Saturday, May 16, 2026
1:30PM to 3:30PM
Venice Hongwanji Buddhist Temple
About the Author: Ben Masaoka
Ben Masaoka was born in Venice, CA, in 1952. He was a rare spirit. With Ballona Creek as his front yard, he spent his childhood exploring the abandoned farms, creeks, and celery fields that used to occupy the rough landscape between Lincoln Blvd and Centinela back then. At 18, he escaped to Hawai’i, surfing during the day, working as a dishwasher at night, and sleeping on the beach. He settled in Seattle, married and raised a family, studied martial arts, and enjoyed a long career as a high school English teacher. He rarely went back to Venice, but it was a powerful part of the person he became, and the inspiration for his first and only novel. “His recall was so vivid,” says Steven Okazaki, “it was as if he could go back and walk the streets of his childhood. He had so much to draw from, so many more stories to tell.” Just as he’d found his voice as a writer, Ben died in September 2024, a few weeks before CRIMINALS was published. We celebrate him and his novel.
About “Criminals”
Criminals is about the Sansei experience growing up in Venice/Culver (or any Japanese-American concentrated community). The book explores the influence that the Niseis’ camp experience had on how they raised their Sansei children and how growing up in an insulated Japanese American (JA) community, while trying to integrate into a larger society, influenced the Sansei. Being set in Venice/Culver, there are many references to familiar places like the Venice Japanese Community Center, Boy Scout Troop 764, VJCC Judo, MS Pharmacy, Tito’s, etc.
This decades-spanning story of a Japanese American family is filled with artfully crafted scenes, memorable characters, and a rare compassion that highlights our common humanity and suffering. Ben Masaoka’s debut novel is thoroughly engaging and a joy to read.
Charles Johnson, author of Middle Passage, National Book Award winner
Hosted By: Steven Okazaki
Academy Award-winning filmmaker Steven Okazaki was in Troop 764, Venice’s All-Japanese American Boy Scout Troop with Ben Masaoka in 1964. “It was a time when Japanese Americans did nearly everything together,” he says. “For a brief moment in time we lived in a bubble. We didn’t know our parents couldn’t get decent-paying union jobs and that we lived where we lived because we weren’t wanted in other neighborhoods. But things were changing really fast, especially in Venice. In high school, Ben was the surfer and I was the artist, those were our identities. He was the coolest person I knew.”
For more on Steven Okazaki: farallonfilms.com
Thank You to our Corporate & Community Sponsors:
VHBT Keiro Grants Program
VJCC Senior Wellness
Thank You to our Personal Sponsors:
Net Proceeds will be shared with the Venice Japanese American Memorial Monument
The Venice Japanese American Memorial Monument (VJAMM) sits on the northwest corner of Venice and Lincoln Boulevards. The 9′ 6″ tall solid black granite obelisk marks the spot where some 1,000 persons of Japanese ancestry from Venice, Santa Monica, and Malibu lined up with only what they could carry in April, 1942. Buses transported them directly to Manzanar to be incarcerated.
For more information on VJAMM, please visit: https://venicejamm.org/
Special Thanks To:
Gordon Tani – flyer design