The Japanese American National Museum (JANM) and the Media Action Network for Asian Americans (MANAA) present “Kapoho: Memoir of a Modern Pompeii,” with author Frances Kakugawa for a reading/talk at the Japanese American National Museum, 100 North Central Ave., Los Angeles on Sat., Sept. 29; 2:00 – 3:00 PM. Museum admission fees apply.
“Kapoho: Memoir of a Modern Pompeii” by Frances Kakugawa is a collection of short memoir vignettes. Author Kakugawa is currently a Sacramento resident of Japanese descent, born in Hawai‘i. Just five years old at the time of the bombing of Pearl Harbor, her memory and recall of details provides deep insight into not only the suspicions cast upon the Japanese-American community, but life in Kapoho, the small village on the Big Island of Hawai‘i where she grew up. In the opening chapter, Kakugawa notes an eerie echo of the wartime burning of Japanese families’ heirlooms when volcanic eruptions bury the town of Kapoho beneath lava 14 years later.
