Hakone gardens has been a popular place for many of us growing up in the bay area, an oasis of japanese history, culture, and atmosphere that has never become a commercially oriented tourist spot. It is a haven for many visitors, not just japaneseamericans, by the way, and it is celebrating a centennial celebration. Joining me to talk about Hakone Gardens and its history and celebration are some old friends, the executive director of the Hakone Foundation, shozo kagoshima. And a wellknown bay area historian, a member of the Hakone Foundation board of trustees, as well as a former chair, Connie Young Yu. Its great to see both of you here. Shozo kagoshima well, thank you for having us. Connie young yu delighted. Robert for people who dont know much about it, give us sort of an overview of Hakone Gardens, what it is, and where it is today. Shozo well, i think most people recognize hakone as being an event venue. Its a popular place for wedding and receptions. But people really dont realize the historic nature of Hakone Gardens. It is on the National Register of historic places, and it was actuallythe idea for hakone came out in 1915, and thats why were celebrating our centennial for the past 3 years. The founders of the Hakone Gardens, the stine family, oliver and isabel stine, visited the panama pacific exposition in San Francisco in 1915. And while there, they visited the japanese pavilion, and they fell in love with japan and the culture. And so, they decided they wanted to build their own Japanese Garden. And so, in 1915, they purchased the 18 acres or 15 acres of property up in saratoga. Robert and connie, well be talking a little bit more about that history indepth a little later. But give me an idea here for people. I mean, i know that i think about it all the time, and i mentioned it before, it retains like an authenticity, integrity. You know, the people that go there, you almost get like a peace of mind or something when youre there. How hard has it been to kind of keep it that way, and why is it so important to it . Connie young yu well, its incredibly important because we feel that Hakone Gardens stands for a lot. There were three private eras of ownership. There was the stines, isabel and oliver stine, and then there was the next era that lasted 30 years, and it was when the gardens was owned by charles l. Tilden and his heirs. And he hired a Japanese Gardener named james sasaki, and that was when hakone reached its golden age. The mond, the gate was built, and many, many beautiful horticulture plants were installed, and it just was fabulous. And then it was sold when after Charles Tilden passed away, and then his stepdaughter passed away, the next heir decided to put it up for sale. And this was the time when a very Unusual Partnership stepped in. Like every era, hakone is saved. And the Real Estate Company that advertised hakones 17 acres, unusual property, not saying it was called hakone, mentioned it as ideal for a restaurant, a motel, or possible subdivision. But fortunately six couples, four of them chineseamericans, and two, the greshams, this is joe and his wife clara gresham, who lived across the street from hakone, and their son elden and his wife deon, they became friends with these chinese couples because of dining at mings restaurant. And they met the owner, dan lee, who called in his partners, johnny kan, the famous Restaurant Owner in San Francisco, and two soy sauce manufacturers, john c. Young, my father, and my uncle george hall. And they all bonded over hakone. And so, they bought it and used it as a retreat. And then, after 5 years of ownership and saving the gardens. And then the story was that chinese food saved Hakone Gardens, which, you know, such an unlikely partnership, but they loved hakone and wanted to keep its authenticity. Robert and were going to talk a little bit more about that in the next segment, on the history of it. But give us an idea in terms of what you want people to know about the centennial celebration. Shozo well, the centennial celebration this year is our finale after 3 years of centennial celebrations. And were going to be honoring the partnership, the partners, as well as william glennon, who was the mayor at the time when hakone was sold to the city of saratoga. Robert and optimistic about the future . Shozo well, you know, were planning on making sure hakone is there for another 100 years at least for future generations to enjoy. Robert all right. Well, im going to be glad to be a part of the celebration. Thank you for being here. Connie, well talk to you in a little bit, okay . Be on september 17 at the hakone estate gardens in saratoga, where you can enjoy a variety of entertainment, dinner, and a silent auction. I will be the emcee at the event, so be sure to come over and say hi. Visit nbcbayarea. Com for details. And when we come back, well explore more of hakones rich history, as well as a film all about it, so stay with us. Youre going to be hanging out in here. So if you need anything, text me. Do you play . Use the chase mobile app to send money in just a tap to friends at more banks than ever before. You got next . Chase. Make more of whats yours. Robert we have been talking about Hakone Gardens centennial chase. Celebration and its history. To go more indepth on that history and why its so significant, Connie Young Yu remains with us. She not only worked on a film commemorating the centennial, and she also has a direct Family Connection to hakone garden, something we talked about a little bit on the previous segment. Lets take a look at the segment from that film cause i know that you worked on it, you wrote it. And again, it gives a little overview on how hakone garden got started, and then well talk about it after that, okay . All right. Male announcer the stines purchased 17 acres in saratoga, a rural piece of property ideal for building isabels dream retreat. In 1916, isabel sailed to japan and spent most of the year visiting historic japanese estate gardens. She chose hakone, a town located in fujihakoneizu national park, for the name of her garden. Robert now, of course, weve been talking a little bit about this history and the origin of hakone garden. Give me an idea here in terms of for you as a historian, whats the most important sort of aspects of how it came about . Connie well, the most important aspect to me is how isabel stine had this vision of having a Japanese Garden in california during a period of antiasian sentiment. I think she was a very unusual person, a real visionary, and certainly she wanted to promote crosscultural understanding. And i think itsas a historian also personally involved with hakone, i feel that theres a unique narrative here that we start with a woman who just loves Japanese Culture, whos caucasian. And then it isshe sells it to, when she could no longer maintain it, during the depression, to charles l. Tilden, who saved thousands of acres of open space for public use. And he was a founder of the east bay Regional Park system, and hestilden park was named after him. He also loved Japanese Culture and Japanese Gardens, and also this was not a popular thing to have a Japanese Garden. Robert right, it was so good to see his family honored last year. Connie right, his family was honored. And what we discovered, which was so exciting, and this was after the film was made, i did more research because descendants came through and presented some of their history, and i actually interviewed betty sasaki, the daughter of james sasaki, who was a gardener for hakone for 30 years. And she told me that he was a gardener for hakone all his career except for two and a half years when he was incarcerated at topaz, utah. Robert well, i was glad to see him and his family honored as well because, i mean, lets face it, those are the two aspects that made it happen. Connie and what was so important was that charles, the Charles Tilden family, kept in touch with the sasakis, and brought them back to hakone, met them at the train in oakland, and brought them back to live at hakone, and for james sasaki to continue his beautification of hakone. Robert and yet, i remember when you were talking about all the families combining to buy it, i mean, that was really a crucial time. You and your family, and the other families, rescued hakone garden. Connie yeah, that was really amazing. Again, this was 1961, when, you know, saratoga was you know, they didnt have any nonwhite families. And theres probably a covenant about selling property to asians. But this partnership of the greshams and the four chinese couples, you know, came together. They were actually very prominent people, but not that prejudiced people care, but you know, theres johnny kan, theres dan lee, theres my dad john young, and then theres george hall, who invented the lazy susan foranyway, they came together and they saved hakone, restored it. And then, when they decided to sell it, they chose just the city of saratoga. They contacted the mayor, bill glennon, said, we only want to sell it intact, perfect, to saratoga so it can be used for public use. Robert i think thats pretty much why it maintains that integrity, huh . Connie yes. Robert well, thank you, looking forward to seeing you. Connie thank you. Robert okay, when we come back, attacking pediatric cancer with warrior mamas, thats next. This is the new comfort food. And it starts with foster farms simply raised chicken. Grown right here in california, with no antibiotics ever. A better way to grow, a better way to eat. Foster farms. There is no other way to look at it, pediatric cancer is a formidable opponent, and needs Warrior Spirit to fight it, as well as help from the community. Here to talk about that is warrior mama Aileen Andres ramones, the cochair of a recent event, mamas night out fremont 2017, designed, as they put it, to unravel pediatric cancer. Also with us is another warrior mama, anna ricafort mendoza, who is here with her daughter samar. Welcome to the show. Aileen ramones thank you. Robert now, when people hear pediatric cancer, what are we talking about . What would you say . Aileen well, its actually not as rare as people think, and it hits everyone in the community. The thing about pediatric cancer that differs from adult cancer, it doesnt have any, you know, discrimination. It can attack babies, infants, you know, children. And so, when we say that we hear our own children having pediatric cancer, that makes us a warrior mama. Robert now, what is a warrior mama . Aileen a warrior mama is someone who has had to hear the words, your child has cancer. Robert and you became a warrior mama, and that meant doing what . Aileen so, i became a warrior mama in august of 2010, when myone of my twin sons, aiden, was diagnosed with aml, which is acute myeloid leukemia. And you know, he is no longer with us, but because we are a family of strength, and you know, we want to promote awareness and also raise funds for pediatric cancer, that is what it means to be continuing the fight and being a warrior. Robert you try to use your loss as inspiration and motivation, huh . Aileen yes, correct, definitely. Robert anna, how about for you . Anna mendoza well, samar was diagnosed last year also with aml. And thankfully, she is in remission, you know, a year later. And we were in the hospital for about 6 months. And you know, and especially in the asian community, i think we tend to kind of keep things within our family, and we dont open up too much to our community, and it becomes a difficult road if you, you know, kind of dont accept the help. And we definitely were very open about our journey, and we really shared with our community. And you know, really i think you really need to really open your heart and your arms out, you know, for the help that people want to offer. Robert yeah, going through that yourself, you know how best to approach people now about approaching the problem, huh . Anna yes, absolutely. Robert how about you, samar, are you having a good time here . All right, enjoying, you like what your mamas doing for you . Samar mendoza yeah. Robert okay. She certainly seems as though shes quite robust. Anna yes, shes robert that must be quite a nice change from what you went through before. Anna yeah, i mean, shes always been. We have three children, and shes the sassiest out of the three, but we always say that thats kind of the strength that got her through the treatment, yeah. Robert we should point out too that shes making those faces cause shes watching herself on the monitor, not because shes feeling any particular way. Anna no, samar. Robert aileen, how aboutfirst of all, you had the mamas night out. Aileen yes. Robert what was that event like . And also, whats up ahead in terms of for people to kind of get involved . Aileen so, mamas night out, you know, wed like to say that, of course, battling pediatric cancer is not always fun, but fighting it in this way, and raising research and awareness can be a fun night. So, city of fremont, we had our first mamas night out this past march, and we were able to raise 81,000. And basically, its a night out for women to go out with their friends, have a break for themselves, but also learn the grim realities of pediatric cancer, also learn the ways they can help. You know, theres dancing, theres donations for raffle prizes, theres auctions, and so forth. So, its a way to have fun, but fight the cancer, fight pediatric cancer. And thats what mamas night out is about. Robert yeah, you bring so much energy to it. What did you find out about yourself going through this . Aileen it was pretty challenging, having lost my own son to pediatric cancer, but knowing that i am continuing the fight for him meant a lot. And actually forit was pretty special for both me and anna because the money that we raised went to a lab fighting acute myeloid leukemia, which both aiden and samar had. So, it meant a lot to us that the Community Supported us and really raised this money directly for the lab. Robert yeah, that Community Support must be pretty gratifying, anna. Anna yes, absolutely. I think the one thing that i really appreciate and rally around with unravel is the money that they raise goes directly to the research labs, you know. I think you touched on it, but its really underfunded. And you know, sometimes you make these big donations to these big cancer, you know, organizations, and such a small portion goes towards pediatric cancer. So, thats one awesome thing that unravel does. Robert wow, thats very good, thats a good point to make. We hope the Community Takes note of that. Thank you very much for sharing your stories. Aileen thank you. Anna yes, thank you. Robert well, you can join unravel pediatric cancer at its 2017 glitter gala, saturday, october 28 at the hayes mansion in san jose. And you can visit nbcbayarea. Com to learn how you can support this cause and all the warrior mamas, and samar too. Next, we take a look at a San Francisco festival that will bring you up to speed on the very cool japanese pop culture. Hear about the jpop summit right after this break. It is gratifying to see just how much youth in general, and certainly asian and Pacific Islander youth, have embraced japanese pop culture, and the bay areas certainly one of the hotspots for it. Here to tell us about a San Francisco festival, the jpop summit, is stage production manager mika anami, as well as our old friend and a star in the popular game world of kendama, jake wiens. Welcome back to the show. Mika anami thank you. Jake wiens hey, its good to see you. Robert yeah, well, first of all, tell us a little bit about this jpop summit. Mika okay, well, its going on our ninth year this year. Its september 9 and 10, the weekend, saturday and sunday, and its at the Fort Mason Center. Robert and as weve said before, its a difficult thing to kind of like, just in a snapshot, talk about what japanese pop culture is. But what will people see at the festival . Mika well, the festival has everything, lets say. One of the most popular subjects right now is food and ramen, and we have a ramen summit, we have sake summit, we have sake summit premium for people who want to go the next step knowledge of sake. We have great bands coming, music. Bandmaid, theyre the big act of this year. We also have tech, we have game, we have art project space so people could come put their hands in, do handson stuff. And yes. Robert the pop culture events are really interactive too, thats whats nice, not just, you know, pokemon and things like that. Its so much thing. In fact, bringing us to kendama, jake, tell us a little bit. I mean, you were on our show before, we talked about how kind of almosti mean, it really is, its a simple game, but its really opened the doors, opened the eyes for a lot of people to japanese pop culture, hasnt it . Jake absolutely. Thats one of the magical parts about kendama is that a lot of people in the us didnt know where it was from. They were justtheir curiosity drew them to it. And then you learn more that, oh, its from japan, and its an amazing gateway to all the amazing parts of Japanese Culture. And thats coming to a full summit at the jpop summit, i guess you could say, because we are working with the jpop summit, and were having an amazing kendama booth with workshops, as well as were doing a small contest, exhibition that mirrors exactly the freestyle kendama World Championships that goes down in tokyo in december. So, weve got kendama usa professionals flying in, as well as zoomadanke from japan. And zoomadanke is one of the worlds most elite kendama performance duos. Theyve traveled all around the world, and they are also doing a really good job of spreading modern kendama play all over the world, and getting people more into Japanese Culture. Robert and people see kind of almost instinctively what kendamas about, but go ahead and give us a little bit of a visual demonstration here. Jake all right, so robert so people can see. Jake so, remember last time, i was showing you more of like the traditional style, where its like catch the cup and the ball together, and put it on the spike, right . But one of the things with zoomadanke is zoomadanke, they really like to speed it up. And what they also do is thats a classic zoomadanke move, is they use the string a lot. They also really like to use full stage, and incorporate lots of dance elements into it and lots of style. Im not going to try and do my zoomadanke impersonation cause ill totally embarrass myself, ill more than likely fall off the stage. Robert i dont think that you can embarrass yourself after what youve already shown us and stuff. Give a little bit more of a demonstration. Tell us a little bit about how important kendama has become for the festival. Mika yes, so we havent seen anything like this in a long time. Weve been doing this for 9 years, and this new movement of kendama fans, theyre taking over everywhere. So yeah, i dont know, biggest thing since pokemon, i dont know. Robert ill tell you one thing, jake makes itwhen he was on our show before, he makes it look so easy, its scary how easy hes made it. Mika hes my teacher. Robert jake, youre my hero here. What do you want people to think about when they come to the festival . You know, how do you want them to dress, how do you want them to do . Whats the best way for them to become a part of the whole Japanese Culture, pop culture festival and atmosphere . Mika well, i know that people are going to come looking for one or two things, maybe its the band, maybe its kendama. But then you turn around and you might learn about ramen, you might learn about japanese street fashion. So, i think come with an open mind. You know, you might meet something new. Come with an empty stomach, come thirsty, and always an extra layer. Robert thank you very much, both of you, for being here. Great demonstration, jake. Jake thank you guys so much. Robert thank you for being here. Jake see you at jpop summit. Robert yeah, the jpop summit will be held september 9 and 10 at Fort Mason Center for arts and culture in San Francisco. Visit our website for more details. And you can find out more about the jpop summit, as well as hakone garden and warrior mamas, on our website, nbcbayarea. Com. Were also on social media, who isnt . Facebook and twitter, so check us out and let us know what you think. And thats it for our show today. Please join us again next week, and every week here on Asian Pacific america, and thanks for watching. Jake lets get the spin, get the spin. Here you go, one, two, three. Yeah, yeah our worst fears have been realized. Were not heroes, were just were not heros or anything. Weve just hear to help. Texas can handle anything. Good morning. And welcome to sunday today. Im Hallie Jackson in for willie geist and this morning we start with breaking news out of north korea overnight. The rogue nation conducting an apparently successful nuclear test, saying it set of oof a Hydrogen Bomb that could be loaded off on to a intercontinental ballistic missile. The blast many times more powerful than