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Nikkei View


Dec. 3, 2009 - Jan. 26, 2025

This series presents selections from Gil Asakawa’s “Nikkei View: The Asian American Blog,” which presents a Japanese American perspective on pop culture, media, and politics.

Visit the Nikkei View: The Asian American Blog >> 


Stories from this series

Thumbnail for Benihana Founder’s Son Kevin Aoki on His Father’s Hall of Fame Legacy
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Benihana Founder’s Son Kevin Aoki on His Father’s Hall of Fame Legacy

Jan. 26, 2025 • Gil Asakawa

Hiroaki “Rocky” Aoki’s induction into the Asian Hall of Fame in 2023 enshrined his reputation as a giant in the history of AANHPIs, but that legacy had long been established over his long and colorful career. Rocky Aoki was a legend on many fronts. His main claim to fame was as the founder of Benihana, the restaurant chain that began with one location in midtown Manhattan in 1964. But before Aoki turned restaurateur, he had already been a champion wrestler, …

Thumbnail for Interpreting <em>Lost in Translation</em> 20 years later
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Interpreting Lost in Translation 20 years later

Nov. 30, 2023 • Gil Asakawa

I get it. I understand. Traveling to someplace you’ve never been, where the culture and language is foreign to you, can be challenging. I know lots of Americans–including some Japanese Americans–who’ve either been hesitant to go to Japan, or who’ve gone and struggled to adjust to the oddly familiar, yet unfamiliar, sights, sounds, tastes and culture. It can be discombobulating. That’s the opening premise of a movie that was released 20 years ago: Lost in Translation. The film was written …

Thumbnail for On “Authenticity” in Japanese food
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On “Authenticity” in Japanese food

May 7, 2023 • Gil Asakawa

Maybe not surprisingly, I’ve been a stickler for “authenticity” in food—especially Japanese food. I was born in Japan, and I’ve loved Japanese food all my life. I even wrote a book about the history of Japanese food in America, Tabemasho! Let’s Eat! I’m a foodie who takes #foodporn shots of many of my meals. I love all cuisines and seek out new dishes to try. And I try to make sure that the food I like reflects traditional culture, accurately …

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Eating Together Again for the Holidays

Jan. 3, 2023 • Gil Asakawa

It’s been a long, sometimes lonely three years since COVID-19 arrived in the world and changed all our lives. For many of us, this holiday season may be the first since the pandemic shutdowns when we’ll be traveling to visit family once again, and dining with them. (Of course, we didn’t know a historic deep freeze would disrupt nationwide travel over the Christmas weekend….) If we’re lucky, we live not far from our parents and grandparents, and have been able …

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Learning about Asian Americans through Pop Culture

Oct. 28, 2022 • Gil Asakawa

Pop culture can be a mirror that reflects the issues and values of its time—for good and bad. For instance, Hollywood initially embraced Asians, and two of the early film era’s biggest stars were Los Angeles-born Chinese American Anna May Wong and Japanese-born Sessue Hayakawa. Anna May Wong is now featured on a quarter; Sessue Hayakawa is probably best remembered today for The Bridge over the River Kwai. But as the 20th century progressed, Hollywood began casting white actors with …

Thumbnail for I’m so disappointed to see stereotyped snack packaging in my supermarket
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I’m so disappointed to see stereotyped snack packaging in my supermarket

May 25, 2022 • Gil Asakawa

Racial stereotypes used to be part of the American consumer landscape – everywhere you turned there was a depiction, playful caricature or a ghastly exaggerated image of a person of color on commercials and ads on television or publications, or on packaging on store shelves. But if nothing else, the recent years of anti-racism protests in the wake of the murders of George Floyd and the many Black men and women before him and since, has awakened mainstream Americans and …

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Author in This Series

Gil Asakawa is a journalist, editor, author, and blogger who covers Japan, Japanese American and Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) culture and social justice issues in blogs, articles, and social media. He is a nationally-known speaker, panelist, and expert on Japanese American and Asian American history and identity. He’s the author of Being Japanese American (Stone Bridge Press) and his next book, Tabemasho! Let’s Eat! (Stone Bridge Press), a history of Japanese food in America which will be published in 2022. His blog: nikkeiview.com

Updated January 2022

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