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https://www.discovernikkei.org/en/interviews/clips/891/

Japanese wife with American citizenship

My wife actually has American citizenship. She was born in Boston. My father-in-law was teaching in Boston at the time. Studying and teaching on a Fulbright, I think. I can’t quite remember. And she happened to be born there. So she automatically…American citizenship. But then they returned to Japan immediately about a year later. But when she was in primary school they went back to America for a year. He was teaching at Stanford, I think. And she went to grade school for one year and she always felt that since she had US citizenship, she should study English. So she used to study English at a neighborhood church or something. They had a conversation class. So she always maintained her…that aspect of her life


citizenship Finding Home (film) languages

Date: November 11, 2003

Location: Kyoto, Japan

Interviewer: Art Nomura

Contributed by: Art Nomura, Finding Home.

Interviewee Bio

Peter Mizuki, a Sansei, was born and raised in Seattle, Washington. As a child he helped in his family’s lumber business and was involved with the Japanese martial art of kendo. Later, while a student at the University of Washington, he was one of the founding members of the Kendo Club. As his interest in Japanese culture developed, he traveled to Japan on a cultural visa to learn Japanese and continue his study of kendo. There, he met his wife in Kyoto. He now has two sons, is a permanent resident of Japan, and continues to practice kendo and teach English part-time at universities. In his interview, Peter shares his experiences of being a Japanese American in Japan and the struggles he’s endured to be accepted by Japanese society. (2005)

Kazuomi Takagi
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Learning Spanish (Spanish)

(1925-2014) La Plata Hochi, Journalist

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Yumi Matsubara
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Why I got my American citizenship (Japanese)

Shin-Issei from Gifu. Recently received U.S. citizenship

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Clifford Uyeda
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Japanese Language School

(1917 - 2004) Political activist

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Henry Suto
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Working tirelessly after the war (Japanese)

(1928 - 2008) Drafted into both the Japanese Imperial Army and the U.S. Army.

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Miyoko Amano
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A Lifestyle Using Both Japanese and Spanish (Japanese)

(b. 1929) President of Amano Museum

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Jimmy Murakami
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Teaching English in Japan

(1933 – 2014) Japanese American animator

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Sawako Ashizawa Uchimura
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Unique Identity from Having Multiple Backgrounds

(b. 1938) Philipines-born hikiagesha who later migrated to the United States.

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Michelle Yamashiro
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Working together in Okinawa using three languages

Okinawan American whose parents are from Peru.

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Fumiko Hachiya Wasserman
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Mother founded Japanese language school in neighbors’ backyard

Sansei judge for the Superior Court of Los Angeles County in California

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Holly J. Fujie
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Her grandfather was pressured to teach Japanese

Sansei judge on the Superior Court of Los Angeles County in California

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