Nikkei Chronicles #2—Nikkei+: Stories of Mixed Language, Traditions, Generations & Race
Being Nikkei is inherently a state of mixed traditions and cultures. For many Nikkei communities and families around the world, it is common to use both chopsticks and forks; mix Japanese words with Spanish; or celebrate the New Year’s Eve countdown with champagne and Oshogatsu with ozoni and other Japanese traditions.
This series introduces stories explore how Nikkei around the world perceive and experience being multiracial, multinational, multilingual, and multigenerational.
Each piece submitted to the Nikkei+ anthology was eligible for selection as our readers’ favorites.
Here are their favorite stories in each language.
- English:
Diary of a Mad Hapa Judo Girl
By Chanda Ishisaka - Japanese:
Kokichi-san
By Laura Honda-Hasegawa - Spanish:
The Mabuyá or the Earthquake that Brings Good Luck: Some Traditions of my Oba that are now memories of my childhood
By Milagros Tsukayama Shinzato - Portuguese:
The Candle That Burns Out
By Eduardo Goo Nakashima
Stories from this series
“I’m not half, I’m whole!”
Sept. 24, 2013 • Stephen Murphy-Shigematsu
“I hate the word ‘half,’ which is used to designate people like me. I always wanted to be someone who is ‘whole.’” The young man raised his eyes to the evening sky and gazed upon the rising moon. It suddenly struck me that Byron and I were like the moon. As we are called “half,” the moon we were looking at is called a “half moon.” But like the moon, “half” is an illusion; there is much more to the …
アメリカ人のお宅 (American Otaku)
Sept. 20, 2013 • Jackson Bliss
When I was a boy, I felt disconnected from the kids in Northern Michigan. I played with Star Wars action figures and Japanese robots, creating intricate storylines inside my head about galactic invasion. Sometimes, I flipped through manga my parents brought back from Japan, even though I couldn’t read kanji yet. I showed up to school dressed in a Miami Vice outfit (my classmates taunted me, a few threatened to beat me up for “being a pussy”). I also played …
Sushi & Salsa, Cactus & Bamboo
Sept. 9, 2013 • Dorothy Yumi Garcia
During the war my father, Daniel Garcia (born Dec. 7, 1925 in Pasadena, CA), assembled shells onboard his ship to slam away at the Japanese installations. In Japan my mother, Yoshiko Fuchigami (born Feb. 2, 1930 in Atsugi), was assembling munitions to throw at the American invaders. Indirectly they were doing their damndest to kill each other. Having failed, the war over, they met, fell in love, and were married. Their meeting came about via my grandfather. As a member …
The Mabuyá or the Earthquake that Brings Good Luck: Some Traditions of my Oba that are now memories of my childhood
Sept. 3, 2013 • Milagros Tsukayama Shinzato
“Don’t sweep the house at night or you’ll become poor” or “if you cut your nails at night, the devil will come for you.” Even more prophetic, “you are going to cry…” which my oba always said when she saw the cat washing herself. I heard these and other sayings while growing up. When my oba left us, we didn’t hear such things as often, but there are a few (in addition to many other traditions and beliefs) that are part of our …
Japanese and Jewish Food Come Home to Brooklyn
Aug. 27, 2013 • Tamio Spiegel
Sawako Okochi has always had a sense of adventure. When she finished high school in Hiroshima and her classmates were deciding which Japanese universities to apply to, her sights were set farther away.“Instead of going to a Japanese university, I wanted to go to an American university,” says Okochi, who had a goal of becoming a translator. “I decided to go to Texas because it was one of the cheapest places to live, and also I wanted something more in …
Ted Tokio Tanaka: Meeting Architectural Challenges with a Global Vision
Aug. 9, 2013 • Meher McArthur
One of the first sights a visitor to Los Angeles will see are the giant glowing pillars arranged around the city’s international airport. Eleven glass columns approach the airport along Century Blvd, ascending in height from 25 to 100 feet to mimic an airplane lifting into the sky. Fifteen more 100-foot shimmering colored pillars encircle the airport—an “electronic Stonehenge” that hints at the glitz and glamour to be found within the city. With Project Gateway LAX, Japanese-born architect Ted Tokio …