Troy Ishikawa
@momijiTroy Ishikawa is an Interculturalist whose process training and consulting practice specializes in problem solving cultural differences in behaviors, norms, and values. His practice concentrates in deconstructing logic sequences for cross-cultural transferability and culture equivalencies. He is also a writer and gives presentations of his family history and stories that pertain to the Nikkei experience. He is a member of the Kagoshima Heritage Club, enjoys global travel, hiking, learning, and cooking ethnic and pan-Asian cuisines.
Updated October 2011
Stories from This Author
My name has Asia covered: From Asia Minor to Japan
Aug. 20, 2014 • Troy Ishikawa
What is in a name? Is your name unique? Have you developed your identity around your name? Were you named after a relative, a movie star, or a song title…? Do you happen to have a surname that is also shared by a famous person? These questions and more usually come to mind when thinking about your name. As most Nikkei, you probably have encountered multiple mispronunciations of your surname, myself included. I can relate to the “butchering” of the …
Three Generations of Japanese American Cooks and Food: From Grandma to daughter to grandson
July 5, 2012 • Troy Ishikawa
What does your family call Thanksgiving stuffing? In our family, stuffing was called dressing. This food and cooking story entails a tradition that goes back three generations from my maternal grandma, Suye Sakoda to her daughter, Edna Ishikawa, and to me, Troy Ishikawa. Do good cooks run in your family? I hope so, because good cooking must be in our blood! Having just said that, my mom was not always a quintessential cook. She developed her skills over the decades. …
It began with a laugh and ended with a laugh: My interview with Frank Chuman
Dec. 26, 2011 • Troy Ishikawa
I always liked interviewing people. I learned so much more than I could ever imagine, whether for an informational interview or for graduate school research. Most of the interviews I did in the past, I was contextualized to that person and hopefully that person also knew a little something about me, and hence the interviews came easy and flowed. Fortunately, this would also include my latest interview featuring Frank F. Chuman. Frank befriended me through Tim Asamen, the newsletter editor …
Coming of Age in San Francisco’s Nihonmachi: How My Parents Met, Married, and Moved - Part 3 of 3
Dec. 8, 2011 • Troy Ishikawa
Read Part 2 >> 7. Edna Ishikawa Edna (née Sakoda) Ishikawa was born in Soledad, California, in 1920. She moved to “the city” in 1938 upon graduating from Gonzales High School in Gonzales, California, to follow her older sister, Fumiye. Actually auntie Fumiye lived in either Palo Alto or Los Gatos working for a white family. Edna worked as a secretary. These types of jobs were “opportunities” for young women from the farms and rural communities to move to large …
Coming of Age in San Francisco’s Nihonmachi: How My Parents Met, Married, and Moved - Part 2 of 3
Dec. 1, 2011 • Troy Ishikawa
Read Part 1 >> 4. Friendships Most of dad’s really close friends during those years were other kibeis. There was a close bond and camaraderie between these men. They shared similar hardships and lives: heavy Japanese accents, youth, energy, vitality, under-employment, etc. The Great Depression shaped many of these men’s attitudes, life perspectives, and relationships. They probably were raised in other prefectures in Japan. The Japanese government propaganda machine was in full swing during the early 1930s. The Japanese government …
Coming of Age in San Francisco’s Nihonmachi: How My Parents Met, Married, and Moved - Part 1 of 3
Nov. 24, 2011 • Troy Ishikawa
Every young generation creates their own halcyon days; my parents’ generation was no exception. They came of age during the 1930s and ‘40s in San Francisco’s Nihonmachi. They met outside at a car garage in Japan Town in 1938, married by eloping to Reno in 1940, and moved briefly to the Salinas Assembly Center (a.k.a. Salinas Rodeo Grounds) after the beginning of WWII in 1942 (where this story ends). This California Japantown story is primarily about my father, Roy Ishikawa …
Retracing Part of my Family’s Roots in the Shadow of Sakurajima: Part 2
Dec. 15, 2009 • Troy Ishikawa
>>> Read Part 1 We drive around to a remodeled housing track where once quaint one-story Japanese farmhouses have been replaced with two-story mansions. Did everyone strike money? Aunt Nobu-san still resides in a traditional farmhouse framed with the blue tile roof. She was eating a meal and told us that she was 80-years old. We felt a bit uncomfortable crowding around her entrance. I’m trying to soak in everything, looking for clues as to who this relative was. I …
Retracing Part of My Family’s Roots in the Shadow of Sakurajima: Part 1
Dec. 8, 2009 • Troy Ishikawa
Mesmerized by Sakurajima, a majestic symmetrical-shaped volcano whose seductive plume obscures the top of this mountain crater, I wonder what mysteries may lie hidden beneath. Could one of the many stories revealed under the plume’s shadow contain my mother’s family ancestors? Researching for part of my family’s roots involved a bit of detective work, a lot of patience and a quick prayer or two to find long “lost” relatives in Japan’s Satsuma region. My story has many beginnings. I’m reminded …
