When political science student Emiko Akamine (25) began her video project, she had little idea what she’d uncover. Her grandparents’ immigration story, her dad’s old Los Angeles stomping grounds, her grandmother’s portrait hanging in the Okinawa Association of America building – she knew little to nothing about these enclaves of her family’s identity before starting her project.
If it wasn’t for her creative agency and the class assignment to tell their story, those places and memories may have remained untold. Akamine became a recipient of PLNU’s 2025 Rising Alumni award, due in no small part to this deep dive into her family history.
“Every time I watch it, I get super emotional, which I think is a great sign,” Akamine said.
Akamine came up with the idea in Dr. Amy Nantkes’ politics of immigration class. Akamine took this class in fall 2024 at the peak of the election season. She said navigating discussions about immigration were heavy.
Nantkes asked the students to draft a narrative about their family or another family’s immigration story and outline the immigration policies that were involved in the process.
“I told her, I have such a vision for this,” Akamine said. “It’s maybe not going to answer any of the actual questions that you want in the immigration project guidelines, but it’s there. And she [said], ‘Do your thing.’”
Her grandparents on her dad’s side came to the United States through sponsorship. Her ojichan (grandfather) immigrated first in 1961 before the Immigration Act of 1965. Eventually, her obachan (grandmother) and her dad’s two older brothers were able to meet him in Los Angeles.
Akamine wanted the project to feel and look like a nostalgic home video. She decided to shoot the whole project on a VHS video camera.
“I just started by filming little places throughout my dad’s childhood home, his high school and the Japanese school that he went to, and then my uncle’s house, and then obviously, like, asking my obachan a bunch of questions about her upbringing,” Akamine said.
She said being an observer and documenter in her family’s spaces was a new role she navigated.
“I felt, to be super candid, a little guilty, in some way, because I was here for a project,” Akamine said. “And now, I’m finally showing that I really care and [am] trying to engage with our culture.”
As she continued learning more about her family’s story, she started viewing the process as less of an observational project and more as an homage to her family.
“It definitely feels like a lot more of a project for them and of them rather than for or about me,” Akamine said.
Due to a technology issue, she ended up losing some important footage from the project, but Akamine found creative solutions. Her dad helped her find archival footage, and she found a recorded interview between her sister and their obachan.
“The family part was central and something I felt like I never could really or never had really tapped into before,” Akamine said.
Throughout the film, Akamine not only documented her family, but also formed new connections rooted in shared history with them too.
“It was just super mutually beneficial and special for myself and my dad to be able to have those moments — for him to drive me around LA and [talk] for however long he wanted about his memories with his dad and his high school and Japanese school,” Akamine said. “I think it even sparked some memories and passion for him with his own culture too.”
Through this intergenerational story, she weaved in the historical context and explored her family’s Okinawan identity.
“Looking back now, I feel like that was the most I ever have been able to engage, even if it was for a project,” Akamine said.
“Anything that kind of brings you closer to your culture no matter what the reason, I think it’s just a beautiful thing.”
And that exploration of identity is something she’s also helped others navigate during her time at PLNU. Akamine became involved in Team Barnabas as a mentee during her freshman year. From there, she connected with MOSAIC (Multicultural Opportunities for Students Actively Involved in Community) and joined the Asian Student Union (ASU).
“In my first year or two especially, I had such great upperclassmen friends and role models who were just so involved and so willing to help us out, drive us around, just make sure we were engaged in the spaces,” Akamine said.
Akamine was also the recipient of the Diversity Leadership scholarship.
“Joining Asian Student Union and then like having a team Barnabas mentor and then Diversity Leadership scholarship were the first times I was surrounded by like that many Asian people who wanted to be friends.”
She stepped into leadership at ASU and said that experience broadened her understanding of what living out and representing her culture really means.
“I’m on board for ASU and get a lot of imposter syndrome because I don’t feel like I’m an expert on my culture,” Akamine said. “But that’s not what it’s about. It’s just like being around other people who look like you and share the same experiences, or can challenge your own notions of what you think your culture should look like.”
While she’s grateful for the community created in MOSAIC, being at PLNU hasn’t come without challenges, especially when she first came to PLNU. She found that the student population wasn’t as diverse as she was expecting.
“It was definitely a learning curve freshman year when everyone’s just trying to link up and find friends and meet people who look like them,” Akamine said.
But eventually through MOSAIC, ASU and the political science department, she found a sense of belonging and community that encouraged her to pursue this project.
Within the political science major and classrooms, students have grappled with political history and their connections to the present.
Akamine expressed that taking the politics of immigration class during 2024 felt timely because of the national conversations about immigration during the election season. She had these conversations in mind as she navigated the early stages of creating her video
“Living in San Diego, Mexico is just right there… Most of our neighbors and most of the people we know are immigrants,” Akamine said. “Our president, Donald Trump, using flat out rhetoric from 1882, like Chinese Exclusion Act, bringing back all of those kinds of rhetoric and policy frameworks is just mind boggling as to how we’re in 2025 America, facing these same issues.”
Akamine presented her video at the Annual Department of History and Political Science Clara Colt Research conference, and won the Clara Colt Research Award at the conference. When Nantkes saw the project, she expressed her amazement.
“She was bawling her eyes out and said she could feel the intention with every frame,” Akamine said. “And that was amazing.”
She has also shared the video with other Japanese American Filmmakers in Los Angeles. Akamine said that one director took a particular interest in her family story and Okinawan identity. He interviewed her for his documentary, “The Sansei Project,” which will explore the perspective of third generation Japanese Americans.
Akamine said her video project has sparked a new creative interest she hopes to pursue beyond PLNU.
“Career-wise after this, [I hope to be] able to do the whole storytelling and documentary creating, and getting to help other people see themselves in their culture and their stories in such a beautiful light,” Akamine said. “ I think that was amazing for me to express and help give me direction with something I’m interested in going into post-grad.”
Until then, Akamine is soaking up her last days of senior year. She was recognized as this year’s Alumni Rising recipient for her MOSAIC work and academic accomplishments, and through this process she’s beginning to recognize the ways she has left her mark on the university.
“I feel really content with the impact I’ve made and the people I’ve impacted at Point Loma,” Akamine said. “And I’m hoping I can continue to do that up until my last couple weeks. But for now, I also feel like I’m kind of acknowledging all of my achievements and allowing myself to celebrate and be really thankful for everyone who has impacted me as well.”
Akamine intends to continue storytelling, exploring its intersection with multimedia. She has plans to do another project post-grad when she goes to Japan and Okinawa, continuing to pull back the layers of her identity and hopefully stumbling across and documenting truths about her family and herself in the process.
What she’s learned about herself through this project was powerful:
“It was the first time I very unapologetically and beautifully sunk into my own cultural roots, and was able to just feel all the beauty and emotion that comes with that whole process,” Akamine said. “I’m learning every time, about myself, what is causing me to feel so much.”
You can watch Akamine’s award-winning video below.
