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Contact: Diane Tanaka
310-222-5709 office
GO FOR BROKE EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION TO
CONDUCT FREE
ORAL HISTORY TRAINING SESSION FOR HANASHI PROGRAM
Successful Video-Based Oral History Program
Seeks Volunteers Interested In Preserving The Nisei Veteran Legacy
Through Their Unique Stories
(TORRANCE, Calif., January 16, 2003) - The Go
For Broke Educational Foundation’s highly successful Hanashi
Oral History Program will conduct a free training session - providing
instruction on professional Beta SP camera operation and set lighting/design
as well as interview techniques - on Saturday, February 8 from
9 a.m. to 12 p.m. The session will be held in Educational Center
#1 of the Japanese American National Museum at 369 E. First Street
in Los Angeles. Continental breakfast will be served. Following
the training session, attendees will take a tour of the Go For
Broke Monument located behind the National Museum and lunch with
the Nisei veteran docents.
Funded by the Go For Broke Educational Foundation, Hanashi’s
mission is to videotape and record the rich stories and the heroics
of the World War II Japanese American veterans of the 100th Battalion,
442nd Regimental Combat Team, Military Intelligence Service and
others. Hanashi does this to preserve their legacy so future generations
can see and hear the stories from the men and women who lived
them. These life stories will be used to educate students through
curriculum development, a Web-based keyword searchable archive
of the veteran stories, and other media projects. In June 2002,
the Educational Foundation debuted its first product from the
Hanashi archive, “A Tradition of Honor” documentary
co-produced by Hanashi volunteers Craig Yahata and David Yoneshige.
Prospective volunteers are encouraged to attend this half-day
training session that will provide an overview of Hanashi’s
interview techniques, and summary overview of the 100th/442nd/MIS.
No experience is required to volunteer for the following: interviewers,
videographers, audio mixers, computer catalogers and production
assistants. Yahata, one of the 10 original Hanashi members, will
conduct the technical training. He is former co-producer of the
CBS-TV series, “Diagnosis Murder” and an Emmy-award-winning
documentary director/producer.
In 2003, Hanashi is scheduled to add an additional 100 interviews
to its current archive of 318. Volunteers will have the opportunity
to travel extensively throughout the country, including interview
trips to San Francisco, Seattle, and New York. Upcoming Hanashi
interview weekends include: February 22-23 (Southern California)
and March 30-April 4 (Honolulu, Hawaii).
The Go For Broke Educational Foundation institutes educational
programs focused on the heroism and history of the Japanese American
soldiers of World War II, as well as the West Coast evacuation
and incarceration of Japanese Americans and civil liberties issues
raised by those events. Currently the Educational Foundation’s
programs include An American Story teacher training workshops
and curriculum development, Hanashi Oral History Program, and
select media projects, including producing “A Tradition
of Honor” documentary. For more information, go to www.goforbroke.org.
In 1989 Japanese American World War II veterans established the
100th/442nd/MIS WWII Memorial Foundation to build the Go For Broke
Monument as an eternal tribute to the heroics of the segregated
Japanese American units: 100th Infantry Battalion, 442nd Regimental
Combat Team, MIS (Military Intelligence Service) and the many
other men and women who served overseas during World War II. The
monument is located in downtown Los Angeles at Temple and Alameda
streets.
