Interviews

1. Family interrelations between mother and father

2. Christian gatherings in homes

3. Nickname

4. Not bringing shame to family

5. Little interaction with parents

6. Life in camp as teenager

7. Politics in ethnic studies

8. Center for Japanese American Studies in community

9. Involvement with theater

10. Involvement with ethnic studies

11. Involvement with strike

12. Relationship with S.I. Hayakawa

13. How ethnic studies strike affected him

14. Context affects meaning

15. Past ties to present situation in Middle East

16. Role of the Japanese American National Museum

17. Gordon's parents' experience in prison

18. Testing assumptions of Japanese scholars

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

Nickname

When I started grade school, there’s another, maybe one or two James’s in the class. And so that the teachers were trying to find out what our middle names were so that they could have different names. And my mother insisted that since we’re in America, that they use my English name. And so I was known as James. But, in my later years in grade school, all my Caucasian friends, or some of my nisei friends, they started calling me Herbie for Herbie-yashi. (Oh, I see.) So I was known as Herbie or Herb before the war.

identity names nicknames

Date: January 7, 2004

Location: California, US

Interviewer: Art Hansen

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

Interviewee Bio

James Hirabayashi, son of hardworking immigrant farmers in the Pacific Northwest, was a high school senior in 1942 when he was detained in the Pinedale Assembly Center before being transferred to the Tule Lake Concentration Camp in Northern California.

After World War II, he earned his Bachelor of Arts and Masters in Anthropology from the University of Washington, and eventually his Ph.D. from Harvard University. Dr. Hirabayashi is Professor Emeritus at San Francisco State University where he was Dean of the nation’s first school of ethnic studies. He also held research and teaching positions at the University of Tokyo, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, and Ahmadu Bellow Univerity, Zaria, Nigeria.

He passed away in May 2012 at age 85. (June 2014)

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(b.1964) California-born business woman in Japan. A successor of her late grandmother, who started a beauty business in Japan.

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(b.1964) California-born business woman in Japan. A successor of her late grandmother, who started a beauty business in Japan.

Supporting art because it's essential

Illustrator and designer

Being on the outside

(b.1948) Nikkei from Southern California living in Japan.

His parents' experience with Japanese resistance toward intermarriage with Okinawans

(b.1925) Nisei of Okinawan descent. Had a 38-year career in Japan as a baseball player, coach, scout, and manager.

Working in cane fields as teenager, and how it helped in his athletic training (Japanese)

(b.1925) Nisei of Okinawan descent. Had a 38-year career in Japan as a baseball player, coach, scout, and manager.

Nickname

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

Mixed emotions after declaration of war on Japan

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

Growing up in Waikiki

(b. 1924) Political scientist, educator, and administrator from Hawai`i

The philosophy of playing Taiko

(b.1951) Co-founder and managing director of San Jose Taiko.

Learning Japanese traditions by observing his mother and grandmother

(b. 1981) Enka Singer

Nihongo gakko - Preserving Japanese culture (Spanish)

(b. 1969) Former president of Centro Nikkei Argentino.

Not wanting to stand out as a foreigner

Sansei Japanese American living in Japan and Kendo practioner

Have compassion for all of humanity

(b. 1923) Nisei from Washington. Resisted draft during WWII.

Identity crisis (Spanish)

(b. 1969) Former president of Centro Nikkei Argentino.

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