A screening and discussion of “Our Man in Tokyo (The Ballad of Shin Miyata)” will be held on Saturday, Feb. 24, at 2 p.m. at the Japanese American National Museum’s Tateuchi Democracy Forum, First Street and Central Avenue in Little Tokyo.
This is the premiere screening of a new documentary exploring the struggles and obsessions of Shin Miyata, a Tokyo–based record label owner, music promoter, and cultural ambassador who has been distributing Chicano music and bringing East Los Angeles bands, including Quetzal, Chicano Batman and Joe Bataan, to Japan for nearly 20 years.
The film explores Miyata’s personal connection to East L.A., the joys and difficulties of introducing authentic and diverse representations of Chicano culture to Japan, and the conscious efforts Miyata has made to break stereotypes on both sides of the Pacific.
Directed by Akira Boch, “Our Man in Tokyo” is a production of JANM’s Frank H. Watase Media Arts Center. The screening will be followed by a panel discussion with Miyata, who is flying in from Tokyo for this event, Boch, and the members of El Haru Kuroi, an East L.A. trio whose unique compositions draw from their upbringing in the city as well as elements of Mexican, South American, African, and American jazz music. El Haru Kuroi will also perform a live set.
This event is being presented in conjunction with the exhibition “Transpacific Borderlands: The Art of Japanese Diaspora in Lima, Los Angeles, Mexico City, and São Paulo,” which closes Sunday, Feb. 25.
Included with museum admission. RSVPs are recommended. For more information, call (213) 625-0414 or visit www.janm.org.