Thanks to Akiko Furutani, board member of the Goto of Hiroshima foundation and President of the Hiroshima Interpreters Association, we were able to film B-roll of the thriving, confident, global city of peace and youth that Hiroshima city has become.
We interviewed Dr. Muneyoshi Togami at the spectacularly scenic Nanzenji Temple in Kyoto. He is a Rinzai Zen priest, scholar of migration studies and Professor Emeritus of Ryukoku University, having taught for 40 years at the private university that was founded in 1639. Amazing history of academic pursuit in the ancient capitol of Japan.
Excellent film production day in Oiso! Kazuhiro Sagawa of the Oiso Mayor’s office wrote an article about Katsu Goto in the town newsletter this past spring. That opened the doors for Sagawa to contact a living descendant of Goto from the Kobayakawa family.
A quick stop to Ikaho (sister city of Hilo, Hawaii! Check out the Hawaiian festival poster attached!) near Shibukawa, for cover shots of Robert Walker Irwin’s summer villa.
An amazing day of filming 131-year-old documents that are key to Katsu Goto’s journey to Hawaii! Visit to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Archives.
Great day of research, filming and interviews in Oiso, Kanagawa, where Katsu Goto was born, raised and worked at the city office. Filmed at his (ceremonial; remains are at the Honokaa site) and the family’s gravesite, met and interviewed the mayor of Oiso, Dr. Hisao Nakasaki and other key locations and sites.
Spent the day in Yokohama doing research and filming: Osanbashi Pier, Yokohama Archives of History, the Kanagawa Prefectural Government Main Building, etc.
An excellent day of filming B roll and cover shots at Meiji Mura open air museum – filmed important Meiji era buildings, including the Japanese Immigrants’ Assembly Hall built in Hilo in 1889. Yes, that’s right – this building was first used as a church by the early Japanese immigrants in East Hawaii on the Read more about Film crew discovers building transplanted from Big Island to Nagoya, Japan[…]
In Japan on the project – gave a Round table presentation on “Bringing the Legacy of Katsu Goto to Life” at the annual conference of the Japanese Association of Migration Studies at Hannan University in Osaka June 25-26.
Katsu Goto project featured in the Japanese language publication The Hawaii Hochi published on Oahu.