nisei week queen candidate 2015 | los angeles, california

in case you've been wondering why i've been so m.i.a. (not that i update that frequently), i've been extremely busy with training for the 75th annual nisei week festival! do you remember the post i did in early april about becoming miss geo? well, since attending the nisei week court orientation at the end of april, i've been training almost 3-4 times a week. only july 19th, the six other girls and i were officially announced as nisei week queen candidates. i can't believe nisei week is already less than a week away! it seems just like yesterday i was giving my horrible speech at the geo dinner. it's amazing how time flies and how much i've grown in the last four months. there aren't enough words to describe how fortunate i am for this opportunity and it's only the beginning of this year long journey!

the night i was crowned as miss geo

it's hard to believe how much my life has already changed in the last four months. back on the day of my crowning, i thought i was a decent speaker, maintained a busy schedule, and knew a lot about the japanese-american community. wow, was i in for a surprise. it was that same night i realized how much my public speaking needed to improve, the days where i just go home and rest would be limited, and how naive i was about the japanese american community.

one of our very first trainings which started in may was "kimono rehearsal," where we properly learned how to put on, walk in, and fold a yukata. these first three trainings would be essential for our odori practices and speech trainings. luckily, i took odori for about 14 years so i had some muscle memory on the proper etiquettes of yukata. michi, our kimono sensei, is the epitome of all the great, strict teachers you see in movies. our first three weeks and three trainings were spent with michi, but they wouldn't be the last. she visited us every so often at our weekly trainings to practice bowing and how we should walk on stage in kimono.

we've also attended a few cultural classes including ikebana (i missed this class), karate, and tea ceremony. karate was probably the most difficult class for me since it really tested my confidence. towards the end of the class, the sensei said we would all have to break a board in half. he said every year all the girls have been able to break the board -- this added some pressure. the first two girls who went before me both broke the board on their first try. for me on the other hand, i lost count by the time i broke it. and instead of feeling proud of myself for breaking the board, i was wounded -- both physically and emotionally. i went home that night reflecting how embarrassed i felt for not having broke it on my first try. the biggest problem i had to overcome was trusting myself. before each of us broke the board we had to say "my name is ____ and i'm going to break this board." although i said that, i ended the line with a "... i think." already, the first sign of doubt. since that night, i've told myself to have confidence. the scar i have left on my hand from that night serves as a friendly reminder to be confident.

evidence i was hitting the board in the wrong spot -- should be closer to my elbow

our weekly training classes (every tuesday for four hours) up until opening ceremony were mostly focused on perfecting our introductions where we state our name, sponsor, age, school, job, hobbies, and platform all while standing in a t-stance. i used to think the girls sounded like robots when they would say their introductions, and after practicing them week after week: during trainings, in my car, or whenever i had a free moment, it's almost nearly impossible not to sound rehearsed. and when everyone is saying essentially the same thing, it's hard not to come off "robotic." but i think there is a fine line between sounding "robotic" and sounding professional. regardless of what people may think, we all said our introductions with ease at opening ceremony after practicing week after week. i couldn't be more proud of myself and the other girls.

happy aaron got to see me do my introduction at opening ceremony

our picture in the rafu after opening ceremony

aside from practicing our introductions at training, we also practiced walking in heels, went over current events, talked about what it means to be part of nisei week, etc. four hours seems long for to do all these things, but somehow it seems to go by fast every week. since opening ceremony, we've now been practicing the on stage question and answer portion and discussing nisei week in more detail and the year to come. 

every monday evening (for about an hour and a half) since beginning of june, we've been practicing our odori dance, which also means we also practice putting on our yukatas every week. our dance is about two minutes long and involves fan spinning aka many opportunities to drop the fan. it seems so long ago when we learned the dance in full and now we've just been going over the details. our sensei is extremely kind and patient and her kids are the sweetest. the best part about odori practice though is going to dinner afterwards somewhere around gardena with the girls.

the training doesn't stop there! either every saturday or sunday (for four hours) we have our modern dance rehearsals. we usually start off the rehearsals with practicing our walk in evening gown. majority of the practice is dedicated to learning our modern dance which thankfully we are not judged on. since i have zero modern dance experience and i'm super lanky, most of my movements looks extremely awkward. but i'm doing my best! lately we've just been hashing out the details and practicing in our costumes. 

since it was obon season, usually after our modern dance rehearsals the girls and i would go to one or two obons. i can honestly say i've never been to so many obons in my life. we tried to go to most of them including west covina, san fernando valley, pasadena, west la, venice, orange county, and gardena. after a while, you start to see some familiar faces. most of the girls' sponsors play a part in the obons so we would have to do our introductions in front of the crowd. this gave us some practice before opening ceremony. despite the long saturday's and sunday's, the obons were really fun and are essential to keeping our JA community alive! i hadn't gone to the gardena obon in years and it was so great to see the hundreds of people that were there -- it's the largest obon in so cal! i have some very fond memories of gardena obon so it was nice to be able to go again. can't wait to go again next year :)

west covina obon

san fernando valley obon

venice obon

on top of the kimono rehearsals, weekly trainings, odori practice, and modern dane rehearsals, we've also had the opportunity to attend some other classes such as japanese american history class, leadership class, japanese class, and speech training. the japanese american history class was held at janm and was led by three of the volunteers. what was great about that class was our families also were able to attend so my sister and dad also went. there was so much to learn in such a short amount of time. luckily i work at the museum so i can access the information anytime. our leadership and japanese class were new additions this year. the leadership was a turning point for the girls and i since we all opened up and let our guards down, which is extremely important in building a strong team. in our japanese class we learned some important phrases and etiquette for when we go to japan -- some years of japanese school came in handy! we had a total of three speech trainings with our two speech advisors where they gave us tips and advice for our speeches. each of us will give about a two minute speech at coronation which we will be judged on. they advised us every step of the way from writing our speech to perfecting hand gestures. i'm really looking forward to sharing my speech with everyone.

we've also been able to attend some community events as well including dodgers japan night, JAO dinner, and the nikkei games banquet. these nights give us a preview of what the rest of the year will look like after nisei week. we've already started receiving information for upcoming events after nisei week! i'm really looking forward to attending all of these future events. hopefully next year we'll be able to go on the field at dodgers stadium!

can you spot me?

met "the real miyagi" at the nikkei games banquet!

if you're still reading then it's obvious how much i've grown the last four months. i still have a lot to learn and improve on but i'm looking forward to it. i can't believe coronation is in less than a week (august 15) and only one of us will be crowned as the nisei week queen. for me, i just hope i do my best and make my parents proud. regardless of who wins, i know each of the girls are deserving of being queen. each of us have different strengths which make us such a great team and future court. there's so much more to nisei week than just coronation though! we'll get to be in the parade, visit many businesses in little tokyo, and start our journey as a court! hope everyone can come out to support nisei week!! it's going to be a year to remember.