Interviews

1. Little contact with Asians growing up on the east coast

2. Spending summers in Los Angeles

3. Japanese Americans brought up to deny their roots

4. Being multicultural before it was “in”

5. Moving to and living in Japan

6. The reason to stay in Japan after his third year

7. Being a Japanese American in Japan

8. Never being Japanese

9. Japan as my home

10. Different tension between East Coast and Los Angeles

11. A stereotype of Japanese Americans

12. Main differences between Japanese and Japanese Americans

Vince Ota

Japanese American Creative designer living in Japan

Spending summers in Los Angeles

When I was kid, having roots or contacts in LA, being on the east coast, was a cool thing. It was just cool. It was a chance for me to get away just during the summers. I wouldn’t spend a long time out there—well, I guess, maybe a month or a month and a half at the longest. But, usually, it was only for a few weeks. Mostly, I think my mom wanted me to have contact with my grandparents and my relatives more because we were so isolated from everyone else. Back then—it’s gotten to be such a small world now—but back then a long distance phone call was a big deal, right? It was good. I enjoyed my time out there. I’d come back with all the newest, coolest, hippest clothes. It was good.

California East Coast (U.S.) Finding Home (film) identity Los Angeles United States

Date: September 12, 2003

Location: Tokyo, Japan

Interviewer: Art Nomura

Contributed by: Art Nomura, Finding Home.

Interviewee Bio

Vince Ota, (Sansei on his mother’s side, Yonsei on his father’s), was born in New Hampshire. From there, he and his family lived in several cities throughout the United States and also lived in London before finally settling in Gaithersburg, Maryland. Growing up in a small town in Maryland, Vince did not have much contact with other Asian Americans, except during the summers he spent in Los Angeles with relatives. He describes his upbringing as “pretty White American.” Vince eventually moved to southern California where he attended community college and the California Institute of the Arts. He worked as a creative designer and lived in Los Angeles for seven years until moving to Japan. Vince has lived in Japan since 1996 and plans to stay. At the time of the interview, he was working as a creative designer. (September 12, 2003)

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