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BS: Yeah, and then is there anything else that you wanted to mention or describe today that we weren't able to cover or did not get to?

SB: Oh, god. [Laughs] Not that I can think of off the top of my head. I can always shoot you an email if I do think of anything. Bill, can you think of anything?

BT: No, the only thing that I was thinking about if you just want to spend a minute talking about, because you were talking about your connection with Japan, talk about Kakehashi, both your experiences as a participant and as a supervisor?

SB: Yeah, sure. Actually, I never went as a participant.

BT: Oh.

SB: I just went as a supervisor twice. But do you all know what the Kakehashi Project is? Okay. So for some background, it's a program that the National JACL runs. And so national JACL is partnered with the government of Japan to bring Japanese American and in some cases, like, broader Asian American youth, from the United States, from the JACL, specifically, over to Japan for two weeks. And so it's like this big cultural experience. And so you go and you do, like, different cultural workshops where you get to do kind of like an arts and crafts type of thing. Like I think one group maybe did ikebana at one point, we got to do silk screening, which was really cool. A lot of the groups go and they do a homestay, which the chaperones don't get to do. But anyways, I was a chaperone or supervisor on two different trips. And that, again, experience was just super, super cool. Because I got to go with all of these young folks who, a lot of them had not been involved with the JACL before or hadn't done a lot of identity work. And being able to go to the place that like your family hails from is just so powerful, like that statement alone. But being able to go with a group of people who, again, have a similar experience or background in that they're Japanese American, and being able to talk about your identities and what it means to be in your motherland, and having that experience and what it looked like to grow up. And also, yeah, just being able to immerse yourself in a culture that you may or may not have had a lot of different ties to throughout your life experience was really just eye-opening in a way that... I've been to Japan with my grandma before, but being able to, yeah, have those conversations with folks simultaneously, was a really big growing experience. And also the food is really good. [Laughs]

BS: I would imagine the food's pretty good as well.

SB: Yeah, yeah.

BS: Not to put you on the spot, Stephanie, but did you have any other questions that you wanted to mention or describe that we did not cover today?

ST: No, I don't think so. I really appreciate being able to hear you speak, Sarah, and share your stories and your history and your leadership throughout your time with JACL. So thank you.

SB: Yeah, thank you all. Well, I'm trying to think if there's anything else, but yeah, I don't know. I'm just like, again, I'm just focusing on graduating and then my term on the national board. [Dog barking]

SB: Is that Claire?

BT: That's Claire. Sorry.

SB: Hi, Claire. [Laughs] My time on the national board is coming up, and so there's been some questions for me personally around, like, what does my involvement look like for the future? And I think that obviously, I'll stay involved on the national side to some extent, but I would really love to focus more of my attention back on the Seattle chapter. I've definitely had to take a little bit of a step back since being in grad school, like my plate has just been too full. So yeah, just like being able to go back and immerse myself more fully into the community is definitely a goal of mine.

BT: Okay, I think that's about it, Sarah, thank you very much. Brent, thank you. And yeah, it was very inspiring, enlightening. And, Sarah, you're just amazing. Your story is... I'm glad that we had a chance to record this. So that will conclude our recording for today, and thank you very much, everyone.

SB: Yeah, thank you all.

<End Segment 11> - Copyright © 2022 Seattle Chapter JACL. All Rights Reserved.