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On Nikkei

Feb. 11, 2022 - April 25, 2025

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

Part 5: Searching for Roots - Florida and Hyogo

April 8, 2022 • Ryusuke Kawai

When I interview Japanese Americans, I always want to ask them questions like, "Do you know where your roots are in Japan?" or, "Which part of Japan are your roots?" This is because I think that if I were born in America as a Japanese American, at some point I would want to know where my roots are. For Japanese people, even if you trace back history as far as you can, it is natural that their roots are somewhere …

families Florida Kim Kobayashi United States Yamato Colony (Florida)

Part 4: "Japanese-Americans" and Music Culture

March 25, 2022 • Ryusuke Kawai

What is Nikkei? There are many themes that can make you think about this, such as politics, economics, sports, and food culture, but what will become clear if you focus on music? The answer to such an intriguing question emerges from the book "Music Culture of American Nikkei Society: A Hundred Years of Border Crossers" (Kyokubun) recently published by Professor Waseda Minako of the National College of Music, who has been researching this field for many years, a field that …

drum ensembles Japanese Americans kumi-daiko Minako Waseda music taiko

Vol. 3: Jack Shirai and the Volunteer Soldier

March 11, 2022 • Ryusuke Kawai

Volunteering for the Foreign Legion An event bigger than the COVID-19 news that is reported almost every day on the front pages has occurred: Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Some media outlets have described it as a "war," but this is a one-sided invasion and a genocide against the local people. Since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, most of the world's public opinion has condemned Russia and offered various forms of support to Ukraine, including through nation-states, NGOs, and individuals, …

enlistment Jack Shirai New York (state) Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) United States voluntary military service war

Part 2: What is Nikkei?

Feb. 25, 2022 • Ryusuke Kawai

The purpose of this column is to write about various things related to "Nikkei," or in other words, to touch on various things with "Nikkei" as a keyword. To be honest, I thought it would be easier to write if I kept the topic range as broad as possible, but before I start, I want to think about what "Nikkei" is in the first place. Given that the website is called Discover Nikkei, one can imagine that "Nikkei" is a …

Nikkei terminology United States

Part 1: Me and "Japanese"

Feb. 11, 2022 • Ryusuke Kawai

What is Nikkei? I was born and raised in Kanagawa Prefecture, and when I think back, I first became aware of the term "Nikkei" when I was a student. The exchange student from the United States who taught me English was of Japanese descent. At the time, I first recognized him as a so-called half-Japanese person, and didn't pay much attention to the fact that he was Nikkei. After that, I became a reporter for the Mainichi Shimbun and worked …

Florida Japanese Americans No-No Boy (book) United States

Author in This Series

Ryusuke Kawai @ryusukekawai

Journalist and non-fiction writer. Born in Kanagawa Prefecture, he graduated from the Faculty of Law at Keio University and worked as a reporter for the Mainichi Shimbun before going independent. His books include Yamato Colony: Florida ni “nihon” wo nokoshita otokotachi (Yamato Colony: The Pioneers Who Brought Japan to Florida, published by Junposha). He translated the monumental work of Japanese American literature, No-No Boy (Junposha). The English version of Yamato Colony won the 2021 Harry T. and Harriette V. Moore Award for the best book on ethnic groups or social issues from the Florida Historical Society.

Updated November 2021