March 26th 2023 O.A.
Nikkei Professionals
A networking event held by the Southern California Intercollegiate Nikkei Council (INC) happened on February 25th at the JANM in Little Tokyo, connecting Japanese American students with professionals.
INC is a coalition of collegiate Nikkei Student Unions and associations throughout universities in SoCal.
Japanese American student organizations from 12 different universities are joined as members.
This is an annual event that INC holds and is called “Nikkei Professionals” which gives students the opportunity to connect with professionals who are already active members of the workforce.
About 100 people participated this year.
Students first had an icebreaker with each other.
Followed by a panel discussion with 4 professionals working in marketing, social service, media, and design engineering.
Panelists asked questions to students and gave advice on how to look for a job as they gave examples from their own past experience.
Students were then divided into 4 groups.
1 group participated in a resume workshop.
Students learned how to write their resumes from a marketing perspective.
Meanwhile, other groups exchanged information with each other and talked to 25 volunteers who are all active in the workforce, and expanded their knowledge and network with different people.
OCJAA New Officers Installations
Sunday, March 5th was the Orange County Japanese American Association 2023 New Officers Installations and Community Service Awards Banquet at Anaheim.
OCJAA is a nonprofit organization founded in 1986. It mainly provides cultural, educational, and welfare services in Orange County.
Yasuyuki Okazoe is taking over Kimiko Fujita, who was the president for 10 years.
The banquet began with the new members taking their oaths.
After lunch, current California State Assemblymember, Al Muratsuchi spoke as the keynote speaker.
Muratsuchi talked about the importance of associations like OCJAA for the Japanese American community to prosper in the US, and also the importance of young Japanese-Americans joining politics.
Followed by the greetings of Japanese American organizations.
Next, a Certificate of Appreciation were awarded to Mitsuwa Marketplace Costa Mesa Store Manager, Dwaine Yamasaki and United Airlines Key Account Manager, Toshiyuki Akamatsu for supporting OCJAA.
Community Service Awards were awarded to Red Shell Foods President, Hirohisa Watanabe and OCJAA New Senior Vice President, Kihei Otani.
Distinguished Service Awards were awarded to OCJAA Former President Fujita and OCJAA Executive Senior Vice President, Hiroyuki Kawachi.
Finally, raffles and a silent auction took place as a fundraiser, and the in-person event that happened for the first time in 3 years ended in great success.