Interviews

1. Impressions from interviews with Issei women (Japanese)

2. The differences between Japanese women who emigrated from Japan and those who did not (Japanese)

3. Feeling conflicted as a Japanese scholar studying Nikkei (Japanese)

4. Interest in Japanese migration studies (Japanese)

5. The Japanese society reacts to Nikkei living in Japan (Japanese)

6. What is Nikkei? (Japanese)

7. The identity of Nikkei Canadians seen in the Buddhist Church (Japanese)

8. Learning from Nikkei (Japanese)

Masako Iino

Tsuda College President, researcher of Nikkei history

What is Nikkei? (Japanese)

(Japanese) Well, in my definition of what “Nikkei” means nowadays, I believe Japanese-born people are included as well. It’s probably a matter of awareness. The original definition simply includes anyone born with some amount of Japanese blood in them. So the “Nikkei” of today have grown into quite a large group. When you call someone a Nikkei sansei or yonsei, not only can it mean that this person’s grandfather and grandmother were both Japanese; it can also mean that only the grandfather was Japanese, and this person would still be considered “Nikkei.” So it’s really a matter of awareness, isn’t it? Several generations later, even if people do have a Japanese ancestor from generations before, perhaps they wouldn’t consider themselves Nikkei at all. If you think about it that way, it sure seems like there’s a great difference in how each individual perceives what “Nikkei” means.

identity Nikkei United States

Date: October 7, 2005

Location: California, US

Interviewer: Ann Kaneko

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

Interviewee Bio

Masako Iino majored in American Studies at Tsuda College where upon graduating, went abroad to study at Syracuse University as a Fulbright scholar. She furthered her studies there in American history. From the richness of diversity in the American people and culture, Ms. Iino saw that a significant amount of American history was due to immigration from which she furthered her studies. This is where she began to study more extensively immigration from Japan to the United States. At that time when research interests were shifting from political history to social history, Iino’s research was fully supported by her advisor.

When Ms. Iino returned to Japan, she taught American history and immigration courses at her alma mater and continued her research on Japanese Americans. During the 1980s and 1990s, she went back to the United States and interviewed Issei and Nisei in California. Later, she expanded her research arena to Canadian Nikkei and compared the histories and the processes of how society accepted Nikkei in Canada and the United States.

Ms. Iino is currently researching how Nikkei people connect to Japan by examining LARA (Licensed Agency for Relief of Asia). Her major recent publications are “Mou hitotsu no nichibei kankei-shi: Funso to kyocho no naka no Nikkei Amerikajin (History of another Japan – U.S. relations: Japanese American in conflicts and coordination)” (Yuhikaku, 2000), “Hikisakareta chuseishin (Loyalty Torn Apart)” (Minerva Shobo, 1994) (co-editor), and “Nikkei Canadajin no rekishi (History of Japanese Canadians)” (University of Tokyo Press, 1997), which was received the Canadian Prime Minister's Awards for Publishing. Currently she is an active scholar and continues to serve as the President of Tsuda College. (October 6, 2006)