Interviews
Respecting the will of a five-year-old daughter (Japanese)
(Japanese) It might have been when Nakako was around five. I was thinking I would do my best to teach her Japanese, but she told me not to. “What do you mean?” I asked her. “It’ll help you in the future. Just learn some Japanese. I’ll teach you,” I told her. She was only five years old, and even though she was so tiny, she told me, “I won’t say sorry I didn’t learn Japanese.” Then, “Please try not to teach me.” So, from that moment on, I didn’t teach her any Japanese.
Now, she complains to me about it. “Why didn’t you teach me?” she says. “You were the one who said, ‘Don’t teach me any Japanese,’ weren’t you?” I tell her back. And she answers, “But who takes such a small child’s opinion so seriously?”
Date: January 26, 2012
Location: California, US
Interviewer: John Esaki, Yoko Nishimura
Contributed by: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum
Explore More Videos
“I could never get a job offer from a private law firm”
(b. 1934) The First Japanese American Appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals.
Grandfather raised in the hotel business
(b. 1952) Former banking executive, born in Hawaii
Nomo's impact on later Japanese players
Former Director of Asian Operations for Los Angeles Dodgers
Adjustment to American life
(b. 1938) Japanese American. Hiroshima atomic bomb survivor
Immersed in Japanese culture and language
(b. 1936) Japanese Peruvian incarcerated in Crystal City
My father forced me to speak Japanese at home
Professor of Law, University of Sao Paulo, Lawyer, Translator (b. 1948)
Acculturation
(b.1964) California-born business woman in Japan. A successor of her late grandmother, who started a beauty business in Japan.
Japanese are more accustomed to foreigners
(b.1964) California-born business woman in Japan. A successor of her late grandmother, who started a beauty business in Japan.
Teaching at the military language school during World War II
(b. 1924) Political scientist, educator, and administrator from Hawai`i
Learning English upon discovering that family could not return to Peru
(1930-2018) Nisei born in Peru. Taken to the United States during WWII.
Her early life in Canada
(b.1912) Japanese Canadian Issei. Immigrated with husband to Canada in 1931
Japanese school
(b.1924) Japanese Canadian Nisei. Interpreter for British Army in Japan after WWII. Active in Japanese Canadian community
Learning Japanese at school and at home with family
(b.1951) Co-founder and managing director of San Jose Taiko.
Going to Japanese school
(1923-2011) Lawyer, MIS veteran, founder of Francis and Sarah Sogi Foundation
Feeling closer to Japan as a Japanese American
(1923-2011) Lawyer, MIS veteran, founder of Francis and Sarah Sogi Foundation
