Esther Newman
@esnewmanEsther Newman grew up in California. After college and a career in marketing and media production for Ohio’s Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, she returned to school to study twentieth century American history. While in graduate school, she became interested in her family’s history which led to research on topics affecting the Japanese Diaspora including internment, migration and assimilation. She is retired but her interest in writing about and supporting organizations related to these subjects continues.
Updated November 2021
Stories from This Author
A New Mystery Novel, Island Style, from Naomi Hirahara
March 11, 2022 • Esther Newman
Naomi Hirahara’s new mystery novel, An Eternal Lei introduces us to Leilani Santiago, a spirited, insatiably curious young woman who lives in a multigenerational, multiethnic household on the island of Kauai. Leilani saves the life of a woman found floating face down in Waimea Bay and finds herself driven to discover the victim’s identity and connections to the island. Readers will be able to easily identify with Leilani as she forges a life of independence while remaining tightly connected to …
Hiroyuki Matsugen Matsumoto — Preserving the stories of Nikkei in Hawaii
Nov. 15, 2021 • Esther Newman
Movie producer Hiroyuki Matsugen Matsumoto’s 2021 documentary, Okagesama de - Hawaii Nikkei Women’s Trajectory is his latest effort to preserve and tell the stories of Japanese immigrants in Hawaii. This follows Go for Broke! Memories of Hawaii Japanese Nisei which was completed in 2012. These two films describe the journey of Japanese immigrants from hardship and triumph to their lasting influence on Hawaiian and American culture. Interviewed via email, Matsumoto wrote that he was born in Miyazaki Prefecture in 1964 and raised …
Artistry in Armor: An Interview with Darin S. Furukawa, Artist, Educator, and Samurai Arts Specialist
Aug. 14, 2015 • Esther Newman
Darin S. Furukawa and Mike Yamasaki are co-curators Japanese American National Museum’s new exhibit for the month of August, Jidai: Timeless Works of Samurai Art. Together, they are preserving and passing along an appreciation for traditional Japanese culture. Responding to emailed questions, Darin shared his perspectives on the exhibit. 1) How did you gain expertise in Japanese swords? A brief bio, please. I am actually more familiar with samurai armor than swords, but I consider myself still very much a …
Paying Culture Forward: Passing on the Traditions of Japanese Art Swords
July 31, 2015 • Esther Newman
What separates a Japanese art sword from any manufactured metal-bladed weapon? An extraordinary level of craftsmanship, artistry, and specific techniques that are carefully passed along from generation to generation—in other words, tradition. Mike Yamasaki has made it his life’s work to transmit the understanding of and appreciation for traditional Japanese art swords. He’s a world renowned expert and master appraiser of samurai swords, which requires a sharp eye and broad knowledge of Japanese history and culture. In fact, Mike is …
My Grandfather’s Lasting Legacy: A New Chapter for Museo Amano and the Nikkei Community in Lima, Peru
July 6, 2015 • Esther Newman
My grandfather, led an exceptional life that has been detailed in numerous publications including several multi-part articles and video interviews here at DiscoverNikkei.org.1 Born in Japan in 1898, he was a businessman, scientist, inventor, world traveler, and “enemy alien,” imprisoned without charge on December 7, 1941, as a Japanese civilian living near the Panama Canal. He published an account of his ordeal after repatriation to Japan in 1942 when he was reunited with his four children and his sister. For …
After Camp: Portraits in Midcentury Japanese American Life and Politics - Dr. Greg Robinson
Feb. 13, 2013 • Esther Newman
The wartime roundup and removal from the West Coast of 120,000 American citizens and permanent residents of Japanese ancestry has generated an enormous literature, including important contributions from Dr. Greg Robinson. But the postwar period of resettlement and renewal of Japanese American communities, largely unstudied, is also compelling and deserving of attention. Robinson, Professor of History at l’Université du Québec À Montréal, has just published the first in-depth look at this period in After Camp: Portraits in Midcentury Japanese American …
The Actors’ Perspective
Jan. 16, 2012 • Esther Newman
Farewell to Manzanar, adapted from the memoir that Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston penned with her husband, James D. Houston, tells the story of the injustice suffered by 120,000 Japanese Americans during World War II by focusing on a single family, the Wakatsukis, as seen through the eyes of seven year old Jeanne. It was directed by Oscar and Emmy award winning director, John Korty, and featured an almost entirely Japanese American cast and crew. Farewell to Manzanar had a profound impact …
The Morey Family: A Self-Guided Walking Tour through Little Tokyo History
Nov. 4, 2011 • Esther Newman , Jack Shiro Morey
Four generations of the Morey family have been a part of Little Tokyo’s business community. Three generations of the Morey family have also been a part of the Japanese American National Museum, since its inception nearly thirty years ago. In fact, much of the Morey family history has taken place within a two-block stroll, west, from the Museum plaza. 1. Your tour starts on the broad steps of JANM’s 85,000 square-foot pavilion designed by Gyo Obata who is also principal …
An interview with John Korty, director of “Farewell To Manzanar”
Oct. 19, 2011 • Esther Newman
“I was always out to change the world...”John Korty’s remarkable success in the film industry—an Oscar and two Emmys among numerous film awards—doesn’t mean he’s “gone Hollywood.” The director of Farewell to Manzanar has consistently chosen projects focused on themes of social justice from very early in his career. Anti-war activism, racism, the civil rights movement, and adoption of special needs children are just some of the issues Korty’s examined in film. Farewell to Manzanar, adapted from the novel …
Timeless and Timely
Oct. 7, 2011 • Esther Newman
Nearly seventy years have passed since the first busload of Japanese Americans arrived at Manzanar, forced from their coastal California homes to spend the duration of World War II behind barbed wire and beneath the gaze of armed soldiers perched in perimeter guard towers. The incarceration of 120,000 American citizens and residents based solely on their Japanese ancestry is a painful chapter in U.S. history. Even now, it’s a subject about which many don’t know, others don’t want to know, …
