My name is Mitch Toda.  And this is a picture of my family at the Honolulu Airport on our first trip home to Hawaii after having moved to California.  I am the small kid in front with all of the leis around my neck.  I remember receiving leis whenever I went home to Hawaii each year.  As always there would be more than one; there were your flower leis, but my favorites were the candy and money leis.  As I grew up I would get leis less often, but when I did it was always for significant moments in my life: high school graduation, college graduation, and on my wedding day.

My name is Alan Chu.  This is a photo of me and my father with several relatives that I met for the first time in China.  We are all sitting on the gravesite of my great-grandfather set on a hillside in the rural outskirts of Guangzhou after paying our traditional respects.  The trip was memorable for many reasons, but this picture was a special memory of the visit.  Although I only could speak a few words of Chinese and my newly acquainted relatives could only speak a few words of English, we somehow managed to communicate as though we had known each other for a life-time.

My name is Cindy; my middle name is Yukiko.  I was very lucky to have been born in Japan and lived there for a couple years before returning to the States.  I’m so happy to be as close to my Japanese relatives as well as my American relatives.  Pictured here are me (left), my sister (middle), and friend (right) when we attended one of the many fun festivals.

My name is Wendy Lim. Pioneer artists Charlie Chin, Wayne Wang, and others showed me how the arts can poignantly tell our stories. They inspired me to advance APA arts, like investing in an APA recording company. It folded but I still have the first record, Back to Back, featuring Chris Iijima and Charlie Chin. At the Smithsonian, I’ve actively participated in the APAHC to plan and present such notable artists as the hip-hop group Mountain Brothers, filmmaker Robert Nakamura, author Evelina Galang, comedian Phil Nee, percussionist Anthony Brown, jazz pianist Sumi Tanooka, and dancers Mahina and the Polynesians. 

My name is Joy Liu.

My name is Raiza Osi.

My name is Cedric Yeh. This is a photo of me at the tender age of 1. Cute right? Me, not the pig. My folks had a Chinese restaurant and were celebrating Chinese New Year. For a long time it was just a baby picture. I liked it. Little did I know 40 years later I would be breaking it down for insight in to the stories of new immigrants, entrepreneurialism, and cultural exchange.  Or that I would be working on exhibitions and collections about Chinese food in America. I still like the paper cocktail umbrellas.   

My name is Easten Law and I am proud to be a Chinese-American.  This is a video I made as a submission for the APIA White House Initiative Video Essay Project. Through teaching and service in both the United States and China, I have formed a passion for intercultural dialogue and a keen awareness of the importance of cultural identity.  As an educator and advocate, my goal is to train up others to become aware of their own cultural heritage in order to be authentically engaged in the heritage of others.

My name is Noriko. This is a statue made by sculptor Nina Akamu, which stands at the Japanese American Memorial in Washington DC.  This crane is a symbol of strength, hope and unity for people from all cultures and nationalities, and serves as a testament to the patriotism of the Japanese American community. The memorial serves as a gathering place for a variety of APA events.  I often bring out-of-town visitors to this memorial to reflect upon the imprisonment of Japanese Americans in the U.S. during WWII, and hopefully, they will realize that this also stands as a memorial to the future - which conveys the message that such an event should never be repeated.

My name is Margery Gordon and I have been working as an educator for more than 30 years in the Smithsonian, mostly at NMNH. This is a picture of me and Mr. Kwon.

So you might ask:”What is a nice Jewish girl doing wrapped up in these programs?”  To answer: The experience has changed my life—from observing Vichai’s caring to organize an Asian American festival each year,  to admiring Nit’s prowess carving fruit or observing Mr. Kwon’s expert virtuosity with Korean calligraphy; I proudly celebrate my Asian-Pacific American friends and their achievements.

My name is Sojin Kim. This is a pomelo that my parents left on their dining room table after a recent meal. What I see here is not simply a fruit common in parts of Asia (sometimes called  “Chinese grapefruit”; and remembered as  “summer orange” by my mom, who grew up in Korea during the 1930s). What I see is a strategy for addressing the near impossibility of polishing off an entire pomelo in one sitting—a small, domestic example of that no-nonsense, waste-nothing, ever-creative, let’s-see-if-this-will-work, old-school immigrant know-how that can be at once odd and inspiring, practical and visionary.

My name is Vichai Malikul and this is a fruit carving by my wife. I came from Thailand in 1967 and started working as a Scientific Illustrator at the National Museum of Natural History.  In 1986, my wife Nit & I organized the first NMNH/Asian Arts & Crafts Demonstration Day. We began, only a few Asian Pacific American craftspeople participated—Thais, Laotian, Indonesian and Chinese. Over the years it grew like wildfire encompassing many Asian-Americans from different countries. It has been a great achievement to see all these talented people come together and show their heritage wares and beautiful techniques and skills.

My name is Barbara. This is a photo my mom took of me and my dad in 1964. He’s the reason I’m part Japanese. He was born near Tacoma Washington, so he was a citizen, but still ended up in a relocation camp in Idaho. We have his id from when he left the camp to work in Montana, and his discharge from the US Army, Military Intelligence. He was an early member of the Japanese American Citizens League, and helped Washington State University get’s its Asian American Studies Program started. That’s where I first met students from Hawaii, and it was nice to find out that some things don’t have to be the way they are. Maybe you can change them.