ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. —

Getting immersed in Japanese culture in New Mexico is inevitably a multi-cultural experience.

For Shizuko, a Japanese-American woman who recently moved here and has been involved with the Japanese American Citizens League, she was at her first Aki Matsuri Japanese Fall Festival in Albuquerque, sponsored by the JACL.

"I've met so many people come up to me in Japanese, and also local gentlemen of Mexican descent," Shizuko said. "He said, 'I come here every year and I bring all my family and there's such a community spirit."

With Shizuko was Teo, a JACL volunteer of Vietnamese descent.

"I think the fact that here in Albuquerque, here in New Mexico, we truly do have that melting pot experience in the United States — that there are so many different cultures that connec

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