Another fun thing we got to do in NYC was attend Jimmy Mirikitani's 92nd birthday party. Jimmy was the subject of the excellent film "The Cats of Mirikitani" by Linda Hattendorf. There is information about this film here. If you get a chance to see it, do it. I think it is my favorite documentary ever.
This past year Jimmy's artwork was exhibited in the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum as part of the exhibit "The Art of Gaman," and he travelled to Washington DC to be a special guest at their screening of THE CATS OF MIRIKITANI. He saw the White House and the Memorial to Japanese American Patriotism. His work was also exhibited at the Japanese Canadian National Museum; and the Lawrence Arts Center in Kansas, in conjunction with Roger Shimomura's exhibit "Shadows of Minidoka." It was at the exhibit in the Lawrence Arts Center that we heard about his birthday party, and it just felt like fate insisted that we go when we were in his neighborhood on the right day and time. We told Jimmy we were from the same town as his friend Roger Shimomura, and that was good enough for him. It was an honor to meet him!
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