UFF DA!: How World War II Started a Japanese Community in Minnesota (Online)

Please join us for "UFF DA!: How World War II Started a Japanese Community in Minnesota" with James S. Kanki on Thursday, August 8 at 6:00 p.m. on Zoom.

Heart of America Japan-America Society of Kansas City, Missouri members Mark Saito and Jim Kanki, sons of Niseis, will talk about WWII, their parents' lives at Fort Snelling, MN, and the growing Japanese community that still exists.

James S. Kanki is the Honorary Consul of Japan in Kansas City. He has been an active member of the Heart of America Japan-America Society (HAJAS) since 1992 and continues to volunteer on numerous committees including serving as its President from 2008 to 2011. He received the Honorary Consul appointment from the Foreign Ministry of Japan in August 2016. He was born and raised in Chicago and held various Development positions at WTTW/Public TV in Chicago (14 yrs.) and KCPT/Public TV in Kansas City (28 yrs.). He retired in 2006 and he and his wife Lydia have one daughter, Jamie Mariko, who is married and living in Melbourne Beach, Florida.

Mark Saito, a native Minnesotan, is a retired meteorologist now in his 30th year of living in Kansas City. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in meteorology from the University of Wisconsin and Master of Science in Environmental Studies from the Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville, and a Master of Divinity from Lincoln Christian Seminary. Before retiring five years ago, Mark spent over 40 years in the atmospheric sciences. As part of his career, Mark has performed analyses of, and interpreted modeling output of the atmosphere to determine impacts on operations for a variety of industries including aviation, broadcasting, transportation, air pollution and emergency management. Mark is a Sansei, one of many who grew up in Minnesota just after World War II. Like a true Minnesotan, Mark developed an interest in many of the activities that Minnesota is famous for: fishing, cross country skiing, and complaining about the Vikings, Twins and Gophers. In a state filled with tall Scandinavians, Mark and the Japanese community were quite the oddity. But despite the social and cultural differences, the Japanese thrived and formed a distinctive Minnesota flavor. And because of his experiences, Mark is ideally suited to talk about how the Japanese community in Minnesota grew out of the dark times of World War II. 

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