Kaze Daiko (youth percussion ensemble)

Kaze Daiko is a youth percussion ensemble that uses taiko or Japanese drums to teach Japanese and Japanese American culture and heritage. Through practice and performance, we help members develop discipline and self-confidence, support diversity and tolerance, and foster unity and teamwork. Using rhythm, movement, and spirit, Kaze Daiko performs at schools, community events, street fairs, and local festivals.

Kaze Daiko website:  https://www.kazedaiko.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kazedaiko

Stan Shikuma (Kaze Daiko director)

Stan Shikuma is a taiko performer, composer and percussionist who plays with Seattle Kokon Taiko and directs Kaze Daiko (a taiko youth group). Past projects include work on new opera, Butoh dance, and puppet theatre. Stan writes and gives lectures on taiko history, teaching, and performance. 

Kyoko Hasegawa / Terra Bella  (interactive ikebana – traditional Japanese art of flower arrangement – demonstration)

Sanae Ishida (author and illustrator)

Sanae Ishida writes, draws, sews and takes photos almost every day. Based in Seattle, Washington, she is the author and illustrator of many books, including SHIBUI: THE JAPANESE ART OF FINDING BEAUTY IN AGING, the Sanae Ishida Sews series, Little Sumos series and Little Kunoichi, The Ninja Girl series. Find more of her work at sanaeishida.com and @sanaeishida on Instagram.

Tomo Nakayama (musical performance)

Born in Japan and raised in Seattle, Tomo Nakayama has explored the lines between intimate indie folk, exuberant synth pop, and cinematic soundtracks for over two decades. Best known for placements in Netflix’s “House of Ninjas” and the Sundance Grand Jury nominated film “Touchy Feely”, Tomo’s music has been praised by NPR, KEXP, and the New York Times, and his hit single “Get to Know You” received over 2 million streams worldwide. His latest album “Ocean” is out now on Porchlight Records. www.tomonakayama.com

Kristi Nakata / Kristi Knots (Macrame, weaving, and fiber art)

Kristi Nakata (she/her) is a Yonsei (fourth generation) Japanese American fiber artist born and raised in the Seattle area, on Duwamish and Coast Salish land. Kristi creates macraweave wall hangings combining techniques of macramé and weaving. Inspired by the beauty of the Pacific Northwest, she creates mountainscapes and abstract interpretations of the colors of our region. Her macramé products include bags, coasters, keychains, plant hangers, and more.

PeachyxNoodle (Kawaii/cute aesthetics, creating cute things to brighten your day)
Curated by Rinjin Art Market

Hello! I am an illustrator from Japan creating cute things to brighten up your day! I design and produce everything myself, focusing mostly on the kawaii/cute aesthetic. I’m always experimenting and learning how to create new products and new art styles, and I am excited to share my art with everyone as I continue to grow! I love to create happiness and smiles through my work! peachyxnoodle.carrd.co

Yuzumakes (Japanese foods, characters, memes, polymer clay keychains and crochet plushies)
Curated by Rinjin Art Market

Yuzumakes offers variety of cutesy designs with ideas that are personal to the artist’s interests and cultural background, from funny phrases/memes, artist’s original characters, Japanese foods and characters. Some products are entirely handmade, such as the oven baked polymer clay keychains and crochet plushies. Other products are stationaries and accessories featuring the artist’s drawings, such as stickers, acrylic keychains, tote bags, and washi tapes. https://www.instagram.com/yuzumakes

Mari Horita, Moderator

Mari’s mother’s childhood incarceration at Minidoka during WWII has forever impacted Mari’s life, perspective, and sense of purpose. 

Mari was a founding Board member of Densho and also served on the Boards of the Japan America Society, the Japanese American Chamber of Commerce, and the Asian Bar Association of Washington. In 2021 she and four AANHPI colleagues and friends co-founded ourstoriesareyourstories.com in response to the increase in anti-Asian violence and rhetoric in our country. In 2023 she was recognized as a Puget Sound Business Journal Woman of Influence, in 2024 Seattle Magazine named her among Seattle’s most influential people for her equity work, and in 2025 she received Seattle University’s Alumni Career Achievement Award.  She currently chairs the Board of the Downtown Seattle Association and serves on the Boards of the Seattle Art Museum and the UW Foundation.

Mari has played violin with Vina Musica String Quartet for the past 25 years and before that performed with the Seattle Youth Symphony, the Denver Philharmonic, and the Vancouver Academy of Music Orchestra. Her daughter, Naomi, is a senior at Carleton College and a 2x World Champion ultimate frisbee player.

Mari serves as Senior Vice President, Social Impact & Civic Affairs for the Seattle Kraken and Founding Executive Director of One Roof Foundation.  Prior to this role she was the President and CEO of ArtsFund.  Mari holds a B.A. from Pomona College in Asian Studies, a J.D. from the University of Washington School of Law, and a M.A. from Seattle University.

Caitlin Oiye Coon graduated from the University of Washington with a BA in History. She also holds an MA in History/Archives and Records Management from Western Washington University and an MLIS from San Jose State University. Caitlin has over 15 years of experience as an archivist, with a specific interest in community-based archives and the impact of technology in the archival profession. At Densho she currently manages their archives program in which she oversees a team dedicated to the preservation and access of historical materials and oral histories through digital technologies.

For more information about Densho, visit densho.org or @denshoproject on Facebook, Instagram, and X.

James Yoichi Moore is from San Francisco, California. He trained at San Francisco Ballet School and the School of American Ballet, and he joined Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre in 2001. James joined Pacific Northwest Ballet as a member of the corps de ballet in 2004, and was promoted to soloist in 2008 and principal in 2013. He retired from dancing in 2024. In 2019, James co-founded Seattle Dance Collective with former PNB principal dancer Noelani Pantastico. James and his wife, Kristen, own Tutu School Renton and Tutu School Tacoma, where they work on their mission to provide a safe space for young children to explore music and movement and empower and enrich their imaginations. James returned to Pacific Northwest Ballet, joining the School faculty in 2025. 

AC Petersen (she/her) is Nisei (second-generation Japanese American) and Danish/Scot/Irish, and grew up in Seattle and on Tachikawa Air Base, on the fringes of Tokyo.

She wrote the libretto for Currents, a 43-minute operetta with music by Jeremy Berdin, which a Japanese America family from Bainbridge Island from 1941 through WWII, both in Japan and Minidoka Incarceration Camp in Idaho.

Her dance/theatre works have focused on themes of tea ceremony, sumo (a collaboration with Seattle Kokon Taiko) and sweatshops. Her works have been produced by On the Boards NW New Works, Consolidated Works, Northwest Asian American Theatre, Powell Street Festival (Vancouver, B.C.), and Bumbershoot.

She has a B.A. in Architecture from the University of Washington, and studied dance with (among others) Hannah Wiley and Daniel Chick, and voice with Phyllis Petersen (no relation).

She is a member of the Dramatists Guild, serves on the board of 4Culture of King County, and the Bothell Arts Commission.

acpetersen.org

Yuki Takahashi is from Tokyo, Japan. She studied at Ballet Academy of Texas, Mejia Ballet International, Ballet Academy East, and Pacific Northwest Ballet School, and she attended summer courses at American Ballet Theatre’s Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School, Ballet Academy East, and Pacific Northwest Ballet School. Ms. Takahashi joined Pacific Northwest Ballet as an apprentice in 2019, promoted to corps de ballet later that year, and to soloist in 2025.

In addition to her PNB repertory, Ms. Takahashi performed leading roles in Balanchine’s Donizetti Variations at Ballet Ensemble of Texas; Balanchine’s Raymonda Variations, Alan Hineline’s Sans Nuages, and Roger Van Fleteren’s Coppélia at Ballet Academy East; Francis Patrelle’s The Yorkville Nutcracker with Dances Patrelle; and Paul Mejia’s Brahms Waltzes and The Nutcracker at Mejia Ballet International. Ms. Takahashi was a 2014 recipient of the Kittie La Pointe Memorial Scholarship provided by the Dance Council of North Texas.