The Nikkei Student Union is reviving Japanese American voices of the past.

On Saturday, the NSU will be hosting its 37th Annual Cultural Night at Royce Hall. The title of this year’s event is “Fukkou,” said co-producer and third-year nursing student Annika Tamaki. Meaning “revival” in Japanese, fukkou was chosen as the theme in order to raise awareness about Japanese American incarceration during World War II, she said.

“Since its creation, it (cultural night) was in honor of Japanese American incarceration and to educate and bring awareness about the subject. … I just wanted to bring it back to that – that staple unifier amongst many of the people in our community and our club specifically,” Tamaki said.

The evening’s primary event will be a play directed by Tamaki focusing on how incarceration affected her family – specifically her great aunt, Sachi Tamaki Kaneshiro, she said. Referencing her great aunt’s memoir, “Bend with the Wind,” Tamaki said she conceptualized the play’s storyline in April and wrote the script over the summer. Kaneshiro graduated from UCLA in the 1930s, Tamaki said, and the play follows her journey as a single woman isolated from the rest of her family during the incarceration of Japanese Americans.

“I’ve been doing musical theater since I was very little,” Tamaki said. “I knew that this was a project I definitely wanted to work on because it combines my heritage with one of my passions, creating a very rare opportunity for Asian American media and entertainment.”

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Ally Yamashita, a third-year psychobiology student and cultural night cast member, said she wanted to take part in this year’s production because of Tamaki’s personal connection to the material. Telling a fellow NSU member’s story is more effective in establishing the message about Japanese American incarceration than recounting facts from a textbook, for example, because it adds a more authentic layer to the piece, she said.

When writing the play, Tamaki said she wanted to convey a serious yet uplifting tone to adequately capture the piece’s theme of perseverance. This balance of tone played a key role, as Tamaki said she wanted to call attention to the enduring mental and physical toll of incarceration after the camps were abolished.

“There’s always a tendency for things to have a really happy ending and be like, ‘Oh, well, they got out of camp and everything’s okay.’ But that wasn’t really the case,” she said.

However, she said she still incorporated some hopeful moments in the script so audience members can leave the show feeling inspired by the tenacity of the incarcerated Japanese Americans. Charlene Tonai Din, a third-year environmental science student and NSU’s publicity and design lead, said the play deftly covers the breadth of the characters’ experiences through its tonal balance.

Additionally, Tamaki said Saturday’s event will feature performances from NSU Odori, NSU Modern and Kyodo Taiko – a traditional Japanese dance organization, a hip-hop dance team and a traditional Japanese drumming group, respectively. The performances will be interspersed between scenes of the play and serve as a testament to the diverse artistic expressions of Japan, she said.

“It’s important to the breadth that our community can create and perform different styles and things you might not stereotypically think of when you think Japanese American,” Tamaki said. “We can still do hip-hop, we can still do other styles of dancing.”

Moreover, Tamaki said she hopes the show will change some audience members’ perspectives on Japanese American incarceration. Over the years, she said there has been rhetoric that Japanese Americans held a submissive mindset during their time in incarceration. To address this misconception, Tamaki said her play will illustrate their resilience during this time and highlight the various experiences of those incarcerated.

“Everyone had a vastly different experience, depending on your gender, depending on your education, depending on your age,” Tamaki said. “My 10-year-old grandfather at the time had a completely different experience than his 20-year-old sister.”

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Furthermore, Tonai Din said it is important for students of all backgrounds to know about this chapter in history. While there is generational trauma that comes with discussing this historical period, Tonai Din said it is imperative to engage with productions like “Fukkou,” as they represent Gen Z’s legacy of sharing history with the broader community. Doing so would allow Japanese Americans to empathize with other communities that might be in similar circumstances today, she said.

“Having a cultural night, specifically about incarceration, can help energize and remind people that this is our history, this is a part of our community,” Tonai Din said. “Our community is very privileged in our connections and how we bounce back from the war. … Recognizing that privilege, … we can use that to be activists and allies for other communities.”