JAPANESE CULTURAL CENTER OF HAWAI‘I STAFF
This close-knit team may have varied interests, but
they do share one commonality: their combined efforts to see the Japanese
Cultural Center of Hawai‘i continue to grow and mature as an institution that
preserves and educates about the Japanese American experience in Hawai’i—the
only place in the world with broad, relevant expertise on this unique issue.
Lenny
Yajima Andrew
President & Executive
Director
Lenny Yajima Andrew joined the Cultural Center in March 2007. She previously worked in the pharmaceutical industry in Hawaii for 17 years, most recently an executive neurology specialist with Merck U.S. Human Health.
Andrew was an active
member of the Honolulu Japanese Junior Chamber of Commerce, and served as
General Chair of the 40th Cherry Blossom Festival. She graduated
from Harvard University with a bachelor’s degree in economics and Japanese
studies.
Allicyn
Hikida Tasaka
Chief
Operating Officer/Director of Development & Communications
Caroline Okihara
Director of Finance & Administration
Caroline
Okihara joined the Cultural Center in April 2008 as its Director of Finance and
Administration. Prior to working at the
Cultural Center, Okihara was a senior staff accountant at KMH LLP, a CPA firm
that provides accounting and consulting services to for- and non-profit
organizations.
Okihara
is fluent in Japanese, has more than 15 years experience in the Japanese travel
industry and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in business administration in
business economics and statistics and a bachelor’s of arts in Japanese from the
University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa.
Brian Niiya
Director of Program
Development
Brian Niiya came to the Cultural Center in 2006 from
the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles. Niiya oversees the Cultural Center programs
and manages the Resource Center which houses more than 8,000 books in English and
Japanese, photos, archival collections of manuscripts, audiovisual materials
and rare diaries and journals of Hawai‘i Issei.
A writer, public historian, curator and editor of
numerous publications on the Japanese American experience. Niiya also leads the research and creation of
the Cultural Center historical exhibitions, as well as staffs the Hawai‘i Confinement
Sites Committee.
Denise Tagomori Park
Public Relations/Membership Manager
Denise Tagomori Park joined the Japanese Cultural Center
of Hawai‘i as its Public Relations/Membership Manager in March 2010 and
manages
the Cultural Center’s relations with
the media and public, as well as oversees the organization’s membership.
Park most recently worked
at Pang Communications as a Senior Account Executive. Prior to that, she was an Account Executive at McNeil Wilson Communications. She was also a News Producer at KGMB9/CBS News for nearly four years. Park is a graduate of the University of Hawaii at Manoa with a degree in Journalism.
Christy Mari Takamune
Gallery/Gift Shop Manager
Christy Mari Takamune is the gallery mastermind who
builds, formulates and stylizes the exhibits at the Japanese Cultural Center of
Hawai‘i. Takamune ensures that the
Community Gallery features at least four new exhibitions every year since coming
to the organization in 2004.
Takamune has a bachelor’s in fine arts from the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, an associates in science in fashion technology from the Honolulu Community College and brings with her years of retail experience as a fine jewelry merchandiser and manager.
Jennifer (Jenny) Seki
Volunteers Coordinator
Jennifer Seki joined the Cultural Center as Volunteers Coordinator in September 2009 and supports and coordinates the Volunteers program at the Cultural Center. As a Japanese Exchange and Teaching (JET) Program participant from 2001-2004, Jennifer lived and worked in the small town of Kiyama in Saga Prefecture and gained not only an appreciate of the Japanese culture and people, but a love for teaching as well.
She is currently pursuing a Master of Education Licensure in Secondary Education degree at Chaminade University with plans to teach either middle or high school science in the future.
Derrick S. Iwata
Education Specialist
Derrick
Iwata started as a volunteer at the Cultural Center in 2000, and was promoted
to a full-time position four years later.
As the organization’s Education Specialist, Iwata helps to educate
people, especially teachers and students, interested in learning about the
Japanese American experience in Hawai‘i and the Japanese culture.
A graduate of the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa college of education, Derrick is an avid bon dancer with a certificate in Japanese dance from Otaki Minbu Kai.
Suann Chen
Programs Assistant/IT Specialist
Suann Chen joined the Cultural Center in 2007 and assists with the organization, design, and installation of exhibits in the gallery as well as with program planning and sales in the gift shop. She has studied Japanese language for six years and studied abroad at the Hiroshima University for a year.
A graduate of the University of Nevada-Las Vegas in Anthropology and Japanese language, Suann is also a graduate student at the University of Hawaii at Manoa studying Cognitive Linguistics. She specializes in web and print graphic design and runs her own design business with her husband called Freelance Dreams.
Nicolita (Nicki) Garces
Resource Center Assistant
Nicolita Garces joined the Cultural Center in 2010 and assists with the operations of the Resource Center. She is currently attending the University of Hawaii at Manoa Library and Information Science Master Degree Program.
She earned a Master of Arts degree in Political Science and specialized in International Relations with an interest in education and migration studies at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. As a Japanese Exchange and Teaching (JET) program assistant language teacher of English from 1999-2002, Nicolita taught at Mikuni Senior High School in Fukui-ken, Japan. She speaks conversational Japanese, Chinese Mandarin and Filipino (Ilocano dialect).
Leianne Fujimura
Administrative Assistant/Accounting Clerk
Leianne Fujimura joined the Cultural Center staff in
2005 and helps with administrative and board needs, manages accounts payable
and prepares the staff payroll.
Fujimura previously held secretarial positions at Dick
Pacific, Luana Hills Country Club and Pacific Guardian Life. Fujimura graduated from Brigham Young
University – Hawai‘i with a major in Japanese and minor in secretarial science.
Michelle Miyashiro
Administrative Assistant
Michelle Miyashiro came aboard the Cultural Center staff
in 2005 as an Office Assistant. Miyashiro’s
efficient assistance to the membership department allows the Cultural Center to
successfully service its growing membership and continue in its efforts to
increase these numbers.
Miyashiro is a graduate of the University of Hawai‘i
at Mānoa who majored in
Japanese.
Jane Kurahara
Staff Emeritus
Jane Kurahara is a retired school librarian and dedicates much of her free time in the Resource Center. She was the co-manager of the Resource Center as a volunteer from 2001 to 2006.
Kurahara has co-chaired the Hawaii Confinement Sites Committee since it inception in 2005. She has taken the lead on the planning, coordination, and discourse on outreach presentations, archaeological surveys, spearheaded acquisition of key archival collection manuscripts and photographs relating to internment, was key in creating the original and traveling Dark Clouds Over Paradise exhibits, and the development of the Hawaii internment curriculum of materials being taught in schools today.
Betsy Young
Staff Emeritus
Betsy Young is an award-winning public school teacher, social studies curriculum specialist and school librarian, who has kept education as her main focus by helping to develop curriculum on Japanese American internment in Hawaii being taught in our schools today.
She has conducted countless outreach presentations to community groups and schools, and chaired and coordinated the successful Day of Remembrance on February 21, 2010 which highlighted the Honouliuli internment camp. She also co-managed the Resource Center as a volunteer from 2001-2006.
Barbara Ishida Since 1995, Barbara Ishida has been volunteering her time to manage the Gift Shop – a 500 square-foot area connected to the Cultural Center Community Gallery.
Staff Emeritus
14 years later, and with the help from a group of her good friends who volunteers alongside the Nisei Mānoa resident, Ishida has fashioned the Gift Shop into an array of nostalgic Japanese ceramic wares, books and antique doll sets.
