In her book, Best Friends Forever: A World War II Scrapbook, writer Beverly Patt uses a unique format—a scrapbook—to tell the story of the friendship between two young girls separated during World War II. After her Japanese American friend, Dottie Masuoka, and her family have been sent to “Camp Harmony” …
In the 1930s Paul T. Hirohata gathered copies of speeches given by forty-nine Nisei valedictorians and published them in a collection called Orations and Essays. Seventy years later, his granddaughter, Joyce Hirohata reviewed the book, this time from an adult perspective, and it “took over her imagination.”
In addition to her credits as an award-winning producer and writer, Karen L. Ishizuka is respected for her work as the curator of the Japanese American National Museum’s critically acclaimed 1994 exhibition, America’s Concentration Camps: Remembering the Japanese American Experience.
When asked about their memories of Terminal Island, many Japanese Americans who spent their childhood there think “furusato,” home sweet home. In the early 1900s, many Japanese immigrants from Wakayama Prefecture settled there, making a living as fishermen. The community thrived and grew into a place where families knew one …
Kokeshi dolls, believed to have originated in the Tohoku region of Japan, are viewed as one of the country’s most treasured folk arts. The dolls are simple in construction—wooden, cylindrical bodies with round heads—yet the Japanese American National Museum’s exhibition, Kokeshi: From Folk Art to Art Toy, showcases the true …
In all of his pursuits as an actor, writer, and director, Lane Nishikawa has “continually broken ground in examining the human condition of the Asian American experience.” In Only The Brave, Lane Nishikawa gives viewers a unique perspective into a piece of World War II history that is little known …
The cherry blossom, known as sakura, is the national flower of Japan. Different from the fruit-bearing trees found in other countries, these flowering trees are enjoyed mostly for their beautiful blossoms and the beauty of the falling snow-like petals. Because the blossoms only last for a few days in the …
Rebecca Chiyoko King-O’Riain has written a fascinating book, Pure Beauty, about Japanese American community beauty pageants, exploring how race, ethnicity, culture, and gender are linked in social practice. As revealed in her research, these beauty pageants reflect important conflicts within the Japanese American community over national citizenship, gender, and race …
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