Members of the local Japanese American community celebrated the 2025 Nikkei Community Mochitsuki event on January 11 at Blaine Memorial United Methodist Church, a historic Japanese American church on Beacon Hill.
The community effort was powered by volunteers from many local Nikkei organizations, including the Japanese Cultural & Community Center of Washington, the Japan Business American Ser, Pacific Northwest JET Alumni Association, Seattle JACL, Consulate General of Japan, North American Post, Kisaragi, and many Kenjinkai (Fukuoka, Kishu, Wakayama, Hiroshima, Miyazaki, Shizuoka, Okinawa, Fukushima, and Kagoshima).
Photos by Theo Bickel.
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.
