The Last Sansei Story, Joel Sanderson; Roger Shimomura

The Last Sansei is a powerful performance about 90 years of Japanese
American history. Shimomura combines his large collection of popular
culture artifacts, including videos, audio tapes, and memorabilia,
with his family’s extensive oral and written histories, including his
grandmother’s diary entries from over 56 years and family photos and
audio recordings. The performance begins with Prelude: Grandma’s
Story, Port Arthur, 1904, which recounts Toku Machida Shimomura’s
service as a Red Cross nurse during the Russo-Japanese War.
Through layered montages combining popular audio and images
with primary historical sources from each corresponding time period,
the performance moves through three generations of Japanese
Americans—Part One: “The Issei” (first generation), Part Two: “The Nisei”
(second generation), and Part Three: “The Sansei” (third generation)
—to offer insights into race relationships, identity, and broader issues
in U.S. history.