Japanese Americans brought up to deny their roots

Little contact with Asians growing up on the east coast Spending summers in Los Angeles Japanese Americans brought up to deny their roots Being multicultural before it was “in” Moving to and living in Japan The reason to stay in Japan after his third year Being a Japanese American in Japan Never being Japanese Japan as my home Different tension between East Coast and Los Angeles A stereotype of Japanese Americans Main differences between Japanese and Japanese Americans

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I have this kind of underline riff that I believe almost all Japanese Americans are brought up to deny their roots, their Japanese roots. It became very, very clear for me. That became very, very clear to me when I came out here. We would celebrate Oshogatsu, but we would still just call it New Year’s. My mom would just put out a big spread. My uncle, her older brother, was actually in D.C. at the time as well. So in terms of Japanese traditions, we got together with the family and we had sushi there. That’s about as Japanese as it gets there.

Date: September 12, 2003
Location: Tokyo, Japan
Interviewer: Art Nomura
Contributed by: Art Nomura, Finding Home.

FindingHome identity new year's oshogatsu