The novel has been discussed intermittently ever since its first translation by Nakayama Yo, who translated "No-No Boy," under his real name, Yagasaki Shoji, in "Japanese Americans and Literature: John Okada and Lawson F. Inada" (Heian Jogakuin Junior College Bulletin, 8, 23-30, 1977).

I'll list in chronological order what I've noticed, mainly in publications, from work introductions to academic papers. (The order is "Paper", author/author, and "Publication in which it is found")

1. "The Return of No-No Boy: Joji Tani and John Okada," by Kenji Muro, Self-Portraits of Asians (Shobunsha, 1979)
   
   
2. "American Literature by Second Generation Japanese Americans: Toshio Mori's "Yokohama, California" and John Okada's "No, No Boy"," Wakiko Hatanaka, Literary Space (May 1980)
   
   
3. "John Okada and No-No Boy: The First Full-Scale Novel Written by a Japanese American," Hirokazu Sakaguchi, Waseda University Social Sciences Association (November 1980)
   
   
4. "Concentration Camps and Japanese American Literature," by Chieko Mulhern, Knowledge (August 1985)
   
   
5. "A Faint Hope: John Okada's 'No-No Boy'" by Minoru Kanda, Science of Thought (September 1987)
   
   
6. "Two Negations: Reading No-No Boy," Naoki Sakai, Science of Thought (February 1990)
   
   
7. "John Okada No-No Boy," Kazuyo Nakane, "Japanese American Literature: Reading the Trajectory of Three Generations" (Teruyo Ueki and Gail K. Sato, May 1997)
   
   
8. "Ichiro's Recovered Patriotism: An Essay on John Okada's 'No-No Boy'", Kiyoto Sato, Bulletin of Yamagata University (Humanities) (February 2002)
   
   
9. "No-No Boy and Identity," Minoru Morioka, Psychoanalytical English Literature Review (January 2005)
   
   
10. "The Geography of No-No Boy: The Lost Japanese Town/The Recovery of Ichiro," by Ippei Maeda, AALA journal/Asian American Literature Research Association (2007)
    
    
11. "Beyond the Dichotomy: John Okada and No-No Boy's Quiet Challenge," by Miki Shinoda, Kobe Gaidai Ronso (November 2010)
    
    
12. "The illness of being a No-No Boy: the desire to gaze at the body" by Goto Kazumi), "The Possessive Past: Trauma, Memory, and Rebirth in Asian American Literature" (edited by Kobayashi Fukuko, Kinseido, 2014)

Evaluating potential and strength

As mentioned above, the book is sometimes recalled and reviewed. This is done by researchers of American literature and immigration issues. In addition, there are also a number of blogs on the Internet that refer to "No-No Boy."

I would like to highlight some key points from the criticisms presented here.

"Self-Portrait of an Asian" (Kenji Muro, 1979)

First, Muro Kenji said, "No No Boy can be classified as American immigrant literature or minority literature, but it can also be said to be Japanese literature. There is nothing wrong with Japanese literature that is not written in Japanese and cannot be embraced within Japan."

He also said, "I don't know much about the literature possessed by Japanese people abroad, but I have a feeling that this novel will be something extraordinary." He finds the novel mysteriously fascinating.

At the end of her introduction to the work, Kazuko Hatanaka states something refreshingly surprising: "(And) this may just be my imagination, but I get the impression that the author put effort into writing it -- it's not a matter of talent, but the kind of effort that a Japanese American with no unique culture, literature, or works, in other words no literary heritage, would have to make in order to crystallize his relationship with America in words with his bare hands."

Hirokazu Sakaguchi was one of the first to tackle the author and his work head-on. He has empirically examined the author and his work, including by talking to John Okada's younger brother. He asks why John, who was devoted to his job and loved his family, wrote a work like "No-No Boy," and he believes that "in addition to his unique position as a second-generation Japanese, his personality, which is so strict that it does not tolerate dishonesty or half-hearted compromise, was greatly influenced by this."

Sakaguchi cited the comments of Americans who have read the work and said that it is somehow different from novels written by Americans, and suggested that John and the second-generation Japanese people he portrays are also very Japanese.

Kiyoto Sato examines the feelings of Ichiro and the second generation through the theme of "patriotism." He states that "in terms of loyalty to the United States and the loss of patriotism, there is no difference between the No-No Boys and the veterans," and that Ichiro no longer needs to feel inferior or indebted to the veterans, and in the end he believes in the United States and regains his patriotism.

Maeda Ippei specifically describes how the "Nihonmachi" (town) that was established in Seattle by Japanese immigrants early on disappeared after the war, and explains what Ichiro, who had also experienced a spiritual loss, was searching for, introducing the interpretation of Steven Sumida of the University of Washington. Sumida is one of the group that rediscovered the buried "No-No Boy."

The novel depicts a generational conflict between the first and second generation. This conflict, which exists in Ichiro's mind, also arises from Ichiro's ignorance of the first generation, but it is "a crucial element in the narrative construction that Okada incorporates." This highlights the fact that the internment camp policy caused this conflict.

Since the novel is believed to have been written in 1955 or 1956, the author is implying that what Ichiro was pursuing but was unable to express in the time immediately after the war, when the story is set, was "what we would call today 'multiculturalism' or 'multiracialism.'"

Finally, I would like to introduce Yusuke Matsuura's blog post, " No-No Boy: This is not Japanese-American literature ." I have written before that there were criticisms immediately after the publication of "No-No Boy" that it was more of a documentary than a novel.

Matsuura says, "No, No Boy is by no means a sociological reportage about Japanese Americans, and even positioning it as a representative work of 'Japanese American literature,' as is usually done, is insufficient. This is because the experiences depicted in the book, although thoroughly imbued with the historical specificity of the existence of 'Japanese Americans,' have an appeal that goes beyond the scope of this sociological category."

He goes on to praise the power of the author's writing, concluding, "No, No Boy is rooted from beginning to end in the historical experiences of Japanese Americans, and is a novel that could not exist without that experience, yet it is not Japanese American literature. It is unmistakably literature."

(Some titles omitted)

© 2017 Ryusuke Kawai