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https://www.discovernikkei.org/en/interviews/clips/1401/

Boarding house life and the Issei (Japanese)

(Japanese) When I was learning gardening and working as a gardener’s helper at the boarding house, I came to know a lot of Issei. These were men who had never been able to get married and lived out their whole life single. And then there were people who crossed the border from Mexico, so-called…what do people call them now…wetbacks. There were also Issei who had lost their wives and moved in with their sons but ended up leaving and going to the boarding house because they didn’t get along with their sons’ Nisei wives. I was lucky to be able to meet so many Issei in the later years of their lives and hear their individual stories. There were indications about what Nikkei society was like at the time and how it would change from then on. For me, school in America was at the boarding house, listening to the stories of the Issei.


boardinghouses generations immigrants immigration Issei Japan Japanese Americans Kibei migration Nisei postwar World War II

Date: January 31, 2012

Location: California, US

Interviewer: John Esaki, Yoko Nishimura

Contributed by: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum

Interviewee Bio

Edward Toru Horikiri (b. 1929), Kibei Nisei, was born in Little Tokyo, but moved with his family back to Japan when he was 18 months old. He was raised and educated in Japan during World War II, but decided to return to the U.S. in 1952 in order to re-establish the family business that was disrupted by the War. However, lacking sufficient English language skills, he did a variety of jobs including gardener, houseboy, truck driver, and grocery and supermarket employee. He continued to be involved in cultural activities through Japanese language community organizations and friendships with artists such as Taro Yashima. (June 2014)

Iwao Takamoto
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Iwao Takamoto

Return to Los Angeles

Japanese American animator for Walt Disney and Hanna Barbera (1925-2007)

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