Discover Nikkei

https://www.discovernikkei.org/en/interviews/clips/1308/

Postwar school-life

At the end of the war…right away we got more accepted because there were more kids from Oklahoma and the Mexicans were coming in more so there wasn’t just the white basic—that was gone. So that made it easier. Also I wasn’t one of these kids who wanted to be everything. I would take leadership positions. I started with one teacher a drama club and wrote plays and worked with younger kids and I actually had the nerve to go to the city and say that I’ll do a summer work with kids and did plays with them. I did a lot of things I think took a lot of nerve but somehow I just…I don’t know I had to make myself over people to accept myself that I was better than them. I know it sounds kind of nasty when you put it down but somehow I was able to do that.


communities identity postwar World War II

Date: August 27, 2012

Location: Washington, US

Interviewer: Cindy Nakashima, Emily Anderson

Contributed by: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum with support of NITTO Tires Life History Project. Courtesy of the USC Hapa Japan Database Project.

Interviewee Bio

Terry Janzen was born in Tokyo, Japan on July 15, 1930. She is half Japanese and grew up in both Japan and the United States. She was incarcerated at Poston for 6 months during World War II. She has been a teacher and a Chair for the Adams County Democratic Party in Washington. (April 2013)

 

* Terry Janzen interviewed by Cindy Nakashima and Emily Anderson for the exhibition, Visible & Invisible: A Hapa Japanese American History. A Collaboration with the USC Hapa Japan Database Project, videographer, Evan Kodani with support of NITTO Tires Life History Project.

Kip Fulbeck
en
ja
es
pt
Fulbeck,Kip

Lessons learned from The Hapa Project

(b. 1965) filmmaker and artist

en
ja
es
pt
Kip Fulbeck
en
ja
es
pt
Fulbeck,Kip

Japanese Americans are more aware of their Hapa identity

(b. 1965) filmmaker and artist

en
ja
es
pt
Kip Fulbeck
en
ja
es
pt
Fulbeck,Kip

Discomfort at being labeled by others

(b. 1965) filmmaker and artist

en
ja
es
pt
Kip Fulbeck
en
ja
es
pt
Fulbeck,Kip

Issues of identity outside of America

(b. 1965) filmmaker and artist

en
ja
es
pt
Kip Fulbeck
en
ja
es
pt
Fulbeck,Kip

Imposing identity upon others

(b. 1965) filmmaker and artist

en
ja
es
pt
Kip Fulbeck
en
ja
es
pt
Fulbeck,Kip

The right to say who you are

(b. 1965) filmmaker and artist

en
ja
es
pt
Alfredo Kato
en
ja
es
pt
Kato,Alfredo

What does Nikkei mean to you? (Spanish)

(b. 1937) Professional journalist

en
ja
es
pt
Alfredo Kato
en
ja
es
pt
Kato,Alfredo

Peru Shimpo for the Nikkei community (Spanish)

(b. 1937) Professional journalist

en
ja
es
pt
Kristi Yamaguchi
en
ja
es
pt
Yamaguchi,Kristi

Support from the Japanese American community

(b.1971) Professional figure skater and Olympic gold medalist.

en
ja
es
pt
Lorraine Bannai
en
ja
es
pt
Bannai,Lorraine

Heightened awareness of identity as a Japanese American

(b. 1955) Lawyer

en
ja
es
pt
Dale Minami
en
ja
es
pt
Minami,Dale

Reasons for conformity and competitiveness in Gardena, California

(b. 1946) Lawyer

en
ja
es
pt
Norman Yoshio Mineta
en
ja
es
pt
Mineta,Norman Yoshio

How he got into politics

(b. 1931) U.S. Former Secretary of Transportation

en
ja
es
pt
Dale Minami
en
ja
es
pt
Minami,Dale

Reflections on the importance of history

(b. 1946) Lawyer

en
ja
es
pt
Johnnie Morton
en
ja
es
pt
Morton,Johnnie

Growing up and identity

(b.1971) Professional football player.

en
ja
es
pt
Mako Nakagawa
en
ja
es
pt
Nakagawa,Mako

Message for future generations

(1937 - 2021) Teacher

en
ja
es
pt