Ben Arikawa

Ben_Ari

Ben Arikawa is a Northern California Sansei. He lives not far from where his paternal grandparents settled to work on a fruit orchard about hundred years ago. Ben recently attended the Tule Lake Pilgrimage, where he met Brad and George Takei. Late in life, he realized that he has a need to tell stories and has been exploring his literary side. Ben has contributed an article to Pacific Citizen, the award winning newspaper of the JACL, and several articles to Discover Nikkei. His stories reflect his experiences as a Japanese American, son, husband, and father. He is also exploring his artistic side as a director of photography on Ikeibi Films web series, Gold Mountain (2016), and as an actor in Infinity and Chashu Ramen (2013).

Updtaed August 2016

war en

A Journey to Jerome

By Ben Arikawa
24 Aug 2016

Otousan, Obasan, Ojisan, how was the train ride? My father, aunt, uncle, and their family traveled about 2,000 miles by train from the Fresno Assembly Center in California, where they were first incarcerated, to the Jerome War Relocation Camp, which was open from 1942 to 1944. More than 70 years later, my wife and I traveled nearly that distance from our Northern California home to Little Rock, Arkansas, where we had been invited to an event at the Clinton Presidential Library. Our trip by air and rental car undoubtedly took much less time and was more pleasant than my relative’s t…

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All My Friends, They Went to Tule

By Ben Arikawa
19 Feb 2013

There are many untold and, possibly, forgotten stories in one’s family history. In an earlier article in the 2011 Holiday Issue of Pacific Citizen, the official newspaper of the Japanese American Citizens League, I wrote about what little I knew and what I didn’t know about my father’s incarceration in Jerome during World War II. Even before that article was published, I began to research the files of persons incarcerated in War Relocation Authority (WRA) camps that were available through the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). I requested and obtained over…

food en

Nikkei Chronicles #1—ITADAKIMASU! A Taste of Nikkei Culture

Homemade Miso Soup

By Ben Arikawa
23 Oct 2012

If you have been to a Japanese restaurant in the United States, you probably have been served a warm, salty, light brown miso soup. Sometimes it will have thinly sliced scallions floating in the broth. Sometimes there will be miniature cubes of tofu hidden in the depths below the particles of miso suspended in the broth. It is offered more as an afterthought, usually before a meal of overly large portions of protein or sushi. My daughter, Elizabeth, came back from Japan this spring with a revelation—Japanese miso soup is nothing like the miso soup you get in a Japanese restaurant in …

food en

Nikkei Chronicles #1—ITADAKIMASU! A Taste of Nikkei Culture

Mochi and Me

By Ben Arikawa
4 Sep 2012

Mochi is a quintessential Nikkei food. Mochi is a symbol of our ties to our ancestral homeland, the land of small, terraced rice fields tended by family farmers. Mochi is made from rice. Not the typical rice you cook at home, but a glutinous rice that is very sticky when cooked. In the traditional method, the rice is steamed, ground and pounded by people wielding wooden mallets into a sticky dough. I have a very vague memory of my extended family coming together to make mochi this way on a very cold winter’s day when I was very young. Besides the memories, I have a confession to mak…

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Two Weddings and a Funeral

By Ben Arikawa
4 Jun 2012

I’m not yet at the age where I scan the obituaries for people I knew, like I remember my father doing. In his later years, he would open the paper to the obituaries most days, looking for the names of acquaintances. I remember my father saying: “I was talking to Don the other day. Frank is gone. Don and I are the only ones left from camp now.” (Don and my father were roommates for a time in the Jerome War Relocation Authority incarceration camp in Arkansas during WWII.) But one August evening a few years ago, on the kitchen table was the day’s newspaper, open to the…

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Discover Nikkei

Japanese migrants and their descendants

Ben Arikawa

Nikkei Chronicles #1—ITADAKIMASU! A Taste of Nikkei Culture

Nikkei Chronicles #1—ITADAKIMASU! A Taste of Nikkei Culture

Series this author contributes to

Postwar Japanese Emigration to the Dominican Republic — Part 1: A Tragic Tale

Tad Nakamura’s Art and Activism

Nikkei Chronicles #3—Nikkei Names: Taro, John, Juan, João?

The Child of a Thousand Generations

Nikkei Chronicles #5—Nikkei-go: The Language of Family, Community, and Culture

The Chuo Gakuen School: The Seeds of Prestige for the Japanese Community in Mexico

The Life of an American Sign Language interpreter — Part 1

Kenzo Kobashigawa, el sensei de pasado dekasegi

An Unsent Letter to My Nisei Grandpa–Part 2 of 3

ハワイの日系弁護士— クリスティーン・A・久保田さん

Tokita Tales

Losing a True and Trusted Friend

書評：和泉真澄『日系カナダ人の移動と運動―知られざる日本人の越境生活史』

1992年渡米、目標は「アカデミー賞」— 俳優の井上英治さん

Kizuna 2020: Nikkei Kindness and Solidarity During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Tiempos pandémicos: teletrabajo y koden digital

Kizuna 2020: Nikkei Kindness and Solidarity During the COVID-19 Pandemic

COVID-19 e os heróis anônimos

香川県海外移民の父：今雪真一の情熱と功績

第３部：金子正則知事の南米訪問とその主な見解

Nikkei Chronicles #12

Growing Up Nikkei: Connecting with Our Heritage

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The Life of an American Sign Language interpreter — Part 1

An Unsent Letter to My Nisei Grandpa–Part 2 of 3

Losing a True and Trusted Friend

Dr. Jiro Takai's Journey of Becoming From the Soo to Nagoya University — Part 2

Journal Entry #Around 80,000 Words: "Novel Novels..."

David Mura’s Work Continues to Push Readers to Question the World

Tribute to Amy Uyemastu: After — Part 3

Stephen Nelson Makes History as New Dodgers Announcer

An Unsent Letter to My Nisei Grandpa–Part 1 of 3

In Their Own Voices: Understanding Heart Mountain through Oral Histories

Dr. Jiro Takai's Journey of Becoming From the Soo to Nagoya University — Part 1

A Dream Deferred, A Dream Fulfilled

Journal Entry #4 Body Types: "Poor, Poor Pitiful Ken..."

Chapter 15 (Part 1 ) — Nisei’s Political Involvement in the Japanese American Citizens League

Preserving Legacy and Artistry: A Behind-the-Scenes Look into the Henry Sugimoto Collection

Artist and Documentarian: The Life of Kango Takamura

Bridging the Past and Present: Preserving History Through the Tanaka Photo Studio Collection

Nikkei Incarceration

EO9066’s ‘Coerced Prison Work(ers)’

Journal Entry #6 More Noises: "Onomatopoeia Mania..."

An In-Depth Examination of the WRA’s Legal System

Shelter Lodge

Journal Entry #24 Hours: "Some Days are Too Long..."

Frozen Hair, Work Stoppages, and Other Lesser-Known Stories from Heart Mountain - Part 2

A New Take on Madama Butterfly Updates Puccini’s Opera for Modern Times

WTF — Not the What, Why, or When, It’s the How

Darcy Tamayose on Exploring Hauntings by Ghosts, Grief, and Guilt

Wisdom Grown Wild: A Conversation with Filmmaker Rea Tajiri — Part 1

Rice, Race, and Growing up Hafu

Journal Entry #Lumenø: "The Stygian Box..."

Coming Home: My Family’s Journey to Ireichō

To Be Nikkei

A Northern Lesson: Carey McWilliams and the Incarceration of Japanese Canadians

Bruce Miyahara — “OG-San” Marries Food Passion with Service — Part 2

Rediscovering Poston

Frozen Hair, Work Stoppages, and Other Lesser-Known Stories from Heart Mountain - Part 1

Hajichi Stories — Tree Local Women Tell Why Day Got Their Okinawan Hand Tattoos

Wisdom Grown Wild: A Conversation with Filmmaker Rea Tajiri — Part 2

Identity in the Music Industry with Musician & Two-Time Grammy Nominee Nick Lee

Journal Entry #Combining 26 Characters: "Cliché in Vain..."

The Heart of Naomi Hirahara’s Evergreen

For Kyra Karatsu—Writing is a Foregone Conclusion

Exposing America’s “Secret Weapon” — Part 2

Layle Lane: Black Woman Educator and Defender of Japanese Americans

Death of Affirmative Action

The Readmission: Toyohiko Kagawa’s 1950 US Tour

Wisdom Grown Wild: A Conversation with Filmmaker Rea Tajiri — Part 3

Chapter 15 (Part 2) — Nisei’s Political Involvement in the Japanese American Citizens League