On Nikkei
What is Nikkei? Ryusuke Kawai, a non-fiction writer who translated "No-No Boy," covers a variety of topics related to Nikkei, including people, history, books, movies, and music, focusing on his own involvement with Nikkei.
Stories from this series
No. 61: John Manjiro's descendants speak out
April 25, 2025 • Ryusuke Kawai
An extraordinary life story and achievements While there are many immigrants and migrants who traveled abroad of their own volition to carve out a new life for themselves, there are also those who ended up in a foreign land by chance after being cast away at sea and lived a life they never imagined. A typical example of this is John Manjiro (Nakahama Manjiro), who was rescued by an American whaling ship while cast away at sea in the late …
Part 60: A story of fighting the enemy and discrimination—Reading "Facing the Mountain: A True Story of Japanese American Heroes in World War II"
April 11, 2025 • Ryusuke Kawai
It has been 80 years since the end of the war, and with almost no living witnesses to the war remaining, it is becoming increasingly important to pass on the truth of history. It is not enough to understand war as an international issue as explained in textbooks, especially when we consider the harsh and brutal truths of how real people were hurt and suffered. This fact is brought home by the recently published non-fiction book "遥かなる山に向かって 日系アメリカ人二世たちの第二次世界大戦 (Harukanaru yama …
Part 59 Getting to Know San Jose Japantown
March 28, 2025 • Ryusuke Kawai
A rare community that preserves Japanese traditions San Jose, California, is known as one of the few places where Japanese people who emigrated overseas have left their Japanese traditions and culture behind, and have maintained a unique Japanese culture. A special exhibition titled “San Jose Japantown: Inheriting the Thoughts and Spirits of Immigrants,” about the Japantown that formed in this city, which is located at the base of Silicon Valley, a hub of cutting-edge technology, is being held at the …
Part 58 Memoirs of an Italian girl in a Japanese internment camp — Dacia Maraini's "My Life"
March 14, 2025 • Ryusuke Kawai
Similarities with the internment of Japanese Americans Just as there were facilities in the United States, Canada and Australia that forcibly interned citizens of the enemy country, Japan, too, had similar facilities for people from enemy countries during World War II. Although it is not widely known, one of these was the concentration camp for Italians in Nagoya. Italy was an ally of Japan along with Germany, as seen in the Tripartite Pact, so some may wonder why Italians were …
Part 57 (2) Pursuing a world where cultures intersect
Feb. 28, 2025 • Ryusuke Kawai
Read Part 57 (Part 1) Since her experience studying abroad in the United States in the 1970s, Awaya Nobuko has been concerned with issues of identity, and has since traveled the world to study minorities and intercultural communication. In recent years, she has been launching art projects based in Chihanan in Izu, her hometown. We spoke to her about the content and intentions of her activities. * * * * * A cross between the past and the future, Japan …
Part 57 (1) Pursuing a world where cultures intersect
Feb. 14, 2025 • Ryusuke Kawai
Since her experience studying abroad in the United States in the 1970s, Nobuko Awaya has been concerned with issues of identity, and has since traveled the world to study minorities and intercultural communication. In recent years, she has been launching art projects based in Chihanan in Izu, her hometown. We spoke to her about her intercultural experiences and her work to this day, focusing on her involvement with the Japanese community. As the only Japanese student studying abroad Kawai: How …
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