Interviews
Childhood shame for being Nikkei in Enumclaw, Washington
Oh, I think there was a great deal of shame, not justified shame. I recall very distinctly not letting the other kids see what I brought to school for lunch. If it were rice with some meat in it, on the side, and tsukemono (Japanese Pickles) or whatever, there was a great deal of pressure not to reveal this kind of information to your hakujin (European American) classmates. I did not want my hakujin classmates to see me eating with chopsticks. I think that begins to tell a little bit of the story of my upbringing within that community, which is predominantly white.
As I grew older and particularly after I finished law school, or even during law school, I actually took pride in using chopsticks, and I would deliberately go out of my way to use chopsticks if my Caucasian friends were around. So it was kind of a complete reversal.
Date: August 27, 1998
Location: Pennsylvania, US
Interviewer: Darcie Iki, Mitchell Maki
Contributed by: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum
Explore More Videos
Postwar school-life
(b. 1930) Half Japanese and grew up in both Japan and the United States.
On Challenging Institutions
(1938-2020) Japanese American attorney and civil rights activist
Pop and Balls
(1938-2020) Japanese American attorney and civil rights activist
Re-examining Identity
(1941-2018) Japanese Canadian photojournalist and activist
Culture is an important part of one's identity
Jewish Japanese American journalist
Conflicted about immigrating to America (Japanese)
(b. 1925) War bride
Defining "Nikkei"
(1941-2018) Japanese Canadian photojournalist and activist
Unique Identity from Having Multiple Backgrounds
(b. 1938) Philipines-born hikiagesha who later migrated to the United States.
Difficulty of spreading authentic sushi (Japanese)
(b. 1949) Sushi chef. Owner of Sushi Gen restaurant in Los Angeles’ Little Tokyo.
Teaching how to eat sushi (Japanese)
(b. 1949) Sushi chef. Owner of Sushi Gen restaurant in Los Angeles’ Little Tokyo.
Growing up Japanese in Hawaii
(b. 1952) Former banking executive, born in Hawaii