Discover Nikkei

https://www.discovernikkei.org/en/interviews/clips/299/

Interviews

Nakamura,Ann K.

Sansei from Hawaii living in Japan. Teacher and businesswoman.

Image of Americans

Their image of an American was Caucasian or non-Asian. So to meet an Asian American, especially a Japanese American, for them was…where do you categorize? How do you fit this person in into their idea? So I probably have changed that idea for a lot of people who have met me. But it also made me aware of being both – that I’m neither one nor the other. I am both. And so for many Japanese, they go, “Oh, does that mean your mother is American?” I said, “No, my father is American, too.” That kind of throws them. “But you have a Japanese name.” I said, “Yes, because my father and my mother are ethnically Japanese, but their nationality is American. They were born and raised in America.” So that sort of opens a lot of conversation. It has also made me aware of, in some ways, how Western I am, as opposed to Japanese. But, at the same time, I guess growing up in Hawaii, being both was not unusual. You study Japanese, you practice certain Japanese customs – that was not unusual. But for a Japanese here, it’s unusual. It’s like, “How do you do both?” And it’s not doing both, it just naturally occurs. So at one time, it’s like the students or even the teachers would say, “So, which side of your family…does that make you half?” I said, “No, it doesn’t make me half. I’m 100 percent American because that’s my nationality. But I’m also 100 percent Japanese because all my grandparents originally came from Japan. So I’m not half as much as I’m maybe 200 percent.” And so for them, it’s like a whole different concept.


Finding Home (film) Hawaii identity United States

Date: November 8, 2003

Location: Tokushima, Japan

Interviewer: Art Nomura

Contributed by: Art Nomura, Finding Home.

Interviewee Bio

Ann Nakamura, a Sansei in her mid-forties who grew up in Hawai`i, is a single woman whose career in education and a business partnership with a Japanese man represent a unique situation. She observes that more Japanese women are delaying marriage or remaining single, and in either case are becoming professionals. This development has led to greater acceptance of her status as a single female professional. In the past, a woman teacher could continue to work after marriage, but women in business who got married were expected to end their vocation. Ann says she is not looked upon as a “role model” necessarily, but she is seen as someone who legitimates non-traditional options in society.

When growing up in Hawaii, Ann experienced a “conflict” between Western and Asian values and behavior and has been able to reconcile this in Japan. She would like to return to Hawaii where her family is, but to also continue to maintain her business in Japan. She had not expected to stay as long as she has in Japan (approximately 15 years). There are now more foreigners in Japan than ever before and more acceptance of “gaijin.” Ann first obtained a Nikkei Visa and then transitioned into her current status of permanent residency. (November 8, 2003)

Jero  (Jerome Charles White Jr.)
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(Jerome Charles White Jr.),Jero

Never sang Enka outside the family

(b. 1981) Enka Singer

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Fujima Kansuma
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Kansuma,Fujima

Both Japanese and American identities though Japanese dance

(1918-2023) Nisei Japanese kabuki dancer

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Jero  (Jerome Charles White Jr.)
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(Jerome Charles White Jr.),Jero

Coming to Japan

(b. 1981) Enka Singer

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Vince Ota
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Ota,Vince

The reason to stay in Japan after his third year

Japanese American Creative designer living in Japan

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Aiko Yoshinaga Herzig
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Herzig,Aiko Yoshinaga

Results of being more American than Japanese

(1924-2018) Researcher, Activist

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Jero  (Jerome Charles White Jr.)
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(Jerome Charles White Jr.),Jero

Trying to convey the meaning of the songs

(b. 1981) Enka Singer

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Kenny Endo
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Endo,Kenny

Internship on a Native American reservation in Arizona

(b.1952) Master drummer, artistic director of the Taiko Center of the Pacific

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Vince Ota
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Ota,Vince

Different tension between East Coast and Los Angeles

Japanese American Creative designer living in Japan

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Vince Ota
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Ota,Vince

Never being Japanese

Japanese American Creative designer living in Japan

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Vince Ota
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Ota,Vince

A stereotype of Japanese Americans

Japanese American Creative designer living in Japan

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Francis Y. Sogi
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Sogi,Francis Y.

The Kona Island community

(1923-2011) Lawyer, MIS veteran, founder of Francis and Sarah Sogi Foundation

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Seiichi Tanaka
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Tanaka,Seiichi

Differences between American and Japanese taiko

(b.1943) Shin-issei grand master of taiko; founded San Francisco Taiko Dojo in 1968.

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Francis Y. Sogi
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Sogi,Francis Y.

Meeting Japanese Americans from the mainland in MIS

(1923-2011) Lawyer, MIS veteran, founder of Francis and Sarah Sogi Foundation

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Jero  (Jerome Charles White Jr.)
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(Jerome Charles White Jr.),Jero

Nikkei Sansei

(b. 1981) Enka Singer

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Enson Inoue
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Inoue,Enson

Sudden acceptance in Japanese society

(b. 1967) Hawai`i-born professional fighter in Japan

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