Interviews

1. Impressions from interviews with Issei women (Japanese)

2. The differences between Japanese women who emigrated from Japan and those who did not (Japanese)

3. Feeling conflicted as a Japanese scholar studying Nikkei (Japanese)

4. Interest in Japanese migration studies (Japanese)

5. The Japanese society reacts to Nikkei living in Japan (Japanese)

6. What is Nikkei? (Japanese)

7. The identity of Nikkei Canadians seen in the Buddhist Church (Japanese)

8. Learning from Nikkei (Japanese)

Iino,Masako

Tsuda College President, researcher of Nikkei history

The Japanese society reacts to Nikkei living in Japan (Japanese)

(Japanese) I think it’s a complicated issue. I mean, if the ones who come into Japan and work are genuinely satisfied with their experience, that’s great. In addition, it would be great if the government can recognize that they must make an effort to create a social condition that works to accommodate these people. Well, looking at the situation right now, I feel like things are kind of mixed up. There are people who welcome them [Zainichi Nikkei (Nikkei who live in Japan)] for their addition into the labor force, but on the other hand, it also seems to cause a lot of other problems. You hear about mayors of cities with a high Nikkei population talking about what a difficult time he or she is having, or that even though he or she has been trying so hard, things aren’t working out as well as they had hoped. There are also instances where the locals are resisting against some cultural changes that have taken place in their neighborhood.

So when I see this really big gap in the speed of progression [in Japanese society], it makes me think about how it must have really taken a long time for the US to adjust to these social changes—to an increased number of immigrants—trying hard to make the right adjustments along the way. You know, with the people that were caught in the middle of it having gone through some really tough times. So when you think about that, it feels like Japan should take a lot more time into solving these issues. When you try to fix things too quickly, you end up creating bigger problems; well, that being an observation coming from an amateur… I haven’t really looked into it yet.

culture Hawaii identity Japan Japanese Americans Korean Japanese Nikkei United States Zainichi

Date: October 7, 2005

Location: California, US

Interviewer: Ann Kaneko

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

Interviewee Bio

Masako Iino majored in American Studies at Tsuda College where upon graduating, went abroad to study at Syracuse University as a Fulbright scholar. She furthered her studies there in American history. From the richness of diversity in the American people and culture, Ms. Iino saw that a significant amount of American history was due to immigration from which she furthered her studies. This is where she began to study more extensively immigration from Japan to the United States. At that time when research interests were shifting from political history to social history, Iino’s research was fully supported by her advisor.

When Ms. Iino returned to Japan, she taught American history and immigration courses at her alma mater and continued her research on Japanese Americans. During the 1980s and 1990s, she went back to the United States and interviewed Issei and Nisei in California. Later, she expanded her research arena to Canadian Nikkei and compared the histories and the processes of how society accepted Nikkei in Canada and the United States.

Ms. Iino is currently researching how Nikkei people connect to Japan by examining LARA (Licensed Agency for Relief of Asia). Her major recent publications are “Mou hitotsu no nichibei kankei-shi: Funso to kyocho no naka no Nikkei Amerikajin (History of another Japan – U.S. relations: Japanese American in conflicts and coordination)” (Yuhikaku, 2000), “Hikisakareta chuseishin (Loyalty Torn Apart)” (Minerva Shobo, 1994) (co-editor), and “Nikkei Canadajin no rekishi (History of Japanese Canadians)” (University of Tokyo Press, 1997), which was received the Canadian Prime Minister's Awards for Publishing. Currently she is an active scholar and continues to serve as the President of Tsuda College. (October 6, 2006)