Discover Nikkei

https://www.discovernikkei.org/en/interviews/clips/754/

To think in one language and live in another (Spanish)

(Spanish) I believe that my grandfather thought in Japanese but had to speak in another language…And that is a mark of being a permanent foreigner. To think in one language and to live in another is something that marks you. I believe that he was able, in some ways, to make the two things compatible; he was reserved but he had something of a certain quality, [that] I don’t know how the Japanese are, a certain quality that was half Argentine…I don’t know if you know what I mean. Quality -- I don’t know if the word I want to use is quality -- or like winking to your granddaughters [like us], the small girls with whom he could have been more distant or cold…but he wasn’t at all. Do you understand? Perhaps I would have liked to have had known him, like I told you before, in a more adult [context, which] was not to be because he died when I was very young. But for example, now, I began to study Japanese many years after his death. Something that would have given me so much joy if it had happened [would have been if] the two of us could have spoken to each other in Japanese even if it was only five words. It is something that would have given me joy if it had happened, but it was not to be.


identity languages racially mixed people

Date: July 12, 2006

Location: Buenos Aires, Argentina

Interviewer: Takeshi Nishimura, Ricardo Hokama

Contributed by: Centro Nikkei Argentino

Interviewee Bio

Paula Hoyos Hattori is a sansei born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She is a student of letters and dance. Her father is a descendant of Argentine Indians, while her mother is a Nisei, a daughter of Japanese parents. Paula’s particular profile (half Argentine, half Japanese) provides a distinctive vision because of the fusion of these two cultures. (July 12, 2006)

(Jerome Charles White Jr.),Jero
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(Jerome Charles White Jr.),Jero

Coming to Japan

(b. 1981) Enka Singer

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Herzig,Aiko Yoshinaga
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Herzig,Aiko Yoshinaga

Results of being more American than Japanese

(1924-2018) Researcher, Activist

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(Jerome Charles White Jr.),Jero
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(Jerome Charles White Jr.),Jero

Trying to convey the meaning of the songs

(b. 1981) Enka Singer

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Endo,Kenny
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Endo,Kenny

Internship on a Native American reservation in Arizona

(b.1952) Master drummer, artistic director of the Taiko Center of the Pacific

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Ota,Vince
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Ota,Vince

Different tension between East Coast and Los Angeles

Japanese American Creative designer living in Japan

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Tanaka,Seiichi
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Tanaka,Seiichi

Differences between American and Japanese taiko

(b.1943) Shin-issei grand master of taiko; founded San Francisco Taiko Dojo in 1968.

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Sogi,Francis Y.
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Sogi,Francis Y.

Volunteering to serve for the U.S. military in Japan

(1923-2011) Lawyer, MIS veteran, founder of Francis and Sarah Sogi Foundation

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Sogi,Francis Y.
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Sogi,Francis Y.

Meeting Japanese Americans from the mainland in MIS

(1923-2011) Lawyer, MIS veteran, founder of Francis and Sarah Sogi Foundation

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(Jerome Charles White Jr.),Jero
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(Jerome Charles White Jr.),Jero

Nikkei Sansei

(b. 1981) Enka Singer

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Inoue,Enson
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Inoue,Enson

Sudden acceptance in Japanese society

(b. 1967) Hawai`i-born professional fighter in Japan

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Inoue,Enson
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Inoue,Enson

Ring name: "Yamato Damashi"

(b. 1967) Hawai`i-born professional fighter in Japan

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(Jerome Charles White Jr.),Jero
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(Jerome Charles White Jr.),Jero

Getting on Kohaku (Japanese)

(b. 1981) Enka Singer

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Inoue,Enson
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Inoue,Enson

Citizenship and identity

(b. 1967) Hawai`i-born professional fighter in Japan

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Fulbeck,Kip
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Fulbeck,Kip

Early consciousness of identity

(b. 1965) filmmaker and artist

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Hohri,William
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Hohri,William

Importance of self-representation in legislation

(1927-2010) Political Activist

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