New art exhibit arrives at New People

Tokyo Creator's Market, a new art exhibit at Japantown's New People, opened Saturday, and the debut was accompanied by Bazaar Bizarre vendor kiosks stationed throughout the three-story building.

Visitors perused the art fair tables, such as Skinni Wini's Lolita decor and Stephanie Lee's food themed accessories (right), on their way to the art exhibit in the third-floor Superfrog Gallery.

Mika Anami, the general manger of the Superfrog Gallery, called the setup a vertical art village that really added a local tie-in to the event and brought more visitors.

"Over 1,000 people reserved spots at the Friday night special viewing and about 400 to 500 showed up," Anami said while sitting behind her desk in the spacious gallery. 

Artisans from Bazaar Bizarre, a network of handmade arts and crafts dealers and do it yourself workshops, were enjoying the event.

"I'm right next to my dream store," said Skinni Wini about the Lolita fashion boutique Baby, the Stars Shine Bright.Wini designs and sells products similar to what Baby, the Stars Shine Bright offers.

"I like when you dress up and you become a different person," said Wini, who was dressed in one of her Lolita outfits. "You're kinder, cute, and you don't harm people because the Lolita style is all about cuteness."

After browsing through the purchasable arts and crafts on the first two floors, visitors moved on to the Tokyo Creators Market, where items were not for sale.

Artwork was displayed from seven different artists:

-Junko Mizuno is known for her provocative and strong feminine imagery. (Below left).

-Tomomi Kazumoto is a screen printer and attempts to remind viewers of childhood with her dime-store darkness and playfulness. (Right). 

-Kim Songhe is known for sculptures built from natural materials and reusable wastes. She creates original chandeliers and designs shop window displays.

-Mikito Ozeki presents the BODY series, which is intended to stimulate the wavering of human values by showing the ambiguous robot figures with clear lines and forms of a paper cutout. (Below). 

-Noritake blends simple lines and multiple motifs that seemingly have nothing in common. Drawing from old photos, magazines and picture books, he adds in new elements and leaves it to the viewers to make their own discovery.

-The On Za Line design team attempts to celebrate passion, atmosphere and time with its handmade products.

-Yuichi Yokoyama, famous for his picture books, presents comic drawings usually depicting character movement or action.

“Pop culture serves as a theme with limitless possibilities for artistic expression and we’re very excited to present one of the most unique art shows to come to San Francisco this year,” says Seiji Horibuchi, the Founder of New People. “Each of these

artists is distinctive in their own expression, originality and style. We invite everyone to use Japanese pop culture as inspiration in their own lives."

Japantown residents saddened by closing of Hokubei Mainichi

The last bilingual Japanese-English newspaper in San Francisco ceased its print publication last week and will likely end its internet edition in the near future leaving Japantown residents disappointed.

In an Oct. 27 letter to readers, Hokubei Mainichi President and CEO Don Yamate explained that the newspaper would halt publication "as a result of our worsening financial situation." He also apologized for the last minute notice, writing that the staff at the Hokubei "sincerely regret having to give the bad news so suddenly." 

Hokubei Mainichi ran its last issue October 30, and its final publication comes only 50 days after its former competitor, the Nichi Bei Times, closed (an offshoot of the Times, the nonprofit Nichi Bei Foundation, now prints a weekly English edition and thrice-weekly Japanese issue). The loss of both publications made the news that much harder for Japantown residents and leaves some scrambling for a new source of news.

"It's very inconvenient," Keiko Sajan said as she sat with three friends drinking tea and coffee in the Japan Center. "I used to read it every day." Sajan, the only one of the group of four who spoke English, said she will now get her news from television.

"Tragic," executive director of the Japantown Task Force Robert Hamaguchi said as he held up the Hokubei final edition. "It's just unfortunate they couldn't have come together with the Nichi Bei Times." 

Hokubei CEO Don Yamate did offer a glimmer of hope, saying "the company will continue to seek investors and make every effort to once again become a media outlet serving the community," but the prospects appear dim. 

Staff members are still gathering and posting Japanese-American related news on the Hokubei Web site, although they are not being paid and are "preparing to go dark" Hokubei columnist Delia Tomino Nakamaya said. In her opinion, the internet version would last until the beginning of 2010 at the latest due to the difficulty in raising funds. 

Nakamaya tried to rally readers in her final article and appealed for assistance in the form of financial support or advertising in the hope that the Hokubei may print again. 

"A newspaper is the voice of a community," she wrote. "When developers aspire to land-grab or a school in Japantown is in need of support or funding, Hokubei Mainichi has been there to let us all know what is going on and what actions we can manifest. Without a newspaper, a community is silenced. As Japanese Americans, we know very the well the terror of silence, the resounding silence of America as we were interned duing World War II when no one spoke out against our four-year imprisonment."

Nakamaya is now exploring other options as the Hokubei has struggled to raise the $500 needed to keep the online version going without employees being paid. 

From 1977 to 2007, Hokubei Mainichi was housed in the large building on the corner of Post and Webster streets, but with diminishing revenue the newspaper company sold the building to Viz Media in 2007 and moved to 1710 Octavia St. The Post Street building is now occupied by New People, which houses a Japanese themed art gallery, movie theater, and small boutiques.

For now, all that remain of Hokubei Mainichi is dwindling online news and a small plaque in the front window of New People, the end of which reads:

"Founded in 1948, the bilingual newspaper voiced the post-World War II concerns of both older Japanese immigrants and Japanese Americans, chronicling news and issues critical to the community that were not covered by the mainstream press. Both as social center and home to the Hokubei Mainichi, 1746 Post Street served to unite the community."