Discover Nikkei

https://www.discovernikkei.org/en/interviews/clips/586/

Learning Japanese at school and at home with family

Earlier in the elementary and junior high school, we were kind of forced to go to Japanese school and things just to learn. In high school, I really didn’t do that anymore. But still, my parents would speak a lot of Japanese to us. So I would be able to kind of understand that. And also, I guess when I was in junior high school and elementary school, my grandparents, my father’s parents, were living with us for a while. They definitely did not speak any English at all. So in order to communicate with them, it had to be in some kind of Japanese, broken English form. All of that was part of, I guess, my language understanding or education as far as Japanese.

I never, unfortunately, really embraced trying to learn it more, which I really regret right now because of the things we’re doing now and also just my relationship with things that’s in Japan. Although, fortunately, when I do travel in Japan, things kind of come back after a while.


education families languages

Date: January 26, 2005

Location: California, US

Interviewer: Art Hansen, Sojin Kim

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

Interviewee Bio

Roy Hirabayashi, managing director and co-founder of San Jose Taiko, was born in Berkeley, California in 1951 to kibei parents. The middle of five children, he was raised in Oakland, California. After graduating from high school in 1969, he attended San Jose State University where he received degrees in psychology and philosophy.

He has worked for the San Jose State University Asian American Studies Program, Japanese American Citizens League, the Pacific Asian Coalition, and the Buddhist Churches of America. It was through his work with the YBA (Young Buddhists of America) that he became involved with taiko. Reverend Hiroshi Abiko of San Jose Buddhist Church asked Dean Miyakusu and him to start something for the youth after being inspired by Kinnara Taiko. They started the group and it has since evolved into one of the most influential taiko groups in the Americas. (January 26, 2005)

Rose Ochi
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Ochi,Rose

Pop and Balls

(1938-2020) Japanese American attorney and civil rights activist

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Harunori Oda
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Oda,Harunori

Getting started in America

(1927-2016) Shin-Issei businessman

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Jimmy Murakami
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Murakami,Jimmy

Teaching English in Japan

(1933 – 2014) Japanese American animator

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Hachiro Ohtomo
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Ohtomo,Hachiro

Facing discrimination in America (Japanese)

(b. 1936) Shin-issei welding business owner

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George Takei
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Takei,George

George's Mother & Brad

(b. 1937) Actor, Activist

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Susumu “Sus” Ito
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Ito,Susumu “Sus”

Feeling prejudice while looking for jobs

(1919 - 2015) Nisei who served in World War II with the 442nd Regimental Combat Team

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Susumu “Sus” Ito
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Ito,Susumu “Sus”

Invited to teach at Harvard by his boss

(1919 - 2015) Nisei who served in World War II with the 442nd Regimental Combat Team

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Willie Ito
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Ito,Willie

Parents

(b. 1934) Award-winning Disney animation artist who was incarcerated at Topaz during WWII

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Hachiro Ohtomo
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Ohtomo,Hachiro

My daughter couldn’t fit in Japan, so I decided to go back to America (Japanese)

(b. 1936) Shin-issei welding business owner

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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

Mother founded Japanese language school in neighbors’ backyard

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

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Mitsuye Yamada
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Yamada,Mitsuye

Her brother’s reasons as a No-No Boy

(b. 1923) Japanese American poet, activist

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Holly J. Fujie
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Fujie,Holly J.

Her grandfather was pressured to teach Japanese

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

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Kazumu Naganuma
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Naganuma,Kazumu

His sister Kiyo was like a second mother to him

(b. 1942) Japanese Peruvian incarcerated in Crystal City

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Masato Ninomiya
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Ninomiya,Masato

How he met his wife

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

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