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
Talking With A “Returnee” - Part 2 of 2
2013年7月31日 • ノーム・マサジ・イブキ
Read Part 1 >> (Continuation of Mrs. Kamata’s story) I guess I longed for Canada…Naturally, as I did in Canada, I wore my Japonica (rusty orange) coloured veiled hat, a fur coat, and high heels when I went outside. People would look back and stare as though I were doing something wrong! In those times the women wore hyojyun fuku as standard clothing, somewhat like the upper half of a kimono with tight sleeves and baggy pants (monpe), tight at the ankles …
Talking With A “Returnee” - Part 1 of 2
2013年7月25日 • ノーム・マサジ・イブキ
One of the most interesting and obscure chapters of Canadian Nikkei history is the one of the “returnees” to Japan, prior to, during and, mostly, after World War Two. I have no idea of actual numbers of these so-called returnees. Regretfully, I haven’t had the chance to hear many of their stories. From those that I have heard, Nikkei with well-positioned families here had a much easier time of fitting in than those who had to start from scratch with …
Banana, Banana, Banana
2013年5月27日 • ノーム・マサジ・イブキ
Are you a “banana”? Do you want to be one? What is a banana, anyway? When I read Wayson Choy’s article in the Globe & Mail (July 18, 1997), entitled, “I’m a banana and proud of it,” I was once again exasperated by what seems to be a campaign by the G&M to indoctrinate Asian Canadians into a prescribed way to be “Canadian”—accept your colour difference (you can’t do anything about that), but, at heart, be Anglo-Canadian, white, at least, …
Learning Japanese
2013年3月5日 • ノーム・マサジ・イブキ
Aikido, reading, and learning Japanese are the main ways I try to understand the complicated cartography of being Nikkei. I’m now enrolled in the beginner Japanese class at the Miyagi International Association here in Sendai. We all seem to be “false” beginners since most of us can read hiragana, katakana, and even kanji. As is usual in Japanese classes here, there are a lot of Russians, Koreans, Chinese, a Mongolian, and a Thai woman, most of whom are married to …
Kannagara no michi: "Musings from Mister Donut"
2013年2月26日 • ノーム・マサジ・イブキ
So far. The Mister Donut where I’m sitting has been a good metaphor for my experience in Sendai. It was the music, the Golden Oldies that were so important to me when I was growing up in the ‘70s, that lured me into here, like a siren call. “Kohi, kudasai” (coffee, please)…it has taken me a while to get used to looking at faces like my own. I like it! We are a good-looking people. I am still dealing with …
The Joys of Eating Soba
2013年1月1日 • ノーム・マサジ・イブキ
“Noodle dishes are very popular, as they make a delicious and filling simple meal. It’s all right to make slurping noises while eating them—the extra intake of oxygen is said to add to the taste.” —Berlitz-Japanese Phrase Book and Dictionary “Haiku and soba match the spirit of Tokyo.” —Basho (1644-1694) If there is a time of year when I long for the tastes and smells of my youth it’s around December, amidst the annual onslaught of holidays with …
