В центре Сиэтла прошел летний фестиваль Бон-одори с танцами и игрой в маджонг

(Editor’s note: These photos were originally commissioned by Nikkei Manor and are republished here with permission) On Sunday, July 27, Nikkei Manor celebrated its annual Bon Odori Summer Festival at its senior care facility in Seattle’s Chinatown-International District. Bon Odoris are joyous street festivals, celebrating community, family, and honoring loved ones who have passed on. They have roots in Japanese Buddhist and Shinto traditions honoring ancestors. At Nikkei Manor, people of all ages celebrated, dancing and taking in performances from the multi-generational Pacific Northwest performance group Okinawa Kenjin Kai-Chijinshuu of Washington State, which performs traditional Okinawa music and dance routines, including chanting and drumming. The event also featured tables where people of all skill levels could play Riichi Mahjong, also known as ‘Japanese Mahjong’. Since 1975, Keiro Northwest, the operator of Nikkei Manor Assisted Living facility, has served as a community-based nonprofit organization in Seattle’s Chinatown-International District, dedicated to serving elders. Theodore Kenzo Dante Bickel is a Seattle-based photographer who has contributed to the International Examiner since 2024. He uses visual storytelling to showcase the vitality of the Chinatown-International District and contemporary Asian American communities in Seattle. He is Shin-Nikkei Japanese American. Born in Portland, Oregon, he grew up in the wilds of southwest Washington state. Theo, or “Tay-o” as his friends call him, found himself putting down roots in the C-ID shortly after arriving in Seattle in 2013. He has spent over a decade working in C-ID community non-profits in development, community engagement, civil rights advocacy, and communications. Theo was one of seven Seattle-based Asian American photographers that published the photography exhibit “Through the Eyes of a Tiger” in May 2023. The photo exhibit blended holistic, not homogenous, views of the C-ID in a critical time of regrowth and development.