DOCSLIB.ORG

Generational and Transgenerational Issues of the Japanese

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Generational and Transgenerational Issues of the Japanese N§U /to. GENERATIONAL AND TRANSGENERATIONAL ISSUES OF THE JAPANESE AMERICAN INTERNMENT: A PHENOMENOLOGICAL STUDY DISSERTATION Presented to the Graduate Council of the University of North Texas in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY BY Karen A. Mayeda, B.A., M.Ed. Denton, Texas August, 1995 N§U /to. GENERATIONAL AND TRANSGENERATIONAL ISSUES OF THE JAPANESE AMERICAN INTERNMENT: A PHENOMENOLOGICAL STUDY DISSERTATION Presented to the Graduate Council of the University of North Texas in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY BY Karen A. Mayeda, B.A., M.Ed. Denton, Texas August, 1995 Mayeda, Karen A., Generational and Trans generational Issues of the Japanese American Internment: A Phenomenologicai Study. Doctor of Philosophy (Counseling and Student Services), August, 1995, 179 pp., references, 70 titles. This study utilized a qualitative/phenomenological research methodology to examine the generational and transgenerational issues of five identified Japanese American families. To be included in this study, families were identified to contain at least one member who was interned during World War II or who had parents, grandparents, or great-grandparents who were interned. Semistructured interviews, including Adlerian lifestyle assessments, were conducted with the 28 research informants who represented the second, third, and fourth generations of their families. The major findings of this study were as follows: 1. Certain acculturational lifestyle goals emerged from data analysis. Acculturational lifestyle goals were influenced by the generational and family values that governed a generation's or an individual's response to various experiences. 2. Informants from the three generations studied identified several ways that the internment experience directly affected their current lifestyle goals. 3. Communication within families regarding the internment experience was described as cryptic and vague. A discrepancy was noted between the information Sansei and Yonsei sought about the internment experience and the information they received. 4. Two major coping strategies were interpreted from the interviews—Avoidant and Confrontive, both expressed through either external or internal means. Generational and family coping patterns were noted. Social and emotional repercussions resulting from the World War II internment were experienced by the Japanese American informants interviewed in all of the areas explored. Copyright by Karen Ann Mayeda 1995 111 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Chapter I. INTRODUCTION Statement of the Problem Synthesis of Related Literature Japanese American Generational Characteristics and Responses to the Internment Adlerian Lifestyle Investigation Purposes of Qualitative/Phenomenological Research II. PROCEDURES 23 Purpose of the Study Definition of Terms Limitations of the Study Research Questions Selection of Informants Informant Demographic Information Pilot Study Methodology Data Collection Methodology Data Analysis and Interpretation Procedures III. RESULTS 39 Findings Discussion Supplemental Data Conclusions and Interpretation Recommendations APPENDICES 161 REFERENCES 172 IV CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION During 1942, the United States witnessed the removal of 120,000 men, women, and children from their homes to be placed in concentration camps behind barbed wire. Although the majority were United States citizens, both citizen and alien alike were treated like cattle and herded off to desolate corners of the country. Their only "crime" was their Japanese ancestry (Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians [CWRIC], 1992; Davis, 1982; Nagata, 1991; Weglyn, 1980; Williams & Coleman, 1992). Wartime hysteria gripped the nation following the nightmarish Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. On February 19, 1942, President Roosevelt signed the fateful Executive Order 9066 which gave General DeWitt the authority to declare the entire West Coast as a military zone and remove all persons of Japanese ancestry from it. Japanese Americans were ordered to evacuate their West Coast homeland under the guise of national security even though there was never any evidence to support the need for such action and no formal charges were ever brought against them (CWRIC, 1992; Davis, 1982; Fukei, 1976; Hosokawa, 1969; O'Brien & Fugita, 1991; Williams & Coleman, 1992; Wilson & Hosokawa, 1980). Allowed to take only what they could carry and given little more than a few days to sell or dispose of personal property, Japanese Americans were removed to 2 what has been euphemistically referred to as "relocation centers." Here they spent between one to five years of their lives sharing abhorrent communal living conditions while being watched by armed guards. Housing consisted of cramped barracks made out of tarpaper covered planks and much of the day was spent waiting in line for meals, toilets, or laundry facilities (CWRIC, 1992; Gesensway & Roseman, 1987; Kawakami, 1991; Nakano, 1990; Tomine, 1991; Weglyn, 1980). At the time, Secretary of the Interior Ickes recognized the costly toll being paid by the internees when he pointed out to President Roosevelt that "the psychology of the Japanese Americans in the relocation centers becomes progressively worse. The difficulty which will confront these people in readjusting to ordinary life becomes greater as they spend more time in the centers" (cited in Weglyn, 1980, p. 220). The internment was a time of extreme fear, confusion, and apprehension (Mass, 1991; Nagata, 1990a). Through it all, the Japanese American internees experienced a foreboding sense of trepidation and uncertainty about what was going to happen to them and what the future would bring. As a result of the constant anxiety and loss of control, the internment can be seen as a traumatic event "or series of events which is sudden, overwhelming, and often dangerous either to self or significant others" (Figley, 1985, p. 400). Clearly, the magnitude of the internment and subsequent victimization felt by many Japanese Americans suggests the possibility that the impact of such an experience may also extend into subsequent generations (Mass, 1991; Nagata, 1989; 1990a; 1990b; 1991; 1993; Tomine, 1991; Weglyn, 1980). A multitude of studies which focus on the aftermath of the Holocaust on survivors and subsequent generations (e.g., Phillips, 1978; Rosenthal & Rosenthal, 1980; Russell, Plotkin, & Heapy, 1985) have established the precedent for examining the multigenerational effects of trauma. In his study which explored the multigenerational effects of the Holocaust upon survivors' children, Heller concluded that the "stressful events of concentration camp survivors greatly influence the lives of their children through a heightened sensitivity to culture and to the primacy of ethnic survival" (cited in Nagata, 1990a, p. 49). While clear differences between the Holocaust and the Japanese American internment exist, similarities relating to transgenerational effects have been noted (Nagata, 1989; 1990a; 1990b; 1991; 1993; Tomine, 1991). Tomine (1991) stated that "implications of the internment experience on subsequent generations of Japanese Americans need to be addressed...including the intergenerational effect of cultural coping mechanisms with respect to the trauma of internment" (p. 103). Nagata (1991) added that exploring the "possibility that positive coping strategies have been transmitted from Nisei parents to their Sansei children" (p. 128) would also be beneficial to examine. Nagata (1991) noted that "each [individual] will present a unique response to the internment theme depending on personal history, the age and circumstances under which parents were interned, and the manner in which parents have responded to their experience" (p. 128). Her conclusions correspond with many of the theoretical underpinnings proposed by Alfred Adler's Individual Psychology. 4 Adler believed that a person is holistic, phenomenological, teleological, creative, and social. Individuals are involved in consistently moving toward self- selected goals that they believe will gain them a place in the world. Heredity and environment do influence an individual's personality; however, Adler did not believe that individuals were determined by these factors. Both provide only a skeleton from which individuals creatively fill in their future course depending on the style of life they have chosen (Ansbacher & Ansbacher, 1956; Ansbacher, 1983; Dinkmeyer, Dinkmeyer, & Sperry, 1987; Manaster & Corsini, 1982; Mosak, 1989). Additionally, Adler delineated that an individual's style of life is the characteristic way in which one operates in the social field. Lifestyle includes basic convictions concerning self, others, and the world which form the person's schema of biased apperception. The lifestyle is developed in earliest childhood and conveys the creative side of the development of the unique individual including one's meaning of life, goals to pursue, style of approach, and emotional disposition (Adler, 1931; Eckstein, Baruth, & Mahrer, 1982; Griffith & Powers, 1984; Manaster & Corsini, 1982; Mosak, 1989). Given the unique, phenomenological basis from which Japanese Americans have responded to the internment, a qualitative/phenomenological research approach is best suited for exploring perceptions and understanding the subjective reality of participants. Tesch (1990) stated that phenomenological research places the "emphasis on the individual and on subjective experience. Its aim is to
Load more

Recommended publications
  • A Comparison of the Japanese American Internment Experience in Hawaii and Arkansas Caleb Kenji Watanabe University of Arkansas, Fayetteville
    University of Arkansas, Fayetteville ScholarWorks@UARK Theses and Dissertations 12-2011 Islands and Swamps: A Comparison of the Japanese American Internment Experience in Hawaii and Arkansas Caleb Kenji Watanabe University of Arkansas, Fayetteville Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarworks.uark.edu/etd Part of the Asian American Studies Commons, Other History Commons, and the Public History Commons Recommended Citation Watanabe, Caleb Kenji, "Islands and Swamps: A Comparison of the Japanese American Internment Experience in Hawaii and Arkansas" (2011). Theses and Dissertations. 206. http://scholarworks.uark.edu/etd/206 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks@UARK. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UARK. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. ISLANDS AND SWAMPS: A COMPARISON OF THE JAPANESE AMERICAN INTERNMENT EXPERIENCE IN HAWAII AND ARKANSAS ISLANDS AND SWAMPS: A COMPARISON OF THE JAPANESE AMERICAN INTERNMENT EXPERIENCE IN HAWAII AND ARKANSAS A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in History By Caleb Kenji Watanabe Arkansas Tech University Bachelor of Arts in History, 2009 December 2011 University of Arkansas ABSTRACT Comparing the Japanese American relocation centers of Arkansas and the camp systems of Hawaii shows that internment was not universally detrimental to those held within its confines. Internment in Hawaii was far more severe than it was in Arkansas. This claim is supported by both primary sources, derived mainly from oral interviews, and secondary sources made up of scholarly research that has been conducted on the topic since the events of Japanese American internment occurred.
    [Show full text]
  • Distant Islands: the Japanese American Community in New York City [Review Of: D.H
    UvA-DARE (Digital Academic Repository) Distant Islands: The Japanese American Community In New York City [Review of: D.H. Inouye (2018) Distant Islands : the Japanese American community in New York City, 1876-1930s] Sooudi, O. Publication date 2019 Document Version Final published version Link to publication Citation for published version (APA): Sooudi, O. (Author). (2019). Distant Islands: The Japanese American Community In New York City: [Review of: D.H. Inouye (2018) Distant Islands : the Japanese American community in New York City, 1876-1930s]. Web publication/site, The Gotham Center for New York City History. https://www.gothamcenter.org/blog/distant-islands-the-japanese-american- community-in-new-york-city General rights It is not permitted to download or to forward/distribute the text or part of it without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), other than for strictly personal, individual use, unless the work is under an open content license (like Creative Commons). Disclaimer/Complaints regulations If you believe that digital publication of certain material infringes any of your rights or (privacy) interests, please let the Library know, stating your reasons. In case of a legitimate complaint, the Library will make the material inaccessible and/or remove it from the website. Please Ask the Library: https://uba.uva.nl/en/contact, or a letter to: Library of the University of Amsterdam, Secretariat, Singel 425, 1012 WP Amsterdam, The Netherlands. You will be contacted as soon as possible. UvA-DARE is a service provided by the library of the University of Amsterdam (https://dare.uva.nl) Download date:27 Sep 2021 Distant Islands: The Japanese American Community in New York City — The Gotham Center for New York City History THE GOTHAM CENTER FOR NEW YORK CITY HISTORY Distant Islands: The Japanese American Community In New York City July 30, 2019 · Gilded Age, Progressive Era, Reviews, Race & Ethnicity Reviewed by Olga Souudi Daniel H.
    [Show full text]
  • Japantown PDX
    Portland State University PDXScholar University Honors Theses University Honors College 3-1-2019 Japantown PDX Euri Kashiwagi Portland State University Follow this and additional works at: https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/honorstheses Let us know how access to this document benefits ou.y Recommended Citation Kashiwagi, Euri, "Japantown PDX" (2019). University Honors Theses. Paper 755. https://doi.org/10.15760/honors.772 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access. It has been accepted for inclusion in University Honors Theses by an authorized administrator of PDXScholar. Please contact us if we can make this document more accessible: [email protected]. Euri Kashiwagi March 2019 Table of Contents 1 The History 3 The Audience 4 Color & Type 6 Logo 8 Logo Variations 10 Patterns 12 Deliverables 14 Posters 16 Pamphlet 18 Space Design 20 Business Card / Letterhead 22 Stickers / Website 24 Instagram / Facebook 26 Thank You Hand drawn map of the first Japantown (Little Tokyo) The History HISTORY apantown was established as a Japantown was more of a community, not Jcommunity for Japanese immigrants a tourist destination. As people came into looking for a job in Portland from 1890 to the area, Japantown started to establish as a 1941. There was an increase with the amount community, helping each other out through of hotels and restaurants in the community establishing venues that will support the as the Japanese population grew in the members in surviving America. Mikado 1890s. Many immigrants came in as laborers Hotel and Bathhouse, located in current from Japan, searching for a way to gain Northwest Everett and 3rd Avenue, provided money.
    [Show full text]
  • AACP BOARD of DIRECTORS Florence M. Hongo, President Kathy Reyes, Vice President Rosie Shimonishi, Secretary Don Sekimura, Treasurer Leonard D
    AACP BOARD OF DIRECTORS Florence M. Hongo, President Kathy Reyes, Vice President Rosie Shimonishi, Secretary Don Sekimura, Treasurer Leonard D. Chan Sutapa Dah Joe Chung Fong, PhD. Michele M. Kageura Susan Tanioka Sylvia Yeh Shizue Yoshina HONORARY BOARD Jerry Hiura Miyo Kirita Sadao Kinoshita Astor Mizuhara, In Memoriam Shirley Shimada Stella Takahashi Edison Uno, In Memoriam Hisako Yamauchi AACP OFFICE STAFF Florence M. Hongo, General Manager Mas Hongo, Business Manager Leonard D. Chan, Internet Consultant AACP VOLUNTEERS Beverly A. Ang, San Jose Philip Chin, Daly City Kiyo Kaneko, Sunnyvale Michael W. Kawamoto, San Jose Peter Tanioka, Merced Paul Yoshiwara, San Mateo Jaime Young AACP WELCOMES YOUR VOLUNTEER EFFORTS AACP has been in non-profit service for over 32 years. If you are interested in becoming an AACP volunteer, call us at (650) 357-1008 or (800) 874-2242. OUR MISSION To educate the public about the Asian American experience, fostering cultural awareness and to educate Asian Americans about their own heritage, instilling a sense of pride. CREDITS Typesetting and Layout – Sue Yoshiwara Editor– Florence M. Hongo/ Sylvia Yeh Cover – F.M. Hongo/L. D. Chan TABLE OF CONTENTS GREETINGS TO OUR SUPPORTERS i ELEMENTARY (Preschool through Grade 4) Literature 1-6 Folktales 7-11 Bilingual 12-14 ACTIVITIES (All ages) 15-19 Custom T-shirts 19 INTERMEDIATE (Grades 5 through 8) Educational Materials 20-21 Literature 22-26 Anti-Nuclear 25-26 LITERATURE (High School and Adult) Anthologies 27-28 Cambodian American 28 Chinese American 28-32 Filipino
    [Show full text]
  • Little Saigon, Japantown, Chinatown – International District Vision 2030
    Little Saigon, Japantown, Chinatown – International District Vision 2030 A Community Response to the Preliminary Recommendations of the “South Downtown Livable Communities Study” June 2006 Thomas Im Edgar Yang Don Mar Tuck Eng Paul Lee Alan Cornell Paul Mar Stella Chao Sue Taoka Fen Hsiao Joyce Pisnanont Mike Olson Tomio Moriguchi Ken Katahira Virgil Domaoan Joe Nabberfeld 1 Little Saigon, Japantown, and Chinatown/International District Vision 2030 Executive Summary The City of Seattle initiated the Livable South Downtown study in 2005 as an extension of the Center City Initiative, a plan to increase housing capacity and economic activity in the downtown core. After several meetings with twenty-five South Downtown community stakeholders, the City released a draft report in January 2006, outlining land use and rezoning recommendations. An alliance of Little Saigon, Japantown, and Chinatown-International District stakeholders met to discuss the report and agreed that the City needed to broaden its scope of work, as well as its vision for the neighborhood. The community went through a visioning process and produced a narrative document called Vision 2030 (in reference to the year 2030). This vision builds on the recommendations and values of the 1998 Chinatown-International District Neighborhood Plan. This vision document describes the Little Saigon, Japantown, Chinatown-International District in the year 2030 as a healthy, vital, and vibrant community supported by safe, pedestrian-friendly streets, new and improved open spaces, and a diverse array of retail stores that support the variety of people who live in the area. Vision 2030 also advocates for a balanced mix of neighborhood housing options, ranging from condos for empty nesters to affordable family housing units.
    [Show full text]
  • Seattle Report
    EPA: CARE Level I Final Report International District CARE Project Community elder shares her perspectives at the first CARE partner meeting, 2005 Better Housing, Happier Lives, Stronger Communities _____________________________________________________________________________________________ 606 Maynard Avenue South, Suite 105 . Seattle WA 98104 . Tel (206) 623-5132 . Fax: (206) 623-3479 . www.idhousingalliance.org Grantee: International District Housing Alliance Project location: Seattle’s Chinatown-International District, Seattle, WA – King County Project title: International District CARE Project Grant period: October 1, 2005 to September 30, 2007 Project Manager: Joyce Pisnanont EPA Project Officer: Sally Hanft Personal Reflection: Reflecting on the past two years of the ID CARE project, it is evident that our community has had many wonderful successes, as well as a fair share of challenges. Our successes included a tremendous amount of culturally relevant outreach and education and the development of a strong core of community leadership amongst limited English speaking populations. Our greatest challenges were maintaining the momentum of the work in the face of organizational restructuring (in year 2) and growing anti-immigrant sentiments nationwide that inhibited civic participation on the part of our immigrant youth and elders. Perhaps our greatest area for improvement is the partnership development piece. Since 2005, IDHA has successfully garnered many new partnerships, but needs to strengthen our project advisory committee so as to be truly representative of the multiple community stakeholders that are essential for driving the project forward. This became most clear during our recent CARE National Training in Atlanta, GA. In listening to the successes and challenges of other CARE grantees, it became evident where the ID community’s strengths lay, and where we could have done many things differently.
    [Show full text]
  • Kinmon Gakuen (Golden State Institute, Inc.)
    CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO LONDON N. BREED, MAYOR OFFICE OF SMALL BUSINESS REGINA DICK-ENDRIZZI, DIRECTOR Legacy Business Registry Staff Report HEARING DATE AUGUST 12, 2019 KINMON GAKUEN (GOLDEN STATE INSTITUTE, INC.) Application No.: LBR-2018-19-065 Business Name: Kinmon Gakuen (Golden Gate Institute, Inc.) Business Address: 2031 Bush Street District: District 5 Applicant: Richard Hashimoto, Board Member Nomination Date: May 17, 2019 Nominated By: Supervisor Vallie Brown Staff Contact: Richard Kurylo [email protected] BUSINESS DESCRIPTION Kinmon Gakuen was founded as a Japanese language school in 1910 in Japantown. A core group of activists from the Japanese American Association established the organization to support educational opportunities for their children who were denied access to the public school system due to their race. The first location was a rented house at 2301 Bush Street. In 1918, a group of Japanese American citizen advocates met with the Japanese Consulate to make plans for a permanent building for Kinmon Gakuen. In 1924, Kinmon Gakuen legally became recognized as Golden Gate Institute, Inc., a State of California organization, and, in 1926, the building at 2031 Bush Street was completed. Acts of violence and discrimination against Japanese Americans continued to escalate well into the 1940s. Leading up to World War II, tensions between the United States and Japan were steadily increasing, and Japanese language schools, including Kinmon Gakuen, were under intense scrutiny for their suspected involvement in "anti-American" activities and the assumption that they promoted a Japanese nationalist ideology. Soon after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States began to impression Japanese "enemy aliens" based on race.
    [Show full text]
  • Seattle's Little Tokyo: Bundan Fiction and the Japanese Diaspora
    6 Reading Shiisei in the Provinces paper demonstrated the hegemony of the Tokyo bundan (literary coterie). Shiisei's goal of improving the level of tsuzoku shosetsu was an enlightened one and made him a writer caught Seattle's Little Tokyo: between worlds: Tokyo and the provinces, literature as art and consumer product. But while he was in the capital, he wrote fiction that could not be read in the capital and viewed his contacts with joumalists of regional papers as quite important. Most of Shiisei's fiction depicted the Bundan Fiction and the Japanese Diaspora struggles and troubles of people caught drifting back and forth between the provinces and the capital. We could say that he showed the cultural and political gaps between the provinces and Tokyo so they could be seen in the pages of newspaper fiction. But as information about the Tokyo center filled the regional papers these gaps and cultural differences were pushed out of the Ted Mack newspapers and the depiction of this gap disappeared. University of Washington Shiisei serially published his work Shukuzu in the Miyako Shimbun, which as the name su�gests was a newspaper of the capital. But this newspaper's nickname was the Karyii Shimbun, as It centered on stories about entertainment news and the licensed districts. Although it was published in the capital it would be better to view this newspaper as just another regional paper, In 2004, Harvard University Press published The World Republic ofLetters, an English although with the region being Tokyo. At the end of his career Shiisei had come full circle translation of Pascale Casanova's 1999 La Republique mondiale des Lettres.1 The book enjoyed ' returning to a "local" newspaper.
    [Show full text]
  • Powell Street (Japantown) Historical and Cultural Review
    HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL REVIEW POWELL STREET (JAPANTOWN) Prepared for the City of Vancouver by: Birmingham & Wood Architects and Planners Dr. Michiko Midge Ayukawa Helen Cain Michael Clague Denise Cook Design Terry Hunter and Savannah Walling Patrick Kelly Dr. Patricia Roy Historical and Cultural Review Historical and Cultural Review Powell Street (Japantown) Powell Street (Japantown) Table of Contents Oppenheimer Park VPL Archive 6645 2 Birmingham & Wood Ayukawa • Cain • Clague • Cook • Hunter & Walling • Kelly • Roy Historical and Cultural Review Historical and Cultural Review Powell Street (Japantown) Powell Street (Japantown) Report 1 Acknowledgements . 4 2 Executive Summary . 6 3 Introduction . 10 4 Historical Context Statement - overview . 18 5 Historical Themes . 26 6 Places of Heritage Value . 34 7 Cultural Activities That Celebrate Heritage . 72 8 Management Tools and Register Upgrade . 74 9 Future Planning . 78 10 Conclusion, Next Steps . 82 Appendices A Orthography, Terminology B Surveys and Interviews C Planning Context, Figures 1 and 2 D Historical Context Statement E Management Tools F Written Research Sources Birmingham & Wood 3 Ayukawa • Cain • Clague • Cook • Hunter & Walling • Kelly • Roy Historical and Cultural Review Historical and Cultural Review Powell Street (Japantown) Powell Street (Japantown) 1 Acknowledgements Oppenheimer Park BCA c_07965 4 Birmingham & Wood Ayukawa • Cain • Clague • Cook • Hunter & Walling • Kelly • Roy Historical and Cultural Review Historical and Cultural Review Powell Street (Japantown)
    [Show full text]
  • Editorial Trans-Pacific Minor Visions in Japanese Diasporic
    asian diasporic visual cultures and the americas 6 (2020) 1-10 brill.com/adva Editorial ∵ Trans-Pacific Minor Visions in Japanese Diasporic Art Yasuko Takezawa Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan takezawa.yasuko.2u@ kyoto-u.jp Laura Kina DePaul University, Chicago, IL, USA [email protected] This special issue of adva Journal sheds light on new dimensions of Japanese diasporic art to reflect the encounters of Japanese diaspora artists with other transmigrants and/or minoritized and marginalized peoples. We echo Viet Thanh Nguyen and Janet Hoskins’ approach to defining “Trans-Pacific” as not a particular geographical region, but as “spaces of interaction.”1 In this spirit, we have sought to feature horizontal encounters, networks, and alliances, and fos- ter conversations between minoritized and marginalized peoples and “oth- ered” Japanese and Japanese diasporic artists and scholars, all of whom have complex identities, multiple perspectives, and transcended borders. There has been a wealth of recent scholarship on Japanese American mod- ern art, including book publications such as Tom Wolf’s The Artistic Journey of Yasuo Kuniyoshi (2015) and Shipu Wang’s The Other American Moderns: Mat- sura, Ishigaki, Noda, Hayakawa (2017). Moreover, Japanese diasporic artists such as Isamu Noguchi, Chiura Obata, and Ruth Asawa are widely recognized 1 Janet Alison Hoskins and Viet Thanh Nguyen eds., Transpacific Studies: Framing an Emerging Field (Honolulu: University of Hawaiʻi Press, 2014), 7. © koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2020 | doi:10.1163/23523085-00601001Downloaded from Brill.com09/30/2021 04:20:46PM via free access <UN> 2 Takezawa and Kina in the canon of Western art history. The post-war years brought a new wave of Japanese avant-garde artists circulating in the diaspora (such as Yoko Ono, Yayoi Kusama, and Shigeko Kubota) as well as the international influence of Japanese art movements such as Gutai and Butoh that continue to inform con- temporary art practice.
    [Show full text]
  • Obasan: the Politics of the Japanese-Canadian Internment
    Obasan: The Politics of the Japanese-Canadian Internment Ann Rayson Joy Kogawa is a well known Japanese-Canadian poet and novelist. Her award-winningautobiogra phical novel, Obasan (1981),1 examines the personal wartime internment experience of the author through the fictionalized persona of Naomi Nakane and her Aunt Emily Kato. Obasan, the title character, is Naomi's other aunt, the one who raises her when World War II destroys the family. Emily is a political activist, the voice of protest and conscience in the novel, while the narrator, Naomi, has to work through her own silence and that of all Japanese-Canadians.As a novel with a dual voice, Obasan is able to probe the politicsof the internmentexperience and its effecton the countryas a whole as well as to demonstratethe internal,private damage to these loyal citizens who, as a minority group, kept their suffering quiet and were obedient. As Myrna Kostash says in "Japanese-Canadians: TheWartime Scar that Won't Heal": This is a countryin which it was possible tobe a thinking, reading,inquiring person andnot know, until the 1970s, of the Events. Not know that the Japaneseof Albertawere not voluntarily among us. Not know of the plethoraof Orders­ in-Council that had emanatedin a steady streamfrom the Cabinet of Makenzie King's governmentin the '40s. They wereorders that began,nine daysafter Pearl Harborat the end of 1941, with the registrationas "enemy aliens" of all persons of Japanese origin (including citizens and the Canadian-born) and that concluded in 1949, when Japa­ nese-Canadianswere finally given the unconditionalright to vote in federal elections.
    [Show full text]
  • From Japonés to Nikkei: the Evolving Identities of Peruvians of Japanese
    From japonés to Nikkei: The Evolving Identities of Peruvians of Japanese Descent by Eszter Rácz Submitted to Central European University Nationalism Studies Program In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Advisor: Professor Szabolcs Pogonyi CEU eTD Collection Budapest, Hungary 2019 Abstract This thesis investigates what defines the identity of third- and fourth-generation Japanese Peruvians and what is the current definition of Nikkei ethnic belonging on personal as well as institutional level. I look at the identity formation processes of Peruvians with ethnic Japanese background in light of the strong attachment to Japan as an imagined homeland, the troubled history of anti-Japanese discrimination in Peru and US internment of Japanese Peruvians during World War II, the consolidation of Japanese as a high-status minority, and ethnic return migration to Japan from 1990. Ethnicity has been assumed to be the cornerstone of identity in both Latin America where high sensitivity for racial differences results in intergenerational categorization and Japan where the essence of Japaneseness is assumed to run through one’s veins and passed on to further generations even if they were born and raised abroad. However when ethnic returnees arrived to Japan they had to realize that they were not Japanese by Japanese standards and chose to redefine themselves, in the case of Japanese Peruvians as Nikkei. I aim to explore the contents of the Japanese Peruvian definition of Nikkei by looking at existing literature and conducting video interviews through Skype and Messenger with third- and fourth-generation Japanese Peruvians. I look into what are their personal experiences as Nikkei, what changes do they recognize as the consequence of ethnic return migration, whether ethnicity has remained the most relevant in forming social relations, and what do they think about Japan now that return migration is virtually ended and the visa that allowed preferential access to Japanese descendants is not likely to be extended to further generations.
    [Show full text]