Isao Takei

Isao Takei is an assistant professor in International Relations at Nihon University.  He received his Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Texas at Austin.  He has published several articles on Japanese culture and Asian American issues.

Updated January 2011

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The Japanese American Family - Part 3 of 8

  • By Arthur Sakamoto,  ChangHwan Kim,  Isao Takei
  • 2 Feb 2011

>> Part 2

 Education and Traditional Japanese and Japanese American Families (Cont'd)

 A second common pattern among Japanese and other Asian Americans centers around child-rearing patterns that promote greater family identity and cohesiveness than is typical among mainstream white American families (Conner 1974; Rothbaum et al. 2000. Underlying these patterns are collectivist beliefs that people are more inherently the products of their social and family environments (Reischauer 1977) rather than being somehow intrinsically “individuals” who have their own innate sources of uniqueness that must be respected and nurtured (Lareau 2002). Asian parents’ group-oriented beliefs lead them to place greater emphasis ...

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The Japanese American Family - Part 2 of 8

  • By Arthur Sakamoto,  ChangHwan Kim,  Isao Takei
  • 26 Jan 2011

>> Part 1

THE EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT OF THE NISEI

The classical Issei family promoted discipline, security, stability, and a motivation for achievement that served as the foundation of the educational attainment of the Nisei (Lyman 1974). As described by Jiobu (1988) “The Japanese-American culture places a high regard on education and on the set of values contained within the Confucian ethic: hard work, sacrifice for the future, patience, and stoicism in the face of adversity….” In the same vein, Kitano and Kitano (1998:312) note that “there was a strong emphasis on obedience, especially to the Caucasian teachers, to study hard ...

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The Japanese American Family - Part 1 of 8

  • By Arthur Sakamoto,  ChangHwan Kim,  Isao Takei
  • 19 Jan 2011

Editor's Note: The following article is a shortened version of a chapter to appear in Ethnic Families in America: Patterns and Variations, 5th Edition, edited by Roosevelt Wright, Charles H. Mindel, Robert W. Habenstin, and Than Van Tran.

INTRODUCTION

Many excellent discussions of Japanese American (JA) history and Japanese immigration to the U.S. are well known and widely available (Barringer, Gardner and Levin 1993; Kitano 1976; Kitano and Daniels 1995; Min 2006; Nishi 1995). For our purposes, immigration patterns and related demographic trends are the most directly pertinent factors. Immigration from Japan may be distinguished from immigration from ...

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