First Voice

First Voice Interdisciplinary work that interprets the pluralistic nature of the American experience from a Japan

04/23/2026

Opening tonight.

“Lineages of Organizing” marks 30 years of the Asian Pacific Islander Cultural Center, an institution I’ve been part of since its earliest days.

Mark and my performance work lives inside this exhibition, threads from a longer cultural movement that continues to unfold.

To witness these histories gathered, honored, and carried forward is deeply meaningful.

We are part of the lineage, and the lineage continues.

04/22/2026

Today, I return to solo performance.

I’ll be sharing a new work from my upcoming album at the Earth Day Poetry Reading and Storytelling gathering.

It’s been years since I’ve stood alone in this way, voice, body, and story without distance.

This piece comes from where I am now.
Not a return backward, but forward.

If you’ve known my work before, this is something new.









04/22/2026

This past Sunday, I walked in the 59th Annual Cherry Blossom Parade with my son, KK Aoki Izu.

We walked as descendants.

My grandfather, Rev. Chojiro Aoki, was one of the founders of Japantown San Francisco, the first Japantown in the United States, and among the first fully ordained Japanese Christian ministers in the world.

To walk those streets with my son felt like time collapsing, past and future moving together.

Lineage lives in the body.

Last Call — Story Circle is TODAY
This is it.

THIS morning, we gather for the 5th Annual Story Circle.

This year feels...
07/26/2025

Last Call — Story Circle is TODAY

This is it.

THIS morning, we gather for the 5th Annual Story Circle.

This year feels different — more urgent, more tender.

When we sit in this Circle, when we speak our truths and hear each other, we leave lighter. Stronger. Ready to keep going.

If you’ve been waiting — this is your moment.

🎟️ Register now — [link in bio] – let us gather one more time.

See You with:
📷 That family photo — The ones who hold you up. Bring them with you.
🪶 That object that keeps you going — Necklace, stone, old baseball — whatever helps you endure.
💭 That worry that won’t leave your head — Name it here. Let the Circle hold it with you.

This is it — we gather today at 10 AM Pacific Standard Time.

Last chance to join us.

Post 8: We’re starting in 2 hours! Join us TODAY Saturday, July 26th, 2025 at 10 AM PT!🎟️ Register now — [link in bio] ...
07/26/2025

Post 8: We’re starting in 2 hours! Join us TODAY Saturday, July 26th, 2025 at 10 AM PT!

🎟️ Register now — [link in bio]

Bring what helps you survive.A shell. A scarf. A handwritten note.In small groups, we’ll share what keeps us going — and...
07/23/2025

Bring what helps you survive.
A shell. A scarf. A handwritten note.

In small groups, we’ll share what keeps us going — and speak aloud the worry that’s been living in our hearts.

Expect unexpected tenderness, fierce truth, and collective release.

✨ It’s time to remember we’re not alone.

🎟️ Join us: July 26, 10AM PDT — [link in bio]

With arts funding slashed and 75% of our support gone — this may be our final Story Circle.If you’ve ever wanted to be p...
07/22/2025

With arts funding slashed and 75% of our support gone — this may be our final Story Circle.

If you’ve ever wanted to be part of something deeply meaningful, creative, and unusual — now is the time.

💛 Register or donate today — [link in bio]

We gather to reconnect, to heal, and to grow stronger.Story Circle brings together people of Japanese descent — includin...
07/21/2025

We gather to reconnect, to heal, and to grow stronger.

Story Circle brings together people of Japanese descent — including those displaced by incarceration, multiracial families, q***r voices, and new immigrants — to speak our truth and reclaim our stories.

From Hawai‘i to Brazil, from Buddhist priests to jazz drummers — this is our circle.

🎤 Featuring:
Steve Nakajo, Zora Uyeda-Hale, Rev. Michael Yoshii
Host: Eryn Kimura
Poet: devorah major
Movement: PJ Hirabayashi
Visuals: Andi Wong
Music: Mas Koga, Kenny Endo, Derek Nakamoto, Jason Finkelman & Sara Sithi-Amnuai

🌎 Facilitators from across the U.S., Canada & Hawai‘i

🎟️ Save your spot now — [link in bio]

Every Story Circle begins with remembrance.-Bring a photo of someone you’ve lost — an ancestor or chosen family.-Bring a...
07/18/2025

Every Story Circle begins with remembrance.

-Bring a photo of someone you’ve lost — an ancestor or chosen family.
-Bring a talisman — something that helps you keep going.

We honor those who came before. We speak their names into the circle.

Founder Brenda Wong Aoki will carry the memory of her late husband, jazz pioneer Mark Izu.

Come as you are — and bring who you carry with you.

💛 RSVP now — link in bio

It is here – only once a year. Story Circle is a rare kind of gathering. It’s not a panel, not a performance but a livin...
07/17/2025

It is here – only once a year. Story Circle is a rare kind of gathering. It’s not a panel, not a performance but a living, breathing circle — a space for memory, movement, and meaning.

✨ Soul Food — the 5th annual Story Circle of the Japanese Diaspora
📅 Saturday, July 26, 2025
⏰ 10AM – 12PM PDT (via Zoom)

With poets, healers, musicians, and people like you.

Hosted by Brenda Wong Aoki, America’s first nationally recognized Asian American storyteller, and featuring artists from across the globe.

🎟️ Link in bio — Space is limited.

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41A Parsons Street
San Francisco, CA
94118

Telephone

+14159922429

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