Tony on Japanese TV... Celebrating Chris

Tony was interviewed for JATV, a Japanese news show recently about the Little Tokyo Mural. The show aired on Saturday night. Tony, along with Kei, from J-town Voice! were interviewed about the recent high-end housing development and its affects on the residents and small business owners in Little Tokyo. I just learned that the interview is available on their website.

Here it is: Renaissance of Little Tokyo. Tony's part is only about a minute long... it's towards the end. Let us know if you're able to view it online.


Chris Iijima performing with Great Leap in 1997
On another note, this Saturday, Feb. 11th there will be a program Come-Unity, celebrating Chris Iijima's life and legacy at the West L.A. College Theater at 1pm.

Chris was Nobuko's musical partner back in the early 70s when they toured the country for 3 years and then recorded the first Asian American album--music and songs from the birth of the Asian American Movement.

In 1997, the year I started working with Nobuko at Great Leap, they had their first "reunion concert" at UC Berkeley and San Francisco State. Over the next 3 or 4 years, I booked over a dozen gigs for Nobuko, Chris and Charlie Chin, at colleges all around the country. Chris was many things in his life, a lawyer, activist, father, professor, songwriter, and more. I appreciated his righteous contributions to "The Movement" through his music.

There is info on the Great Leap website, and there is a Chris Iijima blog with info about this weekend's memorial service.