Join the Asia Society Policy Institute (ASPI) for a screening of the PBS documentary Atomic Echoes: Untold Stories from World War II. Following the film, ASPI will host a moderated conversation with the director, Beatrice Becette, and producers Karin Tanabe and Victoria Kelly. The conversation will be moderated by Rev. Dr. T. Kenjitsu Nakagaki, and ASPI Managing Director Rorry Daniels will give opening remarks.

Atomic Echoes: Untold Stories from World War II

Thursday, January 29, 2026 from 5:30 p.m. until 7:15 p.m.

Asia Society – 725 Park Avenue (between E. 70th and E. 71st Streets)

Admission: $15 | $8 Asia Society Members

Schedule

5:30 p.m. Documentary Screening
6:30 p.m. Panel Discussion and Q&A

For more information and to purchase tickets, please visit Asia Society’s website. A limited number of complimentary tickets will be available to NYC college students with ID at the box office on the day of the screening.

About the Film

Two friends, connected by family histories on opposite sides of World War II, set out to explore the lasting trauma of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings. While Japanese hibakusha (atomic bomb survivors) endure lifelong health complications and psychological scars, American atomic veterans who witnessed the bombings’ aftermath also struggle with radiation-related illnesses and PTSD.

About Beatrice Becette – Director

Beatrice Becette is a New York City-based filmmaker who tells stories that spark connection and illuminate the threads that link us across time, place, and experience. She has worked across genres—from investigative and historical documentaries to lifestyle and educational series—and across sectors, partnering with respected news organizations and mission-driven brands.

Her portfolio includes collaborations with clients such as National Geographic, Disney+, Discovery, MAX, NBC, The Washington Post, Lowe’s, and Booz Allen Hamilton. Regardless of format or client, her work remains rooted in a deep belief in the power of storytelling to reveal the human stories behind complex systems and events.

Becette holds a degree in Film from American University with minors in Marketing and Creative Writing.

About Victoria Kelly – Producer

Victoria Kelly’s grandfather, a Navy medic, was one of the first American troops to enter Nagasaki after the dropping of the atomic bomb.

Kelly is the author of four books of fiction and poetry: Homefront, Mrs. Houdini, When the Men Go Off to War, and Prayers of an American Wife. She is also a consultant for corporate and nonprofit thought leadership.

She graduated from Harvard University and received her M.F.A. in Creative Writing from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. She lives in Virginia with her three daughters.

About Karin Tanabe – Producer

A Japanese American nisei, Karin Tanabe’s grandmother’s uncle, Tatsuo Morito, was Japan’s post-war Minister of Education. In 1950, Morito became the first president of Hiroshima University, helping build an institution dedicated to peace.

A novelist and journalist, Tanabe is the author of seven novels published by St. Martin’s Press and Simon & Schuster. A former Politico reporter, she remains a frequent contributor to The Washington Post. Several of her books have been optioned for film and television, most recently A Woman of Intelligence to NBC Universal.

She is a graduate of Vassar College and lives in Washington, D.C.

About Rev. Dr. T. Kenjitsu Nakagaki – Moderator

Rev. Dr. T. Kenjitsu Nakagaki, D. Min. is a Buddhist priest, ordained in the 750-year-old Jodoshinshu tradition of Japanese Buddhism in 1980. A President and Founder of the Heiwa Peace and Reconciliation Foundation of New York, he is a President Emeritus of the Buddhist Council of New York, a Hiroshima Peace Ambassador, a Nagasaki Peace Correspondent, an Honorary Board Member of the Interfaith Center of New York, an Honorary President of Sanghakaya Foundation (India), and New York City Police Department Clergy Liaison.

Since 1994, Rev. Nakagaki has organized an interfaith peace event to commemorate the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings. He organized the annual 9/11 WTC Memorial Floating Lanterns Ceremony from 2002 until 2011.

Rev. Nakagaki was ordained in 1980 at the Nishi Honganji Temple in Kyoto, Japan. In 1985, he was sent to the U.S. as an overseas minister, serving first with at the Seattle Buddhist Church, (1985-1989), the Parlier Buddhist Church (1989-1994), and the New York Buddhist Church (1994-2010).

He is an author of the book The Buddhist Swastika and Hitler’s Cross: Rescuing a Symbol of Peace from the Forces of Hate, and the Kindle version of No Worry, No Hurry, Eat Curry: Tracing the Path of the Buddha in India is available in English.

About Rorry Daniels – Opening Remarks

Rorry Daniels is the Managing Director of Asia Society Policy Institute (ASPI), where she leads and oversees strategy and operations for ASPI's projects on security, climate change, and trade throughout Asia. She is also a Senior Fellow with ASPI's Center for China Analysis. Previously she was with the National Committee on American Foreign Policy, where she managed the organization's Track II and research portfolio on Asia security issues, with a particular focus on cross-Taiwan Strait relations, U.S.-China relations, and the North Korean nuclear program. Her most recent research project audited the U.S.-China Strategic & Economic Dialogue to evaluate its process and outcomes.

Daniels regularly writes and provides analysis for major media outlets and newsletters on security issues in the U.S. and the Asia Pacific. She is a 2022 Mansfield-Luce scholar, a member of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations and the National Committee on North Korea, a Pacific Forum Young Leader, as well as a Korea Society Kim Koo Foundation Fellow (2015 cohort). She earned her M.S. in International Relations at NYU’s Center for Global Affairs, where she focused her studies on East and South Asia. She is proficient in Mandarin and holds a B.A. in Media Studies from Emerson College.

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Susan McCormac 7/20/25 Susan McCormac 7/20/25

Tak Furumoto: From Tule Lake to Hiroshima to Vietnam

Conversation with Tak Furumoto and Mayu Nakamura about Tule Lake, Hiroshima, and Vietnam

UPDATE: The original post stated that admission is $10 for non-USJC members, but this event is FREE to everyone! If you’d like to make a donation to USJC, please visit the organization’s donation page. JapanCulture•NYC regrets the error.

A Conversation with Tak Furumoto and NHK World Japan’s Mayu Nakamura

Tuesday, July 22 from 6:00 p.m. until 8:15 p.m. (Doors open at 5:30 p.m.) | Live Stream from 6:00 p.m. until 7:15 p.m.

New York Buddhist Church – 331-332 Riverside Drive (between W. 105 and W. 106 Streets)

Admission: Free

The New York & Vicinity region of the U.S.-Japan Council is hosting a timely discussion, in person at the New York Buddhist Church and virtually.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War and the 80th anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In recognition, NHK recently produced Raised in Hiroshima, Fought in Vietnam, a documentary profiling New York-based entrepreneur, Vietnam veteran, and activist Takeshi Furumoto. You can watch the documentary in English here (free) and in Japanese here (fee required).

The film’s director, Mayu Nakamura, will join Furumoto for a special behind-the-scenes conversation. Akemi Ooka, the executive producer and narrator of the Emmy award-winning film Three Boys Manzanar, will moderate.

Furumoto will reflect on his extraordinary life journey — from being born in the Tule Lake concentration camp to growing up in Hiroshima after the atomic bombing and later serving in the U.S. military during the Vietnam War. Nakamura will share insights into the making of the documentary and the importance of preserving stories like Furumoto’s, particularly in the context of today’s global challenges.

Following the conversation, in-person attendees will have an opportunity to network over light refreshments.

To register for this event, please send an email to membership@usjapancouncil.org.

For more information, please visit USJC’s website.

(Please note: The author is a member of U.S.-Japan Council and serves on the Communications Committee of the New York & Vicinity region.)

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Susan McCormac 3/21/25 Susan McCormac 3/21/25

Local Hero to Be Featured in NHK Documentary

Takeshi “Tak” Furumoto is the subject of the NHK documentary RAISED IN HIROSHIMA, FOUGHT IN VIETNAM

Takeshi “Tak” Furumoto is a Japanese American who was born in an incarceration camp, raised in Hiroshima, and fought in the Vietnam War. In the NHK documentary Raised in Hiroshima, Fought in Vietnam, Furumoto travels in search of closure to his complicated past.

About Tak Furumoto

Born in 1944 in Tule Lake War Relocation Center, one of the ten Japanese American incarceration camps established for the mass incarceration of more than 120,000 Japanese Americans and Japanese nationals living on the West Coast, during World War II, Tak Furumoto is the youngest of Sam Kiyoto and Yoshi Furumoto’s five children. Raised in his father’s war-torn hometown in Hiroshima after the atomic bombing, Furumoto’s family returned to the U.S. in 1956, settling in Los Angeles. After Furumoto graduated from UCLA in 1967, he volunteered to enter the Army. Despite the injustices his family endured in the U.S. during WWII, Furumoto valiantly served our country in the Vietnam War, earning a Bronze Star.

A New Jersey resident since 1971, Furumoto and his wife, Carolyn, have run Furumoto Realty in New Jersey, New York City, and Westchester for more than 50 years. They have dedicated their lives to the betterment of the Japanese American community in both New Jersey and New York. They were instrumental in New Jersey’s adoption of Fred T. Korematsu Day in 2023, relentlessly advocating for the state of New Jersey to recognize January 30 as the Fred T. Korematsu Day of Civil Liberties and the Constitution, a day that honors civil rights hero Fred Korematsu, a California native who refused to enter the incarceration camps in 1942.

To learn more about Furumoto and his contributions to our community, please read Karen Kawaguchi’s in-depth article in Discover Nikkei.

On-Air Schedule

NHK World will broadcast Raised in Hiroshima, Fought in Vietnam on the following days:
Friday, March 21 from 8:10 p.m. until 9:00 p.m.
Saturday, March 22 from 2:10 a.m. until 3:00 a.m. | 8:10 a.m. until 9:00 a.m. | 2:10 p.m. until 3:00 p.m.

NHK World is available in New York at these channels: Spectrum 1279, Optimum 142, FiOS 482, Xfinity 265 and 1157, and OTA channel 58.2 To find the full details of where you can watch the documentary in your area, please visit the NHK World Channel List on NHK’s website.

Asia Society to Screen WWII Documentary