that the writer Andrew Froug was wrong and didn’t know what he was talking about. However, no matter how many times I read the article, I couldn’t find anything that I disagreed with. So instead of doing that, let’s just say that this is [...] Continue »
What I Learned From Posting A Dragon Lady Personal Ad
I’ve always been curious what it would be like to be an Asian American woman on a dating website. So I decided to put up my own ad. But what kind of Asian American woman should I be? And then inspiration hit me: I should be a stereotype. But what kind of stereotype should I be? Geisha? Dragon lady? Both? I decided being a dragon lady would be more fun than being a geisha. And [...] Continue »
Top Five Japanese American Women Civil Rights Pioneers You Should Know
In California, January 30 was officially Fred Korematsu Day. It is important to honor and remember Korematsu but I believe it is also a time to look back at some of the other Japanese Americans (JAs) who also fought for the rights of not just JAs but all Americans. Unfortunately, Japanese American women don’t get enough credit for their contributions to the civil rights movement. I want to change that. So I created a list [...] Continue »
The Top Non-Asian Civil Rights Heroes For Japanese Americans
After Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, there was only one national organization that was willing to stand up for the rights of Japanese Americans (JAs). They were the Quakers. Not only did they speak out against the unconstitutional incarceration of JAs they helped many of the Nisei (second generation) kids go to college. Even though the Quakers were the only national group, there were some brave individuals who spoke out for the rights of Japanese Americans. [...] Continue »
Do Asians Have the Smallest Testicle?
My 8Asians New Years resolution was to “continue to look for body parts on Asian Americans that I can objectify.” A friend on Facebook commented that she didn’t think I could find another body part to write about (since I’ve already written about Asian vaginas, breasts, penises, and butts). But she gives me too little credit. There are lots more body parts I can still write about! Today, I want to discuss the male testicle. [...] Continue »
How To Be A Bad Asian: I Think All East Asian Babies Look The Same
Life is hard enough as an Asian. Not all of us can get perfect SAT scores, graduate from medical school or trick out a Honda Civic. The pressure to embrace our culture remains but sometimes, we just don’t want to. How To Be A Bad Asian is an ongoing series of personal essays by the 8Asians writers about what sets us apart from the API community, how we deal with the stereotypes that we put [...] Continue »
Civil Rights Hero Gordon Kiyoshi Hirabayashi Passes Away
Most people think that all the Japanese Americans went meekly into the concentration camps during World War II. But that’s far from the truth. In reality, there were some brave individuals that put themselves out there to test the constitutionality of the exclusion order. One of those people is Gordon Kiyoshi Hirabayashi, who unfortunately passed away yesterday. Mr. Hirabayashi is my hero. I don’t use that term lightly. While most people are familiar with the [...] Continue »
70th Anniversary of the Signing of Executive Order 9066
2012 marks the 70th anniversary of the signing of Executive Order 9066. For those of you who don’t know, 9066 was the order that eventually led to the unconstitutional incarceration of the Japanese American during World War II. It was signed by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt on February 19, 1942. Here’s a quote from the order: “…from which any or all persons may be excluded, and with respect to which, the right of any person [...] Continue »
Top 5 Favorite Things About Japanese New Years
Besides Groundhog Day, my favorite holiday is New Years. I look forward to it every year. I always forget though that most people (in America) just think it’s a day to watch football and the Rose Parade. For those who don’t know, New Years or oshogatsu in Japan (and for Japanese Americans) is the most important and elaborate holiday of the year. Japanese Americans (JAs) have lost much of the Japanese part of their culture. [...] Continue »
Top 10 “Asian” Christmas Ornaments
It’s the holidays so I decided to forgo the hard hitting “research” based articles I usually write (The Science and History of the Asian Squat Or Do All Asians Have Flat Butts?) to bring to you something more in the spirit of the season: Christmas ornaments. Specifically, Asian “inspired” ornaments. I admit that when I started to research this article I thought I’d find more overtly racist ornaments. Something I could get upset about. (Maybe [...] Continue »
Is Santa Asian?
As I’ve mentioned in other articles, I work for the Japanese American National Museum here in Los Angeles. My job is to plan the public programs. One of my more popular programs is Target Family Free Saturday, which is a day where we have crafts, performances, and workshops for families. A couple of years ago, I did a “take a picture with a Japanese American Santa” event, thinking it’d be fun. To my surprise, it [...] Continue »
A Response To New York Times’ “The How of an Internment, but Not All the Whys”
[Author's note: Although I am employed by the Japanese American National Museum, this article should not be construed as coming from the National Museum. Instead, this article is my personal opinion and should be taken as such.] On December 9, 2011 the New York Times published an article titled, “The How of an Internment, but Not All the Whys,” by Edward Rothstein. This article is not only offensive but worse, it is ignorant. It is [...] Continue »
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