Nikkei Chronicles #3—Nikkei Names: Taro, John, Juan, João?
What’s in a name? This series introduces stories exploring the meanings, origins, and the untold stories behind personal Nikkei names. This can include family names, given names, and even nicknames!
For this project, we asked our Nima-kai to vote for their favorite stories and our editorial committee to pick their favorites.
Here are the selected favorite stories.
Editorial Committee’s selections:
- ENGLISH:
Re-Discovering My Name Between Two Cultures
By Jayme Tsutsuse
- JAPANESE:
What it means to have a Nikkei name in Brazil
By Satomi Takano Kitahara
- SPANISH:
A Discordant Name Match
By Jimmy Seiji Amemiya Siu
- PORTUGUESE:
Who am I speaking with?
By Claudio Sampei
Nima-kai selection:
- 96 stars:
The Chosen Names
By Mary Sunada
Stories from this series
You Can Call Me Ben
Aug. 8, 2014 • Gary T. Ono
“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” (Shakespeare; Romeo and Juliet) William pretty much sums it up for me as far as names go, but it is interesting to learn about how names are determined by different times and cultures. In Japan, middle names were not used, but in the turn-of-the-century America, Japanese pioneer immigrants, Issei, in most cases gave their Nisei children, second generation Japanese in America, Japanese …
What’s in a Nikkei Name?
Aug. 1, 2014 • Lloyd Kajikawa
Writing assignment: an essay about Nikkei Names. A cinch, until I asked myself the question, “What is a Nikkei name?” As I understand it, Nikkei is the term we are using these days for Japanese in the diaspora? If so, should I write about Japanese names? That would be a short essay, unless I made a list of all the Japanese names I know—actually, it would still be a short essay. So, if not “Japanese” names, then I’ll write about …
Growing Up with a Japanese Name in the United States
July 22, 2014 • Sakura Kato
My name is Sakura Kato, and just Sakura Kato. I have no middle name or an English name or really anything to signify my identity as a Japanese-American. When growing up, I could never find my name on a pre-made mug or keychain like my friends named “Ashley” or “Christine,” and references to my name could only be found in anime like Naruto or Cardcaptor Sakura. During roll call, my heart would always beat faster and my face would turn …
Here’s My Name
July 17, 2014 • Oscar Madrigal
My mother wanted to name me Nicolas, after her father. He died when she was still very young. My father was against it. He didn’t want any of the kids named after anyone in the family. He wanted all of us to have our own names. Being, that my dad is a junior, I’m sure the pressure of being named and following in grandfather’s footsteps must have weighed heavily on him. My grandfather had been a Bracero during World War …
Don't Call Me Michael!
July 8, 2014 • Mike Murase
I was born in Japan. My birth name is Murase Ichiro [村瀬一郎]. My obaachan proposed “Ichiro”—a name not uncommon for a first-born male, but she also had another reason. My grandmother, who taught at Kyoritsu Women’s University in Tokyo, had been a friend of the mother of Hatoyama Ichirō, a Japanese politician who later headed the center-right Liberal Democratic Party and became the Prime Minister of Japan. (He’d be turning in his grave to know that a person with progressive, …
Asamen - Is it Japanese?
July 1, 2014 • Tim Asamen
My name is Tim Asamen, and, yes, I am a full-fledged Sansei. I say that because my surname is so strange that it can be downright baffling to ethnic Japanese. Whenever I introduce myself to both Japanese nationals and Japanese Americans, it always causes confusion. When I say “Asamen” the usual response is “huh?” It’s even worse when some of my own family members say our name because they don’t pronounce it with a Japanese accent, so it sounds more …