Discover Nikkei

https://www.discovernikkei.org/en/interviews/clips/1343/

Early impression of America

When I got a first time job in the Flamingo Company is no speak English. When I jumped in this company, I just walked in but they interview me. Then ask a lot of question but not able to answer, but I'm lucky one, there is a Nisei was there. So he kinda semi-interview, but he not too good with Japanese either, so kind of broken interview. But get by with it and then hired me, the superintendent hired me.

Then I going home, I thought, may be America is some different country. Different than what I've been thinking was because they don't know me - nothing. First time they saw me, then I don't speak English. They don't know how I'm good worker or not. But they hired me. This is something to think of it.

That's why I said in the beginning, first time I thought, may be this is a good country, different type the way the thinking was. So I started to think of it, that was the kind of feeling, first time deeply my heart to think of it about this country.


generations immigrants immigration Issei Japan migration postwar Shin-Issei United States World War II

Date: February 2, 2012

Location: California, US

Interviewer: Chris Komai, John Esaki

Contributed by: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum

Interviewee Bio

Harunori Oda was born and raised in Hokkaido, the northernmost island of Japan, but moved to the U.S. after meeting and marrying a Nisei woman who was visiting Japan in the post WWII period. Though he hated the U.S., his wife, Mitsy, convinced him that he would have greater opportunities for success in the U.S., so he decided to take the chance. Though his English skills were limited, he worked his way up through the nursery business—an enterprise he determined would offer the most opportunity for a person with his abilities. Eventually, he started his own nursery, expanded, and later achieved great success as a developer of real estate in Orange County. He passed away on December 14, 2016, at age 91. (December 2016)

Akira Takashio
en
ja
es
pt
Takashio,Akira

Support from Nikkei (Japanese)

Shin Issei – owner of izakaya (Japanese-style tavern) and kappo (small Japanese diner) restaurant, Honda-Ya

en
ja
es
pt
Akira Takashio
en
ja
es
pt
Takashio,Akira

Immigration ship Brazil-maru (Japanese)

Shin Issei – owner of izakaya (Japanese-style tavern) and kappo (small Japanese diner) restaurant, Honda-Ya

en
ja
es
pt
Michelle Yamashiro
en
ja
es
pt
Yamashiro,Michelle

Great grandfather Asato was a sumo wrestler

Okinawan American whose parents are from Peru.

en
ja
es
pt
Michelle Yamashiro
en
ja
es
pt
Yamashiro,Michelle

Grandfather loved to tell her stories of her great-grandfather Arakaki

Okinawan American whose parents are from Peru.

en
ja
es
pt
Michelle Yamashiro
en
ja
es
pt
Yamashiro,Michelle

Parents leaving Peru to move to California

Okinawan American whose parents are from Peru.

en
ja
es
pt
Monica Teisher
en
ja
es
pt
Teisher,Monica

Grandfather migrating to Colombia

(b.1974) Japanese Colombian who currently resides in the United States

en
ja
es
pt
Masato Ninomiya
en
ja
es
pt
Ninomiya,Masato

What made your parents decide to move to Brazil?

Professor of Law, University of Sao Paulo, Lawyer, Translator (b. 1948)

en
ja
es
pt
Vince Ota
en
ja
es
pt
Ota,Vince

Moving to and living in Japan

Japanese American Creative designer living in Japan

en
ja
es
pt
Kazuo Funai
en
ja
es
pt
Funai,Kazuo

Company in Tokyo burned down (Japanese)

(1900-2005) Issei businessman

en
ja
es
pt
James Hirabayashi
en
ja
es
pt
Hirabayashi,James

Family interrelations between mother and father

(1926 - 2012) Scholar and professor of anthropology. Leader in the establishment of ethnic studies as an academic discipline

en
ja
es
pt
Barbara Kawakami
en
ja
es
pt
Kawakami,Barbara

Going back to Hawaii

An expert researcher and scholar on Japanese immigrant clothing.

en
ja
es
pt
Barbara Kawakami
en
ja
es
pt
Kawakami,Barbara

Picture brides and karifufu

An expert researcher and scholar on Japanese immigrant clothing.

en
ja
es
pt
Yuri Kochiyama
en
ja
es
pt
Kochiyama,Yuri

Idealism before war, being red, white and blue

(1922–2014) Political and civil rights activist.

en
ja
es
pt
Roy H. Matsumoto
en
ja
es
pt
Matsumoto,Roy H.

Kibei schoolchildren in Hiroshima, Japan

(b.1913) Kibei from California who served in the MIS with Merrill’s Marauders during WWII.

en
ja
es
pt
Marion Tsutakawa Kanemoto
en
ja
es
pt
Kanemoto,Marion Tsutakawa

Mother's immigration to U.S. as a treaty merchant

(b. 1927) Japanese American Nisei. Family voluntarily returned to Japan during WWII.

en
ja
es
pt