Nikkei Chronicles #4—Nikkei Family: Memories, Traditions, and Values
Nikkei family roles and traditions are unique because they have evolved over many generations, based on various social, political, and cultural experiences in the country they migrated to.
Discover Nikkei collected stories from around the world related to the topic of Nikkei Family, including the stories that tell how your family has influenced who you are, and allow us to understand your perspectives on what family is. This series introduces these stories.
For this series, we asked our Nima-kai to vote for their favorite stories and our editorial committee to pick their favorites.
Here are the selected favorite stories.
Editorial Committee’s Selections:
- ENGLISH:
Walk It Off: True Grit & Gaman
By Jeri Okamoto Tanaka
Don’t Worry Be Hapa
By Kimiko Medlock
- JAPANESE:
History of My Grandmother – Things I Learned About Her Life This Summer Just Before I Turned 20 –
By Dan Kawawaki
- SPANISH:
Father’s Adventures
By Marta Marenco
- PORTUGUESE:
My Life, Our Life: The Present, The Past, And The Future
By Kiyomi Nakanishi Yamada
Nima-kai selection:
- 23 stars:
A Letter to My Parents
By Mary Sunada
Stories from this series
Until the last grain of rice
Oct. 8, 2015 • Claudio Sampei
In 1995, after finishing college and a one-year internship in Japan, I started working at a large multinational here in Brazil. Our lunch was served in the company cafeteria. One of the conversations during one of the lunches was about human metabolism, which is said to slow down after the age of 23. At 24 years old, I was already feeling the effects of gaining a few kilos, even though I ate less than I did as a teenager. One …
A Letter to My Parents
Oct. 7, 2015 • Maia Hito
Dear Teresa, Victor, and Maria Hito, While anyone would agree you are far from traditional, I find myself now embracing our strange tendencies. Living among Japanese Peruvian immigrants with amusing accents may not seem difficult; however, I assure you it carries its burdens. Growing up with a mom that isolated herself from socializing with other prosperous thriving parents, leaning on an uncle who replaced the supposed much needed father in my life, and explaining to my sweet grandmother the foreign …
My grandfather's memories
Oct. 6, 2015 • Yuriko Yampufé Yabe
For a little girl it can be very complicated to live with a name as particular as the one I have. I had to learn from a very early age that this was due to my Japanese ancestry, even though I didn't quite understand what that actually meant. For me, at that time, it was just the argument I used to silence the children who made fun of my name. Thus, every time someone came out with a new nickname, …
George Nakamura turns 88
Oct. 5, 2015 • Raymond Nakamura
My dad turned 88 this year, so we had a big party for him. Turning 88 is perhaps not so rare as it once was, but it is still a pretty big deal, especially in Japanese culture, where it is called “beiju,” meaning “rice age.” This refers to the way the characters for “eighty-eight” resemble the character for “rice,” a symbol of goodness and abundance. We were delighted that his health is still good enough to enjoy the party. To …
Round Trip: An American, In Japan During World War II, Comes Home
Oct. 2, 2015 • Michael Takeo Koike , Sara Kumiko Koike Abiusi
Masuo John (Matt) Koike was born in New York in 1935 to first-generation Japanese parents, Izumi and Iku, who had emigrated from Japan. Before moving to the United States, Masuo’s father, Izumi, classically trained as a chef in Paris. In the Bronx, Masuo’s parents owned and operated several small restaurants. At a young age, Masuo accompanied his mother to Yokohama, Japan, for an extended visit with his grandparents. Unfortunate circumstances required that his mother return to New York, leaving Masuo …
History of My Grandmother—Things I Learned About Her Life this Summer Just Before I Turned 20
Sept. 30, 2015 • Dan Kawawaki
My grandmother Etsuko Nakatani lives by herself in Weiser, Idaho. She was born in Inasa-machi in the Nagasaki prefecture in 1926 (Taisho 15). Until recently I didn’t know anything about the life of my grandmother who will turn 90 in March next year. This summer I found The 100 years of History of Nikkei in America in my grandmother’s house which led me to Ryusuke Kawai’s series on Discover Nikkei, “Re-reading of The 100 Years of History of Nikkei in …