In honor of Day of Remembrance, The Serica Initiative presents a special salon-style Serica Storytellers gathering exploring Japanese American incarceration through poetry, translation, and community dialogue.

Hosted by AAPI community leader Julia Azuma, the evening brings together art, food, and memory. The program centers on By the Shore of Lake Michigan, the award-winning English translation of a 1960 tanka poetry collection written by Tomiko and Ryokuyō Matsumoto — an Issei couple forcibly incarcerated at Heart Mountain during World War II and later resettled in Chicago.

The evening will feature:

• Japanese food, drinks, and a community potluck
• A live + virtual conversation with editors, translators, and scholars
• On-site display of archival photographs and original Japanese-language materials (courtesy of Nancy Matsumoto)
• An extended community discussion to reflect collectively on remembrance, resilience, and responsibility

This event moves beyond lecture format. It invites shared reflection in a space intentionally designed for conversation.

PROGRAM DETAILS

6:00 – 7:00 PM: Guest Arrival, Japanese Food & Drinks, Networking

7:00 – 8:00 PM: Webinar / Live Presentation (VIRTUAL PORTION HERE ONLY)

Featuring:

• Nancy Matsumoto
• Mariko Aratani
• Eri F. Yasuhara
• Moderated by Kyoko Miyabe

Includes readings, reflections, and discussion of tanka poetry, incarceration, translation, and intergenerational memory.

Question & Answer section will be for those joining virtually as well.

8:00 – 9:00 PM: Facilitated Community Discussion: Open reflection and dialogue among in-person attendees.

The cost for this community event is $1 or whatever you would like to contribute. 

Flatiron District, 12 W 18th St

ABOUT THE BOOK

 

By the Shore of Lake Michigan

UCLA Asian American Studies Center Press (2024)

Winner, Before Columbus Foundation 2025 American Book Award

By the Shore of Lake Michigan is an English translation of a 1960 tanka poetry collection written by Tomiko and Ryokuyō Matsumoto, Issei immigrants who endured forced removal from Los Angeles, incarceration at the Heart Mountain prison camp in Wyoming, and resettlement in Chicago after WWII.

Written in the five-line tanka form (5-7-5-7-7), these poems document 17 years of upheaval, grief, and rebuilding, offering an extraordinarily rare first-generation account of Japanese American incarceration and its aftermath.