Interviews

1. Grandmother's background as a nurse in Japan

2. Grandfather's arrival in the U.S., experiencing discrimination

3. Grandmother's experience in the U.S. as a picture bride

4. Playing a racist game with other children

5. Depicting issues of ethnic identity through childhood artwork

6. Japanese American community life

7. Receiving a negative reaction from father upon asking about World War II experience

8. Dealing with racism within army unit in Korea

9. A conversation with a farmer in Kansas

10. Collection of artifacts depicting racial stereotypes influences art

Shimomura,Roger

(b. 1939) Japanese American painter, printmaker & professor

Dealing with racism within army unit in Korea

There were remarks said to me, and, being an Asian sent to a place like Korea, there was constant, there was a constant sort of reference to, hey, you look like the enemy. And the enemy was called Joe Chink. That's what they called the North Koreans. And frequently they would call me, hey, Joe Chink.

And another thing was like they called me Pop-up, because I looked like the targets that we all shot at. Whenever we did target practice -- 'cause we had to constantly shoot weapons to qualify -- all these pop-ups had slanted eyes and buck teeth. They were from World War II, Japanese stereotype depictions. And I remember the first time I went out there and qualified with a .45, and you can't see these targets, then all of a sudden wham, this figure came up like this and here's this Jap. And you [makes shooting sound] shoot holes in it, boom, another one, another one, another one, five of them come up and they're all Japs. So, that was my nickname, Pop-up.

Date: March 18 & 20, 2003

Location: Washington, US

Interviewer: Alice Ito and Mayumi Tsutakawa

Contributed by: Denshō: The Japanese American Legacy Project.

Interviewee Bio

Roger Shimomura's paintings, prints, and theater pieces address sociopolitical issues of Asian America. Many of his works are inspired by the diaries kept by his late immigrant grandmother for fifty-six years. Shimomura has had more than 100 solo exhibitions of his paintings and prints, and has presented his experimental theater pieces at such venues as the Franklin Furnace, New York; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; and the National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Widely honored as an educator, he was designated a University Distinguished Professor by the University of Kansas. In 2001 the College Art Association presented him with the Artist Award for Most Distinguished Body of Work in recognition of his four-year, twelve-museum national tour of the painting exhibition An American Diary. He retired from teaching in 2004.

Shimomura's personal papers are being collected by the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. He is represented by galleries in New York, Chicago, Kansas City, Miami, and Seattle.

*The full interview is available Denshō: The Japanese American Legacy Project.