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SAN FRANCISCO (May 29, 2003) - The 3rd Annual Soko Arts Festival and the 2003 APA Arts & Heritage Festival will present singer/performance artist SUZ Takeda’s “Steppin’ in Time with Ginger & the Snaps – A Musical Theatrical Tribute to San Francisco’s Japantown,” on Saturday, June 7th, 7 p.m. at the Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California, located at 1840 Sutter Street (nr. Webster) in San Francisco. Tickets are $12 - $15 sliding scale in advance and $18 at the door. Contact JCCCNC at (415) 567-5505 for tickets and information or go online: www.jcccnc.org.

“Steppin’in Time,” was written by SUZ Takeda, with musical direction by Francis Wong. This spectacular celebration of Japantown’s history and culture will feature: SUZ Takeda as “Ginger,” and the Snaps: Jimmy Biala (percussion), Doug Hirai (guitar), John Carlos Perea (bass), Melody Takata (taiko) and Francis Wong (sax); and guest artists Hideko Nakajima (singer/shamisen), A.K. Black (spoken word artist), and SambAsia (Escola de Brazil in SF Japantown). Personal stories of growing up in Japantown will be shared by Judy Hamaguchi, Hiroshi Shimizu, and Tim Yamamura.

Third annual Soko Arts Festival celebrates JCCCNC’s 30th Anniversary

Through a dazzling array of music, first-person anecdotes by J-Town personalities and SUZ Takeda/Ginger’s distinctive comedic repartee and song, “Steppin’ in Time,” comments, JCCCNC Program Director Jill Shiraki, “will serve up generous helpings of mixed-generation humor (Nisei/Shin Issei/Nisei/Sansei/Nosei!) and many celebratory morsels of Nikkei culture. The evening extravaganza is the culmination of almost three years of intensive Japantown-based artistic collaborations by the JCCCNC’s Soko Arts Festival and Asian Improv aRt’s APA Art & Heritage Festival,” she adds. According to the Takeda, “ the show is inspired by the evolution of Japanese American identity and community -- from the Issei “picture bride” era; through the wartime internment and post-war years; to the Fillmore/Japantown jazz era of the 1960s; the dawning of Asian American/Third World identity of the 1970s; continuing to the current renaissance of Japantown art and culture. The Soko Arts Festival is a project of the JCCCNC which is celebrating its thirty-year anniversary as a cultural, social and artistic center for San Francisco Japantown.

Inspirations for “Steppin’ in Time”

Takeda credits two notable books she read for much of the inspiration for creating this ambitious show. George Yoshida’s ground-breaking work, Reminiscing in Swingtime – A History of Japanese in American Popular Music, 193….. (National Japanese American Historical Society, 1998?) introduced Takeda to Japanese Americans’ rich history in American popular music, from the pre-war days, through the wartime years and internment, in Japan during the Occupation, and up to the 60’s. The book’s anecdotal sketches of these pioneering musicians captured Takeda’s imagination. The photos and essays in Generations – (Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California), deepened her appreciation for the community and the role of culture in sustaining it, as she learned about the birth, struggles and triumphs of one of three remaining Japantowns in the U.S. Her enthusiasm for celebrating that history led to the conception of “Steppin’ in Time,” which, she adds “will, hopefully encourage our community to keep that legacy alive, to treasure our culture in all of its diversity. That is so important to us, not just those who have lived in Japantown, but those like me, who always wished for a community like this…”

Ginger and the Snaps

SUZ Takeda will reprise her popular stage persona, Ginger Hashimoto – the evening’s simultaneously coy, flamboyant, wise-cracking and soulful Japanese cabaret hostess. Her lively Japanese-accented banter with the audience “makes the audience feel like family,” says Takeda, and “engages them on this journey into time, without a hokey time traveler feeling.” Ginger and the Snaps debuted at the inaugural Soko Arts Festival two years ago and have developed an improvisational ensemble chemistry that readily transforms the JCCCNC gymnasium into a “high tone” karaoke club, a J-Town/Fillmore jazz club of a bygone era, or even Las Vegas.

Born and raised in the East Bay, Takeda describes herself as a “shin-nisei,” since her parents are both immigrants from Japan (“shin-issei”); consequently, she was raised in a Japanese-speaking environment at home. As she was growing up, her connection to SF Japantown was minimal, but she was deeply influenced by her immigrant mother and her circle of Japanese-speaking friends.

Ginger’s character and mannerisms are drawn from those immigrant women, who took ownership of their heavily accented English, and confidently communicated with new varieties of “Japanglish” expressions, uniquely Japanese American. Rather than mimicking the stereotypical Japanese accent, SUZ, through Ginger’s character, redefines it, showing its potentially transformative power. “I’m really trying to respect and honor that immigrant tenacity and spirit. I think we all know someone like Ginger, who’s not just wacky, but has lots of heart and inner strength,” says Takeda.

Ginger’s capricious Snaps are led by the ever-versatile saxophonist/composer, Francis Wong (Gathering of Ancestors); along with Melody Takata (Gen Taiko); Jimmy Biala (SambAsia); John Carlos Perea (Sweetwater Singers); and Doug Hirai. Over the course of the past two years, through the prestigious Meet the Composer New Residencies program, Wong has been providing a range of musical direction, technical assistance and original arrangements to encourage a new level of collaboration among Japantown performing artists, particularly those based at the JCCCNC. As resident composer, he provided the musical direction for Takeda to develop Ginger’s musical repertoire, including a scintillating version of the popular song, “Fever,” (“I got the netsu…“). “All the Soko musicians have been so fun and nurturing,” says Takeda, who had always wanted to integrate her musical talents with her theater work.

About the JCCCNC

Envisioned by the Japanese American community, JCCCNC will be an everlasting foundation of our Japanese American ancestry, cultural heritage, histories and traditions. The JCCCNC strives to meet the evolving needs of the Japanese American community through programs, affordable services and facility usage. The JCCCNC is a non-profit community center based in San Francisco.

For more information, please contact:

Jill Shiraki, Director of Programs
Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California (JCCCNC)
415.567.5505