Interviews

1. Birthplace

2. My image of America as a child (Japanese)

3. Longing to be an imperial soldier as a youth (Japanese)

4. Boarding house life and the Issei (Japanese)

5. My father’s venture into the hotel business (Japanese)

6. (Japanese) My children’s education

7. Luckiest Issei

8. The situation after the war (Japanese)

9. “Junior Issei” (Japanese)

10. Working in America

11. Struggles with English (Japanese)

Edward Toru Horikiri

(b. 1929) Kibei Nisei

“Junior Issei” (Japanese)

(Japanese) For the first half of my life in America, I walked the exact same path as the Issei; I think I’ve done the same kind of things as the them. For the first 15 years, even after I got married and had three children, for over ten years until my father died, I continued to send money home. So, no matter how hard I worked, I had almost no savings. My three daughters in elementary school – and I as well – never had any fun memories of vacation or anything like that.

So, for me, you could say the Kibei are “junior Issei”. That’s where I place them.

Like the Issei, I’ve done everything – from gardener’s apprentice to houseboy, from truck driver to vendor at a tiny shop. I worked by doing things that were around me, one after another. Because of that, I couldn’t really go to school. No, not “I couldn’t really go”; I didn’t go at all. So, the same went for studying English. This is my failure – that I didn’t go to school.

generations immigrants immigration Issei Japan Japanese Americans Kibei migration Nisei

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)