ジャパン･ジャーナル
1995年から2004年にかけて仙台に住んでいたノーム・イブキさん。その当時の経験をまとめたのがこのシリーズです。カナダ、トロントの新聞「Nikkei Voice」からの転載です。
このシリーズのストーリー
マイルス・デイビスと共演したジャズ・ピアニスト「アカギ・ケイ」とはいったい何者か？
2013年1月7日 • ノーム・マサジ・イブキ
僕はまったくの偶然から、ジャズ・ピアニストの赤城恵と知り合いになった。 きっかけは、僕の英語学校にちょっと変り種の新入生が入学したことから始まった。その新入生とは、仙台で活躍するクラシックの作曲家・本間雅夫さんだ。外国人の友人たちと英語で話が出来るようになりたいというのが、彼が英語を勉強する気になった動機だ。他の教師たちは、本間さんは中年にしては覚えが早いと言っていた。そんな訳で、僕も彼と知り合いになりたかったわけだ。 確かに、彼の文法構造を素早く把握できる能力には感心…
Growing up Korean in Japan - Part 2 of 2
2014年1月31日 • ノーム・マサジ・イブキ
Read part 1 >>Hearing Joomi’s story reminded me of my own restless feelings growing up yearning to melt into the Canadian mainstream, to be embarrassed to tell people my Japanese middle name, Masaji, to somehow erase the reasons for the laughing finger pointing and vicious name calling. There wasn’t anything glorious about growing up Nikkei in Canada either. Our similar immigrant’s stories of initial hardship, hard work, being scorned, made prisoners, persevering, keeping their dreams in sight, and, one or …
Growing up Korean in Japan - Part 1 of 2
2014年1月30日 • ノーム・マサジ・イブキ
Editor’s note: This article was originally published in 1999. Since it was written, the situation of Koreans in Japan has changed, but since many issues persist today, we thought this was still important to share. From time to time the topic of xenophobia in Japan comes up in my higher level English class. The other week, I had one such class with a group that included an eye doctor, two Ph.D. students, and one university professor. At the beginning of …
No More Bombs: The Legacy of Hiroshima and the A-Bomb - Part 3 of 3
2013年8月14日 • ノーム・マサジ・イブキ
Read Part 2 >> There’s a model of the city before the bomb, a bustling metropolis of about 350,000 with a good reputation for higher education, and a military base. While the pictures of the physical damage to Hiroshima are devastating, I’ve seen similar ones of the aftermath of the bombings of Tokyo, Osaka, Kobe, Fukuoka, and Sendai that show a similar scale of physical destruction as unimaginable as it seems today. In March 1945, Tokyo was fire bombed for …
No More Bombs: The Legacy of Hiroshima and the A-Bomb - Part 2 of 3
2013年8月8日 • ノーム・マサジ・イブキ
Read Part 1 >> August 5th, Hiroshima I have recently been looking for some answers about how to live “correctly”—meaning, I suppose, with personal integrity and respect for all people and nature. I’ve read quite a bit along these lines: Buddhism, Shintoism, Hinduism, the Koran, and Bahai faith and even the pleasure of talking occasionally with a Jehovah Witness fellow who is always kind enough to drop off free copies of the “Watch Tower” for me. I am a product …
No More Bombs: The Legacy of Hiroshima and the A-Bomb - Part 1 of 3
2013年8月2日 • ノーム・マサジ・イブキ
I remember the moment when the dropping of the Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima finally hit me. I was interviewing Mrs. Hoshino of New Denver, B.C. some time in the early ‘90s. She was recalling the moment. She and her family were interned at the Harris Ranch, in their home, sitting by the radio on the kitchen table. The way she explained hearing the first reports of the A-Bomb on August 6, 1945. What she said exactly wasn’t what I remember. …
