Discover Nikkei

https://www.discovernikkei.org/en/interviews/clips/948/

We’re Still Japanese

And immediately when that happened, I thought, God, what's going to happen to us? We didn't think about being thrown into camps, certainly, but we still -- we had the, "We are Japanese." We're not, we're not Japanese Americans, we were still a Japanese kind of thing. Although we danced jitterbug and listened to swing music, we're still Japanese. And yet we couldn't relate to the Japanese in Japan, so there was really a conflict there. Who are we?

Again, identity was a big problem for me. And I didn't want to be a part of that stuff at all. And yet, golly, I look in the mirror, and I'm Japanese. So this was a major identity problem. And so there was a feeling of guilt, too, being Japanese. Japanese name. Eating gohan. And yet I didn't feel a part of that scene over there because I had not been to Japan at that time, no contact with any of my relatives over there. So internally, it was a terrible time. On the other hand, in the community still, I was not part of the mainstream community. I was still in the Japanese community. And all my friends were Niseis. So we were all somewhat confused, yeah.


identity World War II World War II camps

Date: February 18, 2002

Location: Washington, US

Interviewer: Alice Ito, John Pai

Contributed by: Denshō: The Japanese American Legacy Project.

Interviewee Bio

George Yoshida was born in 1922 in Seattle, WA. Prior to World War II, his family moved to East Los Angeles, CA in 1936. Yoshida was incarcerated in Poston, AZ during the war. Yoshida grew up around the Big Band sound and Swing music and while in camp formed a dance band called the “Music Makers” for which he played the drums. Through music, the internees tried their best to keep life as a normal as possible and forget that they were surrounded by barbed wire. In 1943, Yoshida was drafted into the U.S. Army. He married in 1945 and moved to Berkeley, CA where he taught at Washington Elementary School for the next 35 years.

After retiring from teaching in 1987, Yoshida’s started the J-Town Jazz Ensemble, a swing band of Nisei and Sansei musicians. He still plays the drums, but this time, Yoshida uses music to remember the history of Japanese Americans during a period of great hardship. Yoshida is also the author of a book, Reminiscing in Swingtime 1925-1960: Japanese Americans in American Popular Music. (April 15, 2008)

Michelle Yamashiro
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Yamashiro,Michelle

Parents identification as Peruvian Okinawan

Okinawan American whose parents are from Peru.

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Michelle Yamashiro
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Yamashiro,Michelle

Okinawan cultural appreciation

Okinawan American whose parents are from Peru.

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Michelle Yamashiro
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Yamashiro,Michelle

Prejudice against Okinawans from mainland folks

Okinawan American whose parents are from Peru.

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Michelle Yamashiro
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Yamashiro,Michelle

American values she aligns with

Okinawan American whose parents are from Peru.

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Michelle Yamashiro
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Yamashiro,Michelle

Working together in Okinawa using three languages

Okinawan American whose parents are from Peru.

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Fumiko Hachiya Wasserman
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Wasserman,Fumiko Hachiya

The lack of discussion about family’s incarceration in Amache

Sansei judge for the Superior Court of Los Angeles County in California

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Takayo Fischer
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Fischer,Takayo

Passing Time in the Camps with Baton Twirling

(b. 1932) Nisei American stage, film, and TV actress

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Mitsuye Yamada
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Yamada,Mitsuye

Expressing herself through poetry

(b. 1923) Japanese American poet, activist

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Iwao Takamoto
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Takamoto,Iwao

Loss When Leaving for Manzanar

Japanese American animator for Walt Disney and Hanna Barbera (1925-2007)

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Juan Alberto Matsumoto
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Matsumoto,Juan Alberto

About Escobar (Spanish)

(b. 1962) Nisei Japanese Argentinian, currently residing in Japan

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Monica Teisher
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Teisher,Monica

Stories of Grandfather at a concentration camp in Fusagasuga

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

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Monica Teisher
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Teisher,Monica

Her definition of Nikkei

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

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Monica Teisher
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Teisher,Monica

Her grandfather in a concentration camp in Fusagasuga (Spanish)

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

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Mia Yamamoto
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Yamamoto,Mia

Impact of her father

(b. 1943) Japanese American transgender attorney

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Masato Ninomiya
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Ninomiya,Masato

Foreign language education was severely restricted during the war

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

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