Nisei Ski Club

by Judy Bracken
October’s newsletter is chock full of fun news about skiing and lots of other stuff! Here is what you will find:
President’s Message, by Armand Gutierrez
Big Sky Psych Up, by Rick Dumlao
Dragon Boat Races, by Tina Woo
Taiko Like No Other, by Sandy Kiyomura
The Most Romantic Restaurants Near & Far, by Hoyt Nelson
Ski in Japan, by Sandy Kiyomura
Do You Wanna Dance, Pt. 2, by Tina Woo

And if you missed it, there are interesting articles from past months as you scroll down. Happy reading!

by Armand Gutierrez, President
Reunions. A lot can be said about reunions. Reunions come in two basic varieties: the family reunion and the high school or college reunion, with the high school reunion reigning as the most popular. Family reunions serve the purpose of getting the family together, feasting on a grand dinner or a picnic, and visiting with your favorite sibling, grandparent, or grandkid, or perhaps you are the favorite grandparent. High school reunions are usually at 5- or 10-year intervals and organized by a “reunion” committee. Generally the first two reunions have a great turnout, but as years pass the attendee list gets shorter and shorter due to the passing of long-lost friends or just not being in position to attend due to health or distance factors. The last high school reunion I attended was my 20th in 1986, and I don’t recall if there was a 50th a couple of years ago.

The NSC 60th Anniversary Dinner was a different type of reunion, sort of a hybrid between the family and class reunions. Held on September 8th at the China Stix restaurant in Santa Clara there was a great turnout with over 70 attendees. Scheduled like a high school reunion but it exhibited family characteristics. After all, the Nisei Ski Club is like family. Our Happy Hour went over an hour because old and new members were busy chatting, meeting new friends, and reminiscing about the old days in the club. There were members present long before I joined NSC and it was a pleasure to see them attend this dinner. Reunions like this are events in our lives to be cherished and remembered, for they don’t happen often. The picture shows the ex officios that were in attendance.

Upcoming Events
Aki Matsuri – October 6th
This Fall Festival is being held at the Wesley United Methodist Church on Fifth St. in San Jose. Although not as big as the Nikkei Matsuri, there will be Japanese cuisine, marketplace, entertainment, kids zone, and a silent auction. If you can attend please do so to show our support for this great cultural event.

Big Sky Ski Week 2019
The final payment for the Big Sky trip is due October 10th so grab those checkbooks and send in your payment. Rick Dumlao was in Yellowstone National Park at the end of September and took a side trip to Big Sky. Take a look at his article and see the snow that’s already accumulating on Lone Mountain at 11K.

by Rick Dumlao
In late September Patt and I took a road trip to Yellowstone National Park. I didn’t realize until after we were there that Big Sky ski resort was a little more than an hour’s drive away. After a few days of touring the park, we decided to check out the ski resort.

It was a scenic summer drive that ended in a long uphill grade to the resort. I first went by the Big Horn condos where we will be staying. There are individual and double condo units and most them are two stories. There’s a Poma Lift on a slope that seemed a bit steep about a 150 ft from our street. Couldn’t see what the inside looked like, but the outside appearance looked nice and the road looked recently paved.

The resort itself is about a quarter-mile further up the main road. There was some summer activity going on like skateboarding, mountain biking, miniature golf and rock climbing. There was also some winter preparation going on in the general village business area. They are also installing a new 8 chair lift from the main resort. I spoke to one of the employees who said they were expecting a good winter this year. He said the phrase going around the resort this year was “steep and deep”. Of course I checked out the local watering holes and determined my first beer off the mountain will be at Montana Joes! To my surprise I also saw there are gambling slot machines there as well. This is also connected to a small mall with the typical gift shops, sport shops, clothing shops, first aid and grocery store.

There was already a dusting of snow at the mountain peak that you can see in the photo above. The employee I spoke to said that it just happened last night and this morning. Within the hour I was there it started to lightly snow again. At that point we decided it was time to leave in case it started to get worse, (in September!!)

by Tina Woo
Paddlers! Drummers! ARE YOU READY? Attention, please. Air Horn, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Up, Up, Up , 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, Up, Up, Up. READY AND REACH, REACH, REACH. This is a very typical race start chant to get the dragon boat from a stationary position and out of the water to a race pace. This is followed by a POWER 10, NOW! 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, READY and REACH, REACH, which helps paddlers to focus and synchronize their strokes. And, finally, FINISH IT NOW, when paddlers “dump” everything we have into every stroke in time.

Live, Love, Survive is a dragon boat team founded in 2005 by Jenn Eng and is comprised of those who have been touched by cancer (survivor, caregiver, family member). We participated in the 23rd Northern California International Dragon Boat Festival held on September 15-16 at Lake Merritt in Oakland. This is the largest competitive dragon boat festival in the United States. The event was hosted by the California Dragon Boat Association and sponsored by Kaiser Permanente. The race included over 120 teams locally, out of state and international teams (one from Germany). The championship included novice, rec and competitive races for middle school, high school, college, corporate, mixed men and women adult, masters teams, and super masters who came together to participate in this annual event.

Origins of Dragon Boating
Dragon boat racing is one of the earliest known forms of boat racing and is celebrated at festivals and races worldwide. The roots of dragon boat racing go back 2000 years. Legend has it Qu Yuan, a scholar and advisor to the emperor of the Chu Kingdom jumped into the Mei Lo River to protest against government corruption. Local fisherman raced out in their boats to save him by beating drums and pounding their paddles on the water. They also threw rice dumplings (aka “joong”) into the river to distract water dragons from eating Qu Yuan.

Boats and Races
A dragon boat is a large, canoe-like craft made of wood and fiberglass that is colorfully painted and decorated with a dragon’s head on the front of the boat and a tail on the back. These boats hold an average of 20 paddlers seated two per row. A drummer and steersperson accompany the paddlers along the course. The average race course is 500 meters and usually takes anywhere from 2-2-1/2 minutes.

It’s easy to see why dragon boat racing is one of the fastest growing sports. It’s an impressive sight to see an elaborately adorned dragon boat surging towards the finish line with its engine of 20 paddlers pulling hard in unison. Combine the competition and excitement of the races and you have a great event for participants and spectators of all ages. It’s a great way to celebrate community.

Dragon boat paddling is a wonderful off-season ski activity. It builds cardio-endurance, strength in the “core”, lower back, legs, shoulders and arms. Are you interested in learning more about dragon boating? There are numerous meet ups which meet Saturdays mornings in Foster City and the Berkeley Marina. Please contact me if you’d like to try dragon boat paddling.

In the meantime, PADDLES UP!

by Sandy Kiyomura
Did you know that San Jose Taiko is celebrating its 45th year? Last year they performed for the Golden State Warriors during Asian American Heritage week. They have performed in 44 states and 250 cities! I had never seen them perform, but Edna Koyama invited some of us to see her daughter perform. You have to watch these videos to get a sense of what they did. There was a Jazz band, dancing and singing throughout the performances. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Z62wWoaKCg

Their Swing routine wanted to recapture some of the times during the Internment Camps of WWII. As you know 120,000 Japanese Americans were interned. Life behind barbed wire fences was harsh and we may never know the exact toll it took on the lives and spirits of those incarcerated. However, they had some fun times too. Some of the detainees played musical instruments. Bands were formed and provided music to dance to. This must have been the best therapy many had.

San Jose Taiko also performed with the Aswat ensemble. This is an Arab music ensemble composed of diverse multi-ethnic musicians. The Japanese were one of the first to stand up for Muslims when our president wanted to exclude them. It was quite touching to see the bands join together.
The founders are Roy and PJ Hirabayashi. I remember them from my college days and it was wonderful to see how they have made San Jose Taiko grow. Thank you to Edna and her daughter Alix Koyama for a wonderful evening. San Jose Taiko rocks!

by Hoyt Nelson
1. The Tonga Room and Hurricane Bar in the basement of the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco (top of Nob Hill at 950 Mason, 800-257-7544). It was converted from a hotel swimming pool in the 1940s and it’s unique, but expensive. It’s dark and Tiki style with tables around the pool and a small dance floor with large overhanging fig trees at the end next to the bar. There’s a $10 cover charge and make sure to get your hand stamped if you go to the bathrooms. Even so, it gets crowded and loud, so go early unless you enjoy a crowd. Every half hour or so, there’s recorded thunder and flashes of lightning. Then a perforated pipe around the edge of the pool showers the pool with a five minute rain storm. When this is over, The Island Groove Band is pulled out on a float to the middle of the pool and the music begins. The Mai Tais ($10) are the thing here. It’s possible to get food, but the last time I ate there, it was not memorable. Go on the net for hours and other details and good luck finding a parking place nearby. I suggest the train to San Francisco and Uber to the place.

2. Shadowbrook in Capitola at 1750 Wharf Rd. It’s the most romantic place in California, if not the entire west Coast which I’ve had the pleasure to visit. Go up the hill from the only bridge in town to a large parking lot on the right. Follow a zigzag stone path down the steep slope past gardens to a rambling 5 level old building among the trees with rooms scattered helter skelter. There is one large-ish dining room and several cozy smaller dark dining nooks tucked in the middle of a stairways and elsewhere. The food is fairly expensive traditional American, but VERY good. And reservations at least one week in advance are a must. Not sure if they still do this, but if you dined there on the documented exact day of your birth, you get a free birthday cupcake. At the bottom of the hill, there is a terrace a few feet from the river where you can enjoy a drink while waiting to be seated. When you exit the building, take the small funicular back up to the parking lot and back to reality. The only possible further embellishment would be to go after seeing the beautiful yearly Begonia festival when about 10 floats decorated with said begonias float down the river and under the aforementioned bridge. Sadly, this festival ended its long run last year when the source of the water for the begonias dried up. However, you can still walk along the magical path by which the decorated floats passed. Nearly all of the quaint bungalows along the San Lorenzo River will make you wish you could live in this paradise. To do this, go back down to the bridge and follow the path next to it up the river as far as you can. Parking in town is usually a problem, but drive over the bridge and up the hill for lots of timed parking. There are also a couple of other designated paid lots in town.

3. Bistro Roux (was Fi-Fi’s) at 1188 Forest Ave, Pacific Grove 831-372-5325 was an authentic French Bistro. The décor, the wait staff, the food, everything was what you would expect in Paris and the price was amazingly low for the prix fix weekend dinners. For those who fondly remember this gem, it now has the same chef and wait staff (for a while) but a new owner. Although there are still some great Yelp reviews, there are too many bad reviews for me to recommend it any more until I check it out.

4. Mon Ami Gabi on the strip at Paris, Las Vegas next to the sidewalk 702-944-4224 is another place for true French upscale food and atmosphere. There is inside dining as well. Everything is first class and expensive (but no more than many places in this town). The only potential barrier is getting there if your hotel is not in easy walking distance in the typical Las Vegas heat. Many places serve scallops, which are actually stamped out circles of skate wings, but Mon Ami proudly calls a spade a spade and shows how the French are known for exquisite meals made with lesser materials. Do not forget a side order of pommes frites.

5. The Supatra River House in Bangkok is probably the very most romantic restaurant ever for me. It’s out of range of Yelp, but the Lonely Planet Guide book talks about it, or just Google it. The converted home has been awarded as having one of the best Thai cuisines in the country and the view over the Grand Palace and Rama 9 Bridge are not to be missed. Get started just before dark for the best experience and so that you can more easily find the place. From the boat landing near the north end of the Royal Palace grounds, take the ultra cheap commuter ferry across the Chao Phraya river and walk R along unlit gravel streets (when I visited it in 2005), as close as possible to the river on the other side. Within a few hundred feet, you will find a dimly-lit restaurant with rickety stairs up to the roof dining area, which is within 30 feet of the water. It’s dimly lit with strings of Christmas-style lights. Tasteful Thai decorations can just be seen in the semi-darkness. There are always lots of boats going back and forth on the river and some tourist boats are lit with more strings of lights. The ultimate experience would be to do this during the Loi Krathong festival in late fall. During this time, people buy (or make) little decorated floats with lights on them on which they symbolically put all their troubles and bad thoughts and float them away down the river. Lots of boys will sell you one of these, and if you watch carefully down stream, other boys can be seen with long hooked poles with which they retrieve your float to sell to the next sinner. This restaurant has just reopened after renovation, so I can’t guarantee the same experience, but the owners would be crazy to change the atmosphere (except the prices).

Editor’s Note: Hoyt claims that these restaurants are the “most romantic” that he has ever visited, and not necessarily the most romantic in the world!

by Sandy Kiyomura
Did you know that you could be skiing in Japan next year with the Far West Ski Association? Nisei Ski Club is a member of BAC, the Bay Area Council of Ski clubs. BAC in turn is a member of Far West. Each year, Far West puts together an international ski trip. Several NSC members have skied in Europe with Far West. These trips usually include one or two weeks of skiing and an optional week of touring the country. In 2019 the pre-trip ski week is at Niseko in Hokkaido, Japan, and the basic ski week is in Hakuba/Nagano where Jonny Moseley skied in the 1998 Olympics and performed his famous Iron Cross aerobatic trick. The optional post-trip week will include a tour of Kanazawa, Kyoto and Tokyo. Far West allows the flexibility to join the basic ski week and either or both of the optional weeks.

Niseko is a town on Japan’s northern Hokkaido Island, near the dormant volcano of Mt. Yotei. Major ski centers like Niseko Mt. Resort and Grand Hirafu occupy the slopes of Mt. Niseko-Annupuri. The surrounding mountains are dotted with numerous hot spring resorts, known as onsen. The Shiribetsu River is known for its whitewater rapids. The area also features several golf courses against a backdrop of snowcapped peaks.

Hakuba Happoone Winter Resort is a ski resort located on Mount Karamatsu in Hakuba, Japan. For the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, it hosted the alpine skiing downhill, super giant slalom, and combined slalom events. Happoone receives an average snowfall of 11 meters (36 feet) per season!

Several NSC members are going on this trip with me, including our President Armand. If you have any questions about the trip, feel free to contact Armand at president@niseiskiclub.org or visit the Far West website.

by Tina Woo
The recent NSC Newsletter in August featured an article by Sandy Kiyomura about her Wednesday afternoon ballroom dancing class held at the Alameda Mastick Senior Center. There was information on how dancing benefits us physically by getting us up and moving, cognitively by helping the brain in remembering steps and variations, not to mention, socially, where we meet new people.

On a beautiful Wednesday afternoon, Margaret Wong and I decided to visit Alameda and Sandy’s dance class. When we arrived at the Mastick Center. We were pleasantly surprised by the welcoming atmosphere. There was a costume jewelry sale and an ice cream social. Margaret found some nice pieces of jewelry to add to her collection. The facility has several classrooms in addition to two bocce ball courts, a pool room and an exercise area. There are dozens of classes such as computer classes, foreign language classes, stained glass making, line dancing, hula and bridge club.

Sandy is an excellent resource and has been teaching as her “retirement job” for 8 years. Her beginning waltz class covered the basic box step, quarter turns, the underarm turn variation, in addition to a progressive step enabling you to move around the ballroom. Highlights included the all- important frame, posture, and heel-toe, toe, toe heel footwork. Sandy works with an excellent assistant, Jim Kawasaki, and provides both leader and follower instructions. The class was divided accordingly, and we practiced with a variety of partners. Sandy provided feedback to all. This was a very fun, welcoming, non-threatening experience, with great music to boot! And all of this was reviewed in an hour (for $5).

So, whether you’re a newbie or experienced dancer, this is a great opportunity to learn the basics or get a valuable refresher! Margaret and I thoroughly enjoyed the class and plan to return. Want to join us?

Armand Gutierrez, President

Ten years ago NSC celebrated its 50th Anniversary with a ski week at Vail, staying at the Vail International Condominiums. Later that year, in June to be exact, NSC had a grand 50th Anniversary dinner at the Holiday Inn in San Jose. This year NSC made a return trip to Vail, again, staying at the Vail International Condominiums, and this month we will be having our 60th Anniversary dinner at the China Stix restaurant in Santa Clara. These events are not by coincidence, but by design. Does the word tradition come to mind? A tradition is a belief or behavior that is passed down from one generation to the next, and can be for a special occasion, cultural aspect, or an event with great significance. Past NSC traditions could include the yearly ski races and the Nikkei Matsuri fundraiser. Unfortunately, traditions, like the wind, come and go. Tevye (from Fiddler on the Roof) struggled to maintain his religious and cultural traditions when outside influences encroached upon his family’s lives. Over the years NSC had similar outside influences that affected the yearly ski races and the Nikkei Matsuri event. Perhaps it’s time to start a new tradition, a tribute to NSCs ability to succeed as a club for all these years, and the years to come. Looking forward to seeing you, off and on the slopes, in 2028.

Upcoming Events
60th NSC Anniversary Dinner in September – September 8th
The Anniversary Dinner is completely booked with 70 people looking forward to meeting old friends, reminiscing about the good old days in NSC, and, of course, dining on fine cuisine.

Big Sky Ski Week 2019
The Big Sky trip is moving along well and on track. Thanks to those that sent in the second payment and the final payment is due in October. If you had one of those escapable moments and forgot about the second payment then you can redeem yourself by sending it now. An even better idea would be to send in your total payment and be worry-free.

Here are a few ideas for September “things to do” in the Bay Area.

Sausalito Arts Festival Labor Day Weekend: Enjoy one of the most prestigious art festivals in the country with over 250 artists in 14 different mediums at the Marinship Park waterfront in Sausalito, September 1-3. Fine art, music, food and wine come together for the perfect way to celebrate the end of summer. Admission: $25/day, $20 seniors 62 and over, children under 12 free.

Come out to paddle or cheer at the 23rd annual Northern California International Dragon Boat Festival September 15-16, 2018 at Lake Merritt, Oakland. It’s the largest competitive dragon boat festival in the United States. For more information: sfdragonboat.com

If you’d like to purchase tickets for San Jose Taiko’s 45th Anniversary Concert, you can do so here:
https://sjtaiko.squarespace.com/45thconcert