Interviews

1. First impression of America (Japanese)

2. Permanent residency for 10,000 dollars (Japanese)

3. Longing for a life abroad and getting a chef’s license (Japanese)

4. Life upon arrival (Japanese)

5. Support from Nikkei (Japanese)

6. Tough life at boarding house (Japanese)

7. Business for gays (Japanese)

8. Immigration ship Brazil-maru (Japanese)

Takashio,Akira

Shin Issei – owner of izakaya (Japanese-style tavern) and kappo (small Japanese diner) restaurant, Honda-Ya

Life upon arrival (Japanese)

(Japanese) I was in my third year at college when first I came to America. At the Haneda airport my classmates wrote messages on Japan’s national flag and called out banzai for me. I got here and had a hard time finding a job. It was just around the time when Apollo 13 landed on the moon. I was walking down the Olympic Boulevard and heard a car honk, telling the mission had been accomplished. As for me, I was jobless and was thinking, people would laugh at me if I went back to Japan now. There were times when I was shaking and kept asking myself, What do I do? What do I do? as I was eating bread in a park. Luckily, I was able to get a job when I was in school. I washed dishes at the House of Pancake, a place run by a Nikkei named Kuwada-san. I was able to settle a bit there.

agriculture communities gardeners gardening generations immigrants immigration Issei Japan migration postwar Shin-Issei United States World War II

Date: August 4, 2015

Location: California, US

Interviewer: Mitsue Watanabe

Contributed by: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum

Interviewee Bio

In 1969, he arrived in America for the first time. He lived in Los Angeles for a year and a half, traveled to various places around the world for about six months and went back to Japan. As he was deeply inspired by the life in a foreign country, however, he decided to go back and moved to America with a tourist visa. He had a job as a helper for gardeners for about two years at first, and then started working on his own. With an official visa, he got a foot in the restaurant industry. He currently runs a Japanese-style drinking place and diner, Honda-Ya, a restaurant chain in Los Angeles and Orange County, California. (August 2018)