Hidden Histories is a community project, initiated by Susan Hayase and Tom Izu, using AR technology to engage the public with art inspired by the events and stories that have been a part of San Jose Japantown. Throughout its more than 130 year history, San Jose Japantown has developed from an extension of San Jose Chinatown (Heinlenville) to a thriving neighborhood that became the home to several immigrant communities including the Japanese, Chinese, and Filipino. With a changing Japantown of the 21st century, many of the stories, images, and sounds of the hard work, play, family life, struggle, and conflict—the life pulse of the community—are often buried, hidden. Hidden Histories hopes to bring these riches to the fore and perpetuate an awareness of this community’s importance.

Hidden Histories is inspired by the work of Tamiko Thiel, an internationally-acclaimed artist known for her digital pieces that interact with specific locations. Her friendship with Susan Hayase, led to the creation of the project.

Susan and Tamiko have known each other for many years, since their studies at Stanford and then as young engineers at HP. Eventually, Tamiko took off to pursue an advanced degree at MIT and then for fine arts training in Germany. When Tamiko started delving into virtual and augmented reality digital media art works, Susan noticed how ripe for augmented reality that San Jose Japantown was – so many unknown, “hidden” stories – and she put a bug in Tamiko’s ear about it.

Years later, everything fell into place to set the stage for Hidden Histories. Tamiko came to the Bay Area to headline “A Taste of History,” a joint fundraiser of the California History Center (organized by Tom Izu) and the Euphrat Museum at DeAnza College, and installed “Brush the Sky” in Japantown, an augmented reality artwork created by Tamiko and her mother, master calligrapher, Midori Kono Thiel.

Aware of funding opportunities from various sources, Tamiko encouraged Tom to apply for an Immersive Technology in the Arts grant from The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation in collaboration with Microsoft on behalf of JAMsj. Tom’s application was for funding an AR project in Japantown. As a result, his application was among only five from a nationwide pool of applicants to receive the grant. Thus, was Hidden Histories of San Jose Japantown born.

Prior to receiving the grant, Susan and Tom (as volunteers with JAMsj) had been looking for ways to place local Japanese American history and the story of San Jose Japantown into a broader, more inclusive context. This could include connections between Japanese Americans and other groups who have have a shared historical experience facing exclusionary policies and violations of civil liberties. They were also concerned about the future of Japantown and saw the need for finding ways to connect to other communities who have historically shared Japantown, most notably Heinlenville (San Jose Chinatown) and the 6th Street Pinoytown. This Knight Foundation grant became the opportunity to explore these less known and “hidden histories” using art and technology and gave us the chance to reconnect and renew the historic relationships between our communities.

Tom and Susan see Hidden Histories as a demonstration project that can inspire future history and art projects of all kinds, including the stories of other groups that have been a part of the neighborhood that is now known as San Jose Japantown.