DiscoverNikkei.org - Growing Up Japanese in the South - Comments

you can use it!

wednesday — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 21:16:45 -0700

One reason I wrote the article is to help people! You can use it!

hello

milancom — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 21:19:56 -0700

Your story is really moving!

I wonder if I may print it and share it with a 17-year boy student who I am helping with English as a foreign language for college in Japan. Finding interesting articles to read is always hard part. He is interested in history, and some of THE ISSEI by YUJI ICHIOKA might be useful right now. He, as most of other high school students in Japan, does not really know about Nikkei. Your story, if you allow me to use, will be a real eye-opener, I hope. He would feel close because of the age, too. It would be a lot defferent from learning something just 'historically important.'

Racism, if this word is OK, exsist even in Japan against Nikkei. Some of my Nikkei friends from California travelled on the trains in this country, they were talking in English, which was very natural thing to do. Some passengers on the train felt uneasy with that. They said among themselves without knowing my friends understand some Japanese, 'Oh, why do they have to speak English like American! They should speak in Japanese. Aren't they Japanese!' That was very sad.

I spent one year in California when I was in college. After that I went back several times. I am understanding more than before. Hope I can help people realize there are different people in this world. Could you help me?

Growing Up Japanese in the South

editor — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 11:29:27 -0700

Growing Up Japanese in the South

By Danielle Arikawa

“Tazuko, don’t marry him! He’s an American!” My grandma’s father was very against her marrying my grandpa, an American GI. It had only been 20 years since World War II had ended, and he still did not trust Americans. To him, all Americans were bad, especially American soldiers. During WWII, they had broken into his house and stolen everything of value, including family heirlooms that had been in the family for generations. But my grandma, being a rebellious 25 year-old, ignored him and married my grandpa in Tokyo.