Entrevistas

1. Birthplace

2. My image of America as a child (Japanese)

3. Longing to be an imperial soldier as a youth (Japanese)

4. Boarding house life and the Issei (Japanese)

5. My father’s venture into the hotel business (Japanese)

6. (Japanese) My children’s education

7. Luckiest Issei

8. The situation after the war (Japanese)

9. “Junior Issei” (Japanese)

10. Working in America

11. Struggles with English (Japanese)

Horikiri,Edward Toru

(n. 1929) Kibei Nissei

Longing to be an imperial soldier as a youth (Japanese)

(Japanese) Until the beginning of the Pacific War, I was never bullied or singled out as American-born or Japanese-American. But two days after the attack on Pearl Harbor – in Japan, that was December 8^th, so it would have been December 10^th – I passed by a classmate in the hallway at school, and when I said, “Good morning,” he said back, “Hey, it’s an American spy! Go back to America!”

Right after I entered elementary school, war broke out between Japan and China, then, when I was in sixth grade, the attack on Pearl Harbor happened. Japan was swept up in a current of militarism; everyone was gung ho for nationalism. So, no doubt about it – I was to become a solider. That is my wish, I said. I took the entrance exam for the military academy and was about to enter when the war ended.

gerações Japão Nipo-americanos Kibei Nisei Ataque a Pearl Harbor, Havaí, 1941

Data: January 31, 2012

Localização Geográfica: California, US

Entrevistado: John Esaki, Yoko Nishimura

País: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum

Entrevistados

Edward Toru Horikiri (nascido em 1929), kibei nissei, nasceu em Little Tokyo, mas mudou-se com sua família de volta para o Japão quando tinha 18 meses de idade. Ele foi criado e educado no Japão durante a Segunda Guerra Mundial, mas decidiu voltar para os EUA em 1952 a fim de restabelecer os negócios da família, que foram interrompidos pela Guerra. No entanto, na falta de uma língua inglesa suficiente, ele atuou em uma variedade de trabalhos, incluindo jardineiro, servente, motorista de caminhão e funcionário de mercearia e de supermercado. Continuou envolvendo-se em atividades culturais através de organizações comunitárias de língua japonesa e amizades com artistas como Taro Yashima. (Junho de 2014)