Interviews

1. Visiting Japan to study kendo

2. Japanese wife with American citizenship

3. Appreciation of Japanese food

4. Not wanting to stand out as a foreigner

5. Japan vs. Tulsa Oklahoma

Mizuki,Peter

Sansei Japanese American living in Japan and Kendo practioner

Visiting Japan to study kendo

When I was in high school, I wanted to do something – some type of martial art and my cousins did judo. My brother did karate and I wanted to do something else. So at my church, they taught kendo. So I saw that and the teacher was an old friend of my family’s. He was from Akita and the story goes he was at his dojo. My great-grandfather was his teacher. So I started kendo there and my father said, “Once you start, you can’t quit.” So I’m still practicing today. So at least, he said…so eventually, because of my involvement in kendo, I became very interested in Japanese culture. I wanted to train in kendo for one year. So I came to Japan and studied Japanese first. And then I started studying kendo, actually while I was studying Japanese. For a long time, I stayed in Japan on a cultural visa, studying kendo and studying Japanese.

combat Finding Home (film) kendo martial arts

Date: November 11, 2003

Location: Kyoto, Japan

Interviewer: Art Nomura

Contributed by: Art Nomura, Finding Home.

Interviewee Bio

Peter Mizuki, a Sansei, was born and raised in Seattle, Washington. As a child he helped in his family’s lumber business and was involved with the Japanese martial art of kendo. Later, while a student at the University of Washington, he was one of the founding members of the Kendo Club. As his interest in Japanese culture developed, he traveled to Japan on a cultural visa to learn Japanese and continue his study of kendo. There, he met his wife in Kyoto. He now has two sons, is a permanent resident of Japan, and continues to practice kendo and teach English part-time at universities. In his interview, Peter shares his experiences of being a Japanese American in Japan and the struggles he’s endured to be accepted by Japanese society. (2005)