Now on PBS.org Artbound!
Herstory
“Songs are a powerful expression of our feelings, our identity, our stories. Yet, I grew up without hearing a song that sang me...”
-Nobuko
Available Now
Not Yo' Butterfly
My Long Song of Relocation, Race, Love, and Revolution
Not Yo’ Butterfly is the intimate and unflinching life story of Nobuko Miyamoto—artist, activist, and mother. Beginning with the harrowing early years of her life as a Japanese American child navigating a fearful west coast during World War II, Miyamoto leads readers into the landscapes that defined the experiences of twentieth-century America and also foregrounds the struggles of people of color who reclaimed their histories, identities, and power through activism and art.
-Deborah Wong
Smithsonian Folkways recording presents:
120,000 Stories
Nobuko Miyamoto is an icon of Asian American music and activism. Since the early 1970s, she has been exploring ways to reclaim and respirit our minds, bodies, histories, and communities, using the arts to create social change and forge solidarity.
Learn Kangi-e.
Commissioned by the Buddhist Churches of America Music Committee, artist and activist Nobuko Miyamoto has created the new bon odori, “Kangie” (Gathering of Joy), for use at temple Obon festivals
120,000 Stories in Concert at the Presidio Theatre
August 5, 2023
Experience an afternoon of multi-ethnic music and storytelling with the Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California as the iconic Nobuko Miyamoto shares the story of her amazing life. It’s a multi-generational journey as Nobuko traces her roots to the Santa Anita Assembly Center in 1942, taking us through her early show biz career on the Broadway stage and in Hollywood as one of a few Asian American performers, then her emergence in the 1960s as “Chris and Joanne,” with her embrace of her Asian American identity and the power of inclusion.
Nobuko’s stories address issues such as race, gender, multiculturalism, and climate change. She is as relevant today as she was 50 years ago when she, Chris Iijima, and Charlie Chin recorded the iconic “We Are the Children” the anthem for the yellow movement that was part of the groundbreaking album “Grain of Sand.”
Nobuko speaks on “The Art of Movement and Coalition Building: Learning from Yuri Kochiyama”
