AAPI Heritage Month: Small Businesses, Food Trucks and Artists Celebrate at the San Jose Night Market

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SAN JOSE, Calif. (KGO) — Asian identity can mean different things, and on Friday night, the San Jose Night Market was dedicated to Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.

the non-profit organization EM collective brought together a range of more than 40 small businesses, food trucks, and AAPI artists.


Anthony Le is a board member who helped organize the event.

“I think especially in the Bay Area, particularly in San Jose, you need to have a community that is focused on being able to tell our stories and then being able to tell our stories about some of the issues. Sometimes we see Asian Americans as as a story or the model minority, or we look at one problem but there are so many different, I mean facets of our challenges,” Le said.

Leean Pan, a salesperson, created her line of handmade jewelry Club Chazu during the pandemic.

“I tried to take traditional elements of Asian culture and modernize them for everyday use,” Pan said.

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She always wanted to create a business that represented her culture.

“So I’m actually Chinese and Japanese, so I’m half and I think that’s always been a very important theme in my life. Sort of a duality that I’ve struggled with, but I’m also blessed to be both,” Pan . saying.

Some of her pieces on display represented friends from Vietnamese American, Filipino and Cantonese cultures.

“Just tell stories through jewelry and I hope people can connect with it and when they wear it they know they feel more connected to their heritage,” Pan said.

David Nguyen said that he is honoring his father’s memory through his business. Joy and Hope Candle Company.

“He raised money for orphans in Vietnam. And during the pandemic I had a lot of time to reflect, obviously, we’re home, so I was inspired to continue my father’s legacy,” Nguyen said.

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Nguyen said a percentage of the proceeds go to different charities.

“So being here starting a small business, giving back to my community, is my way of saying thank you to my parents for what they did, especially all the hardships they faced,” Nguyen said.

Yoko Oji Kikuchi, who goes by the artist name Yoko is fineIt was another seller. His way of telling stories is through the creation of maps, the creation of scenes and the creation of prints.

“I was commissioned by the Asian Cultural Center of Oakland to make the map and it’s a historical map of Oakland in the 1940s before the incarceration of Japanese Americans, so each dot on that map represents a business that had to go out of business. “, he said okay.

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Ok’s said he was inspired by his great-uncle, who wrote a book called The Kikuchi Diary, recounting his time in the camps.

“It seems like the more I connect with my culture, the more opportunities open up,” Ok said.

AAPI Heritage celebrations last through May.

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