Koji's Column
“Koji’s Column” is a column series contributed by Japanese American National Museum staff member, Koji Steven Sakai. His column explores Nikkei identity and culture from the standpoint of a second- and fourth-generation Japanese Americana American male from Southern California.
Stories from this series
Sticks and Stones
April 18, 2007 • Koji Steven Sakai
For the last year I have been working on a feature length screenplay that deals with Asian American identity. During my research I went online to look for all the racial slurs people use to express their hatred of Asian/Asian Americans. The sheer number of them took me by surprise. Here is a small sampling of what I found: Ching Chong. Chink. Jap. Nip. Oriental. Gook. Hapa. Yellow. Yigger. Chigger. Mongoloid. Ping-pong. Slop. Slopehead. Slopy. Slopey. Twinkie. Zipperhead. Chinee. Chinky. …
What am I?
March 21, 2007 • Koji Steven Sakai
I did Kendo (Japanese sword fighting) for almost 15 years. I ate rice almost every meal growing up. I understand Japanese. I root for Japanese baseball players. I work at a Japanese American institution. Should I then be considered Japanese? What does that really mean? To the Japanese, I’m American. I’m different. I’m not like them. I’m their stupid inbred cousin they don’t like to talk about. I remember when I was in Japan as a kid, they outed me …
Citizen First
Feb. 22, 2007 • Koji Steven Sakai
Anyone who wasn’t actively helping the Jews and other displaced people in Nazi Germany were as culpable for the crimes against humanity as any of the SS soldiers we all like to vilify. The citizens of a country have the moral obligation to ensure that their government does not break international law and/or basic human rights. Our soldiers are citizens first and soldiers second. Therefore, they have that same moral obligation as all of us. They are not robots that …
Samurais, Ninjas - Oh My!
Jan. 23, 2007 • Koji Steven Sakai
A good friend of mine who works for a Japanese American historical organization recently received the following e-mail and wanted me to write back to them. Dear Sir or Madam: Hello. My name is XXXX XXXXXXXXX. I am in the 7th grade at XXXX Middle School in XXXXX, XX and I am in an accelerated education class. We are doing research projects and my topic is comparing Samurai and Ninjas. I need information before XXXXXXXX X, XXXX to write my …
To my unborn child: Tojo Sakai
Dec. 13, 2006 • Koji Steven Sakai
I am going to name my future unborn child Tojo Sakai. My first generation mom thinks it’s not only stupid but a bad idea. Of course, this is the same parent who told me that I shouldn’t try to grow a mullet. Obviously, she’s an unreliable advice giver and possibly criminally insane. An informal poll of my friends tells me that they don’t care if I named my kid Hitler. “It’s your kid,” one of them told me, “You can …
