April 4, 2026: Echoes in the Present

On March 28 we went to Monterey to help the JACL Monterey Peninsula celebrate the 100th anniversary of the JACL Hall. Our program, “Topaz Stories: Echoes in the Present,” featured four guest speakers: Naomi Kubota Lee, reading Ritsuko Furuya’s story, “Taken Away”; Kimi Hill, reading May Takashima’s story, “Topaz Was My Home”; Kyoko Nozaki, reading “The Man Who Loved Marilyn Monroe and Baseball”; and Norm Hayashi, reading “Every Little Moment.”

Here are some photos of the weekend:

An audience of about 60 people sit in a large hall. High on a wall behind them is an old wooden sign with gold lettering that reads "M. Yamate Co. Oriental Arts."
The audience at the Topaz Stories event, “Echoes in the Present” at the JACL Hall in Monterey, March 28, 2026. Courtesy of Pam Dally-La Mica.
Five senior Japanese Americans--four women and a man, sit at a long table below a large screen. One speaks into a microphone as the others listen.
The Topaz Stories panel at the JACL Hall in Monterey, March 28, 2026. (From left): Naomi Kubota Lee, Kimi Hill, Kyoko Nozaki, Norm Hayashi, and Ruth Sasaki. Courtesy of Pam Dally-La Mica.
Four senior Japanese American women stand on a red stairway in front of an old white clapboard building. Above the wide open doorway behind them is written "JACL."
Karen Tei Yamashita, Ruth Sasaki, Kyoko Nozaki and Naomi Kubota Lee at the JACL Hall, March 28, 2026. Courtesy of Kimi Hill.
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