Interviews

1. Impressions from interviews with Issei women (Japanese)

2. The differences between Japanese women who emigrated from Japan and those who did not (Japanese)

3. Feeling conflicted as a Japanese scholar studying Nikkei (Japanese)

4. Interest in Japanese migration studies (Japanese)

5. The Japanese society reacts to Nikkei living in Japan (Japanese)

6. What is Nikkei? (Japanese)

7. The identity of Nikkei Canadians seen in the Buddhist Church (Japanese)

8. Learning from Nikkei (Japanese)

Iino,Masako

Tsuda College President, researcher of Nikkei history

The identity of Nikkei Canadians seen in the Buddhist Church (Japanese)

(Japanese) The Buddhist community in Toronto began back in 1946. I think that 1946 was a really intriguing period in time. Before, during, and after the war, nobody wanted to be seen as a Japanese American, so it was a time period where they were increasingly moving away from things related to Japan, like Japanese culture. Amidst all of that, I wondered why a Buddhist church came into being in 1946, in Toronto; why would they build something that can be seen as a symbolic representation of Japanese culture? Well, the answer was an easy thing to understand. Their community was so defined—it was easy for me to understand it.

Let me explain. So the people from the church let me interview them in depth, and so when I asked about it, just like I had thought, they said their parents were Buddhist. Some said they went to a Buddhist church in Vancouver. If you ask why in the world these next generation, these second generation people would start a Buddhist church over here, they’d answer that it was because they wanted to become Canadian—a good Canadian, a Canadian who can make worthwhile contributions to Canada…and in order to become one, you must be a good Japanese person, and a good Nikkei person. So I asked, “Why do you hold such pride in being Nikkei?” to which they answered, “In Buddhism, and in Buddhists churches, we value the stellar culture of Japan—the idea of sharing and working together with everyone,” and that the path to becoming a good Canadian is created by cherishing the culture of their ancestors and carry it along with pride. So I think it was about them having confidence, you know—it’s called “self-esteem,” right? …There was a need to hold some self-respect. That’s probably why many people were shaken during the war, you know, because they had this feeling that that they’d face discrimination just because they were Nikkei, or had a relation to Japan. Their self-esteem was shaken. Very much a source for an identity crisis… But these Canadian Nikkei, on the other hand, held on to their Japanese consciousness stronger than ever and built the Buddhist church, believing that it would serve as a path to becoming respected Canadians.

Buddhism buildings Canada churches Hawaii Japanese Americans Nikkei religions United States World War I

Date: October 7, 2005

Location: California, US

Interviewer: Ann Kaneko

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

Interviewee Bio

Masako Iino majored in American Studies at Tsuda College where upon graduating, went abroad to study at Syracuse University as a Fulbright scholar. She furthered her studies there in American history. From the richness of diversity in the American people and culture, Ms. Iino saw that a significant amount of American history was due to immigration from which she furthered her studies. This is where she began to study more extensively immigration from Japan to the United States. At that time when research interests were shifting from political history to social history, Iino’s research was fully supported by her advisor.

When Ms. Iino returned to Japan, she taught American history and immigration courses at her alma mater and continued her research on Japanese Americans. During the 1980s and 1990s, she went back to the United States and interviewed Issei and Nisei in California. Later, she expanded her research arena to Canadian Nikkei and compared the histories and the processes of how society accepted Nikkei in Canada and the United States.

Ms. Iino is currently researching how Nikkei people connect to Japan by examining LARA (Licensed Agency for Relief of Asia). Her major recent publications are “Mou hitotsu no nichibei kankei-shi: Funso to kyocho no naka no Nikkei Amerikajin (History of another Japan – U.S. relations: Japanese American in conflicts and coordination)” (Yuhikaku, 2000), “Hikisakareta chuseishin (Loyalty Torn Apart)” (Minerva Shobo, 1994) (co-editor), and “Nikkei Canadajin no rekishi (History of Japanese Canadians)” (University of Tokyo Press, 1997), which was received the Canadian Prime Minister's Awards for Publishing. Currently she is an active scholar and continues to serve as the President of Tsuda College. (October 6, 2006)