Return to the Chula Vista Heritage Museum

[The museum was damaged two years ago, as of 2016 and torn down]

]The days I went with KD and the 2 C's, we also checked out this place...

The Chula Vista Heritage Museum is just a few steps from the sign in downtown Chula Vista, near Fred Rohr's drop anvil. We were interested in seeing their new exhibit about the history of Japanese Americans and their contributions in the Chula Vista farming community...

Little Tokyo & Giant Robot Biennale 2 @ the JANM

With a three day weekend looming and a certain exhibit closing, I was faced with the prospect of seeing the exhibit this weekend or see it on closing day, which is January 24th. Guess which decision won out? We jammed our asses up to LA after TC's CCD class...

What was so important for us to make a day trip up to LA, you may be wondering? It was the Giant Robot Biennale 2 at the Japanese American National Museum, located in the historic area designed as Little Tokyo in downtown Los Angeles. Giant Robot is celebrating 15 years of publication - GR is one of my favorite magazines which focuses on Asian American pop culture and counter culture (more info on the mag here).

One of my earliest issues had  Korean American comedian Margaret Cho on the cover (late 90's). GR used to do these really irreverent reviews on Asian candies, noodles, and toys, books, zines, and comics. They also featured people like this Asian guy who makes fresh strawberry and peach donuts (I believe this is the same guy that WC posted about a few years ago - read the post on the Donut Man here!), or Phil Chen , the Jamaican/Chinese bass player for Rod Stewart's band (during the disco years - YouTube the "Do You Think I'm Sexy" video and you'll see Phil Chen!). One of my favorite older articles was a story on the Fu Manchu'd character actor Al Leong who's played almost every Asian villain you can think of ("Lethal Weapon", "Die Hard", "Big Trouble in Little China" and "The Scorpion King"). Fk all that!!! I know him best as the guy who played Genghis Khan in one of the most awesome stoner buddy movies ever made, Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure. But I digress...

The magazine has evolved over the years and every two months is like Christmas when I get my issue because they're always chock full of interesting ass shit to read. I must have about 13 years worth of issues here and there. GR is not just a magazine; they also have shops in Los Angeles (on Sawtelle Blvd - there is also a GR Eats, a restaurant, and  GR2, an art gallery), San Francisco (in the Haight), and in SoHo in NYC.

Here's a cool video of the exhibit set up and interviews with some of the artists:

The drive up went pretty smoothly until we were 10 minutes away. Then the traffic became utterly shiteous. Instead of two hours, we arrived in two and a half. The 5 freeway really sucks when it's down to 3 lanes! Anyways, we drove past the Little Tokyo Mall and tried to find parking...

The brick building with the rounded corners is the original Nishi Hongwanji Buddhist temple. There is a photo in the JANM depicting an overhead shot of that same building as hundred of Japanese Americans were rounded up during WWII to be sent off to relocation camps. It was a sobering photo to see especially seeing the women and children. Click here to see the building's entry in detail.

The 300 block of East 1st Ave consists of many different Japanese businesses...This is the Little Tokyo Visitor Center:

San Sui Tei and Fugetsu-do...

More of the same street...

Japanese Village Plaza was across the street from the JANM. We didn't get a chance to really check it out. The Little Tokyo Mall seemed kind of dead too. Many businesses were closed up.

The JANM was opened in 1992, 50 years after Japanese Americans were forcibly interned by FDR's Executive Order 9066. The museum is an extension of the MOCA, now called the Geffen Contemporary (named after record mogul David Geffen).

The GR Exhibit poster by former comic artist James Jean at the JANM...

Below is an installation featuring the first 50 covers of GR. See if you can spot these covers:  Snoopy,  Wage the Ugly Doll, and  Margaret Cho...There's also an homage to Japanese woodblock print artist Hokusai's "The Great Wave off Kanagawa" but instead of white water, it's white rabbits. I remember buying that issue when we went to Boston to visit Thane back in Spring 2002. One of my favorite covers is the one by Adrian Tomine.(Issue 49). God, I'm such a geek!

Here's a video of George Takei (Yes, Sulu from Star Trek - the original series!) at the JANM on opening night in October 24, 2009. He is introducing GR's co-founder and curator of ths exhibit, Eric Nakamura...You get a nice overview of the magazine and its endeavors over the years. How fkg awesome is that, having George Takei praise you and introduce you?

Here I am with all the covers:

Here's a 25 foot long mural by artist Souther Salazar. This was quite the art piece...it seemed to go on forever. Lots of interesting details too. The JANM has space for 3 exhibits. The GR Biennale 2 took up 2/3 of the museum's space which was a treat. At first I thought it was just downstairs (featured a mini gallery, toys borne of a collab between three artists, five different indie video games (one of which featured naked cartoon men with pixilated penises - nice!), and a photographic retrospective to name a few), but there was indeed more!

Upstairs was even more space devoted to the works of these talented artists. My favorites were David Choe (loved his Choebots and Jimi Hendrix, the latter which wasn't at the exhibit), Rob Sato (OMFG, his work is insanely detailed!),  Stella Lai, Souther Salazar, Jeff Soto, and Deth Sun. All of the artists featured have also been GR cover artists. Each issue is a total work of art.

There was also a portion of the exhibit (top floor) that was curtained off. You had to be18+ to view  the David Choe installation. There was a warning sign that said the images may be inappropriate for younger viewers, etc, blah blah.

I went in first and initially didn't "see" the images that were considered "graphic and/or explicit". Above is a pillow of a girl throwing up fabric (at least that's what it looked like to me).  Below are some figures in a glass case on top of a crate...harmless enough, right? So what if they have mini wooden boobs!

Choe's installation  had a series of boxes with paintings as well as photographs. Look closely...Do you see the puckered up starfish? Okay, check. Now to the left of that you can also see an ultra close up of a woman's vadge. I can't believe I missed seeing THAT! 

After I saw the installation, Bert was next. I told him, "It's nothing major".

Seriously it's not that bad- what's a few anatomically correct body parts people? It's not like we were looking at child porn or some other worse stuff. I heard Bert's chuckle as he told me to come see the photo he was referring to...

Check this post here to see the photo on the crates (the 6th image down). Let's pause while you click on that post.

Cough, cough.

Now THAT'S a juicy vadge!

Wait? Wut?

I will never eat OYSTERS again.

Now you can see why kids weren't allowed in this section...but seriously, if they don't know what they're looking for, they probably wouldn't even know they were looking at an anus & labia!

All in all, I'm glad we went before it closed. It was nice to get out of San Diego and check out the art scene in an area we hadn't been to before. As always, I try to make our trips meaningful to our daughter. It was a learning experience for TC since she didn't know too much about the Japanese American experience during WWII. She knows about the Filipinos American experience but not the Japanese American experience. Don't worry, she will learn her history and be weaned the Howard Zinn Way and not the anemic whitewashed version they teach in public schools.  One day she'll thank me for taking her to all of these places! As always, my love of pop culture as well as Asian American history served as our guide to a really cool day...which wasn't over yet...

In addition to the GR exhibit, the mainstay exhibit of the JANM since 1999 was "Common Ground: The Heart of Community".

From the JANM website:

January 23, 1999
"Incorporating hundreds of objects, documents and photographs collected by the National Museum, this exhibition chronicles 130 years of Japanese American history, beginning with the early days of the Issei pioneers through the World War II incarceration to the present. Among the notable artifacts on display is a Heart Mountain barracks, an original structure saved and preserved from the concentration camp in Wyoming."

There was so much to see and do but sadly, not enough time to take it all in. We saw and overheard an elderly docent who was a WWII Veteran. From the bits I've heard, his story was quite fascinating. It was heartwarming to see him in his military cap, wearing his medals and telling visitors of his experience.

It was also heartbreaking to read and hear of some of the stories of the interment camp survivors.  I leafed through some three ring binders that were organized by names of the camps. In the binders were questionnaires filled out by those who were imprisoned there many years ago. Many of them were born there and jotted down their recollections. I specifically looked for Rohwer which was in Arkansas. My dad's good friend, one of our "uncles" is married to a Nissei. Her parents were sent to Rohwer during WWII; she was born after the war.  During their incareration, their farm in Corona was watched over by either their Caucasian neighbors or friends. Once the war was over, they  were able to resume their life as farmers before. When we were young, my uncle would sometimes give us fresh ears of corn or strawberries from his in-law's farm. It was always different every time. I never knew until later about their experience when I started talking to my auntie about the Asian American movement (she was a feminist and activist back in the early 70s). Her father lived a really long life and recently passed away at 90+ years of age.

What impressed me most was the resiliency of the Japanese American people and their resourcefulness in making a terrible situation bearable (if it could even be termed that). The walls were absolutely filled with photos and artifacts detailing the Issei Experience when Japanese began immigrating to the U.S. at the turn of the century, as well as the WWII experience in Hawaii and in the U.S.

Some of the artifacts included intricate wooden carvings of birds, pencil holders, customized peacoats (since many of these camps were out in the desert, they were given peacoats by the military to wear during the cold winter months), cups, writing implements, clothing, and drawings. One amazing exhibit was a mini-scale replica of Manzanar made using original blue prints of the camp. One of the model makers used to work for Mattel - the detail was amazing and it was a shock to see how vast the camp was. I cannot even imagine the horrible conditions the Japanese had to endure, all the while seeing barbed wire fences all around and guards stationed at towers ready to shoot down any escapees.

On a lighter note, do you like the placement of the pink JANM stickers? I didn't notice until later!

One last look at the exhibit poster...

For more POV's of this exhibit, check out these awesome posts by the blog Arrested Motion here (opening night)  and an overview of some of the artists here. There is also a nice write up and pictorial from KoreAm here (referenced earlier with the vadge shot), a Discover Nikkei article of Eric Nakamura here and lastly, an article by Daily du Jour on David Choe and the exhibit in general here. These articles have many more photos of the exhibits. Although photography wasn't "allowed", you saw that I snuck in a few. These folks were there for opening night and were able to get better shots of many of the other pieces.

Our next stop was a sweet shop down the street...