Discover Nikkei

https://www.discovernikkei.org/en/interviews/clips/299/

Interviews

Nakamura,Ann K.

Sansei from Hawaii living in Japan. Teacher and businesswoman.

Image of Americans

Their image of an American was Caucasian or non-Asian. So to meet an Asian American, especially a Japanese American, for them was…where do you categorize? How do you fit this person in into their idea? So I probably have changed that idea for a lot of people who have met me. But it also made me aware of being both – that I’m neither one nor the other. I am both. And so for many Japanese, they go, “Oh, does that mean your mother is American?” I said, “No, my father is American, too.” That kind of throws them. “But you have a Japanese name.” I said, “Yes, because my father and my mother are ethnically Japanese, but their nationality is American. They were born and raised in America.” So that sort of opens a lot of conversation. It has also made me aware of, in some ways, how Western I am, as opposed to Japanese. But, at the same time, I guess growing up in Hawaii, being both was not unusual. You study Japanese, you practice certain Japanese customs – that was not unusual. But for a Japanese here, it’s unusual. It’s like, “How do you do both?” And it’s not doing both, it just naturally occurs. So at one time, it’s like the students or even the teachers would say, “So, which side of your family…does that make you half?” I said, “No, it doesn’t make me half. I’m 100 percent American because that’s my nationality. But I’m also 100 percent Japanese because all my grandparents originally came from Japan. So I’m not half as much as I’m maybe 200 percent.” And so for them, it’s like a whole different concept.


Finding Home (film) Hawaii identity United States

Date: November 8, 2003

Location: Tokushima, Japan

Interviewer: Art Nomura

Contributed by: Art Nomura, Finding Home.

Interviewee Bio

Ann Nakamura, a Sansei in her mid-forties who grew up in Hawai`i, is a single woman whose career in education and a business partnership with a Japanese man represent a unique situation. She observes that more Japanese women are delaying marriage or remaining single, and in either case are becoming professionals. This development has led to greater acceptance of her status as a single female professional. In the past, a woman teacher could continue to work after marriage, but women in business who got married were expected to end their vocation. Ann says she is not looked upon as a “role model” necessarily, but she is seen as someone who legitimates non-traditional options in society.

When growing up in Hawaii, Ann experienced a “conflict” between Western and Asian values and behavior and has been able to reconcile this in Japan. She would like to return to Hawaii where her family is, but to also continue to maintain her business in Japan. She had not expected to stay as long as she has in Japan (approximately 15 years). There are now more foreigners in Japan than ever before and more acceptance of “gaijin.” Ann first obtained a Nikkei Visa and then transitioned into her current status of permanent residency. (November 8, 2003)

Mike Murase
en
ja
es
pt
Murase,Mike

Content Conflict

Community activist

en
ja
es
pt
Mike Murase
en
ja
es
pt
Murase,Mike

Camp Experiences

Community activist

en
ja
es
pt
Mike Murase
en
ja
es
pt
Murase,Mike

Staff and Struggles

Community activist

en
ja
es
pt
Terry Janzen
en
ja
es
pt
Janzen,Terry

Postwar school-life

(b. 1930) Half Japanese and grew up in both Japan and the United States.

en
ja
es
pt
Rose Ochi
en
ja
es
pt
Ochi,Rose

On Challenging Institutions

(1938-2020) Japanese American attorney and civil rights activist

en
ja
es
pt
Rose Ochi
en
ja
es
pt
Ochi,Rose

Pop and Balls

(1938-2020) Japanese American attorney and civil rights activist

en
ja
es
pt
Tamio Wakayama
en
ja
es
pt
Wakayama,Tamio

Re-examining Identity

(1941-2018) Japanese Canadian photojournalist and activist

en
ja
es
pt
Herb Ohta
en
ja
es
pt
Ohta,Herb

How he got on the All-Navy show on Ed Sullivan

(b. 1934) Ukulele player from Hawaii

en
ja
es
pt
Herb Ohta
en
ja
es
pt
Ohta,Herb

"Song for Anna"

(b. 1934) Ukulele player from Hawaii

en
ja
es
pt
Herb Ohta
en
ja
es
pt
Ohta,Herb

Performing in Japan

(b. 1934) Ukulele player from Hawaii

en
ja
es
pt
Jean Hamako Schneider
en
ja
es
pt
Schneider,Jean Hamako

On international marriages (Japanese)

(b. 1925) War bride

en
ja
es
pt
Jean Hamako Schneider
en
ja
es
pt
Schneider,Jean Hamako

Masao-san (Japanese)

(b. 1925) War bride

en
ja
es
pt
Jean Hamako Schneider
en
ja
es
pt
Schneider,Jean Hamako

Conflicted about immigrating to America (Japanese)

(b. 1925) War bride

en
ja
es
pt
Tamio Wakayama
en
ja
es
pt
Wakayama,Tamio

Defining "Nikkei"

(1941-2018) Japanese Canadian photojournalist and activist

en
ja
es
pt
Sawako Ashizawa Uchimura
en
ja
es
pt
Uchimura,Sawako Ashizawa

Unique Identity from Having Multiple Backgrounds

(b. 1938) Philipines-born hikiagesha who later migrated to the United States.

en
ja
es
pt