Discover Nikkei

https://www.discovernikkei.org/en/interviews/clips/216/

Ethnic diversity

Before the war broke out, we lived in a part of Chinatown. And there, there were a lot of tenement houses—so one room houses. And they were occupied by Chinese chefs--people who work in Chinese restaurants are in the neighborhood there. And so, they were all elderly people. And there was only one Japanese family that was very close to us. And so we got be very close with...and they had one daughter, who was my age; one son who was eight, my brother’s age. And so we spent a lot of time together when we were home in that neighborhood.

But when we went off to school, we went to school with...I went to Japanese school, and when I went to Japanese school, there were mostly Japanese people there. But, public schools that I went to, we ran around with people of all different backgrounds. I love baseball. I played baseball with Chinese boys, with Portuguese boys; there was one Filipino boy who played with us also. So we were...we had a mixture of people who we played with.


communities racially mixed people

Date: December 15, 2003

Location: Hawai`i, US

Interviewer: Art Hansen

Contributed by: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum.

Interviewee Bio

George Ariyoshi was born in Honolulu in 1926. He overcame a childhood speech defect to enter the Military Intelligence Service language school after World War II and served the United States in Tokyo’s ruins. Returning home from occupied Japan, he moved to Michigan where he received undergraduate and law degrees.

He married Jean Hayashi in Hawai`i and, between 1954 and 1986, held elective offices there as a Democrat. He served three terms as Hawai`i’s governor, the first Japanese American nationwide to govern a state. By his own definition, Governor Ariyoshi was “a social liberal and a fiscal conservative.” The title of his 1997 memoir, With Obligation to All, summed up his personal and political philosophies. (December 2003)

Margarida Tomi Watanabe
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Watanabe,Margarida Tomi

Relief fund to support Japanese communities (Japanese)

(1900–1996) The mother of Nikkei Brazilian immigration

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Margarida Tomi Watanabe
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Watanabe,Margarida Tomi

Role of Assistancia Social dom Jose Gaspar (Japanese)

(1900–1996) The mother of Nikkei Brazilian immigration

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George Abe
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Abe,George

Taiko Community

(b. 1944) taiko and flute performer

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Kristi Yamaguchi
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Yamaguchi,Kristi

Support from the Japanese American community

(b.1971) Professional figure skater and Olympic gold medalist.

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Clifford Uyeda
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Uyeda,Clifford

Japanese Language School

(1917 - 2004) Political activist

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Clifford Uyeda
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Uyeda,Clifford

Different races have to live together and interact

(1917 - 2004) Political activist

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Kay Fukumoto
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Fukumoto,Kay

The multicultural perspective

(b.1960) Third-generation taiko drummer, leader of Maui Taiko

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Henry Suto
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Suto,Henry

Japanese in Minot

(1928 - 2008) Drafted into both the Japanese Imperial Army and the U.S. Army.

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BJ Kobayashi
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Kobayashi,BJ

Growing up in two cultures

Hawaiian businessman, developer.

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Toshiro Konishi
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Konishi,Toshiro

Integrating As First-Generation Japanese-Peruvian (Japanese)

(b. 1962) Japanese restaurant owner and chef in Peru

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Hiroshi Sakane
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Sakane,Hiroshi

The Nikkei community that didn't support Former President Fujimori's election (Japanese)

(b. 1948) Executive Director of Amano Museum

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Hiroshi Sakane
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Sakane,Hiroshi

The differences in attitude of pre-war and post war in terms of the President Fujimori presidency (Japanese)

(b. 1948) Executive Director of Amano Museum

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Hiroshi Sakane
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Sakane,Hiroshi

President Fujimori as elected by Peru's general public (Japanese)

(b. 1948) Executive Director of Amano Museum

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Hiroshi Sakane
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Sakane,Hiroshi

The Nikkei community's view toward Former President Fujimori (Japanese)

(b. 1948) Executive Director of Amano Museum

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Isao Taoka
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Taoka,Isao

Views on Japanese Youth (Japanese)

(b. 1943) Paraguayan Ambassador to Japan

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