community en

The Nisei Hepcats

“The day the music died,” from the song “American Pie” by Don McLean, referred to February 3, 1959, the day Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, and ...

identity en ja es pt

Nikkei Chronicles #3 — Nikkei Names: Taro, John, Juan, João?

The Child of a Thousand Generations

The story of my middle name brought pride and also pressure to me at a young age. My middle name is Chiyoko, named after my ...

culture en pt

TV With Grandpa

My maternal grandfather was born in Japan, in Nagasaki prefecture. In Brazil, he lived in the countryside, very far away from my home in Sao ...

media en

Enka Singer Jero Delights Diverse Japan Society Audience

A diverse crowed filled Japan Society’s auditorium Saturday night. They were young, middle-aged, and not so young. They were Japanese, half Japanese, part Japanese ...

culture en

Nikkei View

Karaoke on Steriods

This article was written in 2003. I haven’t judged the Kohaku Utagassen contest since then, but I’ve attended the event most years. It ...

media en ja

"Hole Hole Bushi Girl": Interview with Allison Arakawa

INTRODUCTIONOn February 27, 2010, the Japanese American National Museum opened its exhibition Textured Lives: Japanese Immigrant Clothing from the Plantations of Hawai’i, which featured ...

media en ja es pt

“I am an American first and foremost and I am black” -- American Enka singer Jero

Today, in the uniquely traditional world of Japanese enka, there is no bigger new name than Jero. Since writing a piece (“Jero and Me” ) earlier ...

media en

Jero and Me

Even though American Enka-singing sensation JERO is being proclaimed at the “first black Enka singer” in Japan, I would like to claim him as one ...

culture pt

Nikkei Chronicles #7 — Nikkei Roots: Digging into Our Cultural Heritage

A música japonesa e eu

Quando eu tinha meus oito anos, frequentei por algum tempo a escola de língua japonesa e a única lembrança que tenho dela é o ...