JAMsj SJT Exhibit: Shishimai Photo

JAMsj SJT Exhibit: Serrada Photo

JAMsj SJT Exhibit: 30th Anniversary Photo

JAMsj SJT Exhibit: Happi

JAMsj SJT Exhibit: Drum

JAMsj SJT Exhibit: Tour Map

Interview by Josephine Reed for the NEA
July 14, 2011
Edited by Liz Stark and Ann Waller Curtis

2011 NEA National Heritage Fellows:
Roy and PJ Hirabayashi

NEA website link: http://www.nea.gov/honors/heritage/fellows/fellow.php?id=2011_07&type=int

NEA Podcast Interview: Roy & PJ Hirabayashi

Lyrics by Rybo

Music production by DJ Squareweezy of The Bangerz

Music video at: http://youtu.be/egRBy71_Fw0

Performance by San Jose Taiko, the 2002 San Jose Betsuin Junior Choir, and Rybo

The taller the tree stands, the stronger its roots must be. As we commemorate SJT's 40 years, we feel grateful to be blessed with our own strong community roots—families, friends, fellow artists, and others whose love and support have always helped us stand tall. To our supporters, our predecessors, our city of San Jose, and our neighborhood of Japantown, we say "arigato."

LYRICS

VERSE 1: From the first day to 40th birthday / from the Buddhist church, where the group first played in the first place / It's natural making art in the birthplace / It's San Jo like the Sharks and the Earthquakes / Couldn't have done it without the love of the hometown / The home crowd supporters shout with their own sound / Couldn't have done it without the love in a hundred percent in some of the men and the women willing to run it / And to that, we stay faithful / And to our predecessors, stay grateful / 'Cause that which is built today is only as sound as the foundation first laid / So in recognition of all of that, the mission of this track is to holler back / It's something that we had to do, a small token of our gratitude

CHORUS: Arigato, arigato / arigato, arigato / for the grounding, support, and community / from our founding to all that we grew to be / Arigato, arigato / arigato, arigato / to the fam, the friends, and fans, and all of those who lent hands

VERSE 2: Raised in J-Town in SJ, proud of our community, our city and state now / The opportunity to rep our community's useless, unless used as a muse musically / Before the drum was a drum, the drum was a tree / Before the tree, the tree was a seed that was fortunately able to sprout and start to photosynth / Its flourishing was only allowed through proper nourishment / And over time it grew through the grace of the rain, sunshine, and dew / And each try reaching for sky was thanks to the sturdiness the earth had supplied / So the same with our lives, and so the same with our group / We only reach a new high when we can deepen our roots / So if we reach for the sky, and if we seek and we find, we must remember how the earth nursed a tree from a shoot, and say "thank you"

CHORUS

VERSE 3: Forty years from first founding / The group's growth granted by great grounding / See, the fertile soil is suitably San Jo, so we stay rooted to the community / Considering everything we've inherited and benefited from, to credit is an imperative / So with a humble heart and in gassho, we say "arigato"

sanjosetaiko

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