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https://www.discovernikkei.org/en/interviews/clips/1500/

Missing Home (Japanese)

(Japanese) In the beginning, I would often be in tears. I would remember something. May be I heard a song or something, that reminded me (of Japan). It made me sad.

So I would cry often. Then my husband would ask me why I was crying everyday. The reason why I was crying wasn’t because I missed home so badly but I felt bad for making my parents unhappy. I felt like I did some bad things to my parents. Being so far away, I could only remember some good things about Japan, my friends, and my family, which brought tears to my eyes.


brides families international marriages marriages migration war brides wives

Date: February 6, 2015

Location: California, US

Interviewer: Izumi Tanaka

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

Interviewee Bio

Terumi Hisamatsu Calloway was born in 1937 in Yokohama as the 5th of 10 children and grew up in the suburb of Tokyo during the war. She met her husband, Edward E. Calloway, who was a civilian engineer working at American military base in Tokyo and married him. In 1960, after having 2 children, Terumi moved to the U.S. with her family and settled in the Bay Area and had two more children. Later they moved to the Lompoc area where all of her 4 children - 2 girls and 2 boys - grew up. In 1977, they moved to Inglewood where she resides now. Terumi was widowed in 2009, and she currently works as a caregiver. (April 2016)

Kazuo Funai
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First work in America (Japanese)

(1900-2005) Issei businessman

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Kazuo Funai
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Company in Tokyo burned down (Japanese)

(1900-2005) Issei businessman

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James Hirabayashi
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Family interrelations between mother and father

(1926 - 2012) Scholar and professor of anthropology. Leader in the establishment of ethnic studies as an academic discipline

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Steve Kaji
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FOB's

Hawaii born Nikkei living in Japan. English Teacher at YMCA.

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Barbara Kawakami
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Going back to Hawaii

An expert researcher and scholar on Japanese immigrant clothing.

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Barbara Kawakami
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Picture brides and karifufu

An expert researcher and scholar on Japanese immigrant clothing.

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Robert (Bob) Kiyoshi Okasaki
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Grandmother's influence on decision to go to Japan

(b.1942) Japanese American ceramist, who has lived in Japan for over 30 years.

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Yukio Takeshita
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Impression of Japan upon arrival

(b.1935) American born Japanese. Retired businessman.

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Roy H. Matsumoto
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Kibei schoolchildren in Hiroshima, Japan

(b.1913) Kibei from California who served in the MIS with Merrill’s Marauders during WWII.

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Etsuo Hongo
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The reason he came to the United States (Japanese)

(1949 - 2019) Taiko player. Founded five taiko groups in Southern California

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

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

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Marion Tsutakawa Kanemoto
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Mother's immigration to U.S. as a treaty merchant

(b. 1927) Japanese American Nisei. Family voluntarily returned to Japan during WWII.

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Rose Kutsukake
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Why her parents came to Canada

(1918-2004) Interned in Slocan during World War II. Active member of the Japanese Canadian community.

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Fred Sasaki
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Family background of Fredrick Yoshihide Sasaki

(b. 1918) Issei businessman in Canada

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Mitsuo Ito
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Chose to go back to Japan

(b.1924) Japanese Canadian Nisei. Interpreter for British Army in Japan after WWII. Active in Japanese Canadian community

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