Interviews

1. Lack of language skills

2. Having patience in Japan, being both

3. Acculturation

4. Preserving traditional Japanese culture

5. New Year's food

6. Japanese are more accustomed to foreigners

Jane Aiko Yamano

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

Preserving traditional Japanese culture

At the same time, the culture that the Japanese have is something that we really need to preserve and to continue. And I think it’s interesting because a lot of the Japanese Americans – I think they see Japan from the outside at one point and come here and think, “Wow, this is wonderful.” You can see it…well, you’re looking at it like a foreigner but then you feel some connection because you’re…you know you’re Japanese, too. So, like, when you go to Kyoto, you’re like, “Oh, this is Japan.” You see the rock gardens, the serenity in the parks, and then you go to a quiet tea ceremony or you see the geisha or the kimonos walking by. I mean that’s really nice. That’s something you don’t want to be lost.

So how do you…it’s a hard call, you know. Modernization or…we don’t want to live in the past, but I’m trying to get a nice balance between the two. I mean I do kimono, we do ocha, we do tea ceremony, and ikebana – the flower arrangement…but at the same time, where we live is more American style. You have your couch, you have your living room.

culture Finding Home (film) identity Japan

Date: September 3, 2003

Location: Tokyo, Japan

Interviewer: Art Nomura

Contributed by: Art Nomura, Finding Home.

Interviewee Bio

Jane Aiko Yamano, 38-year-old Nisei-Yonsei, was born in Los Angeles and moved to Japan at age 12 with her Japanese father and Sansei mother. At the time that her family moved to Japan, Jane’s Japanese was minimal, even though she attended Saturday Japanese school in Los Angeles. She was enrolled in the American School in Tokyo, which was largely English-speaking. She then graduated from Sophia University and went to beauty college, after which she went into business.

Ms. Yamano is now fluent in speaking, but limited in reading and writing Japanese. She recognizes the restrictions placed upon women in Japan, but her position as head of a beauty college gives her more authority than usual for a woman. She is a Japanese citizen, having been registered by her father, and is also a U.S. citizen, holding passports from both countries. She has now lived in Japan for over 25 years. (September 3, 2003)