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The Uwajimaya Story
Part 3: Various Japanese supermarkets
川井 龍介
Uwajimaya, which has stores mainly in Seattle, is the largest chain store in the Pacific Northwest that handles Asian food, including Japanese food. Currently, in addition to Seattle, it has stores in Bellevue and Renton, both suburbs of Seattle, and Beaverton, a suburb of Portland, Oregon. There are several other …
The Uwajimaya Story
2nd Experience "Japan"
川井 龍介
There is no Japanese or Japanese-American living in Seattle who doesn't know the name "Uwajimaya." Even among non-Japanese Americans, the store is well-known in Seattle, where many different races live. Since the 1970s, tofu has become popular in the United States due to the health boom, and at the same …
The Uwajimaya Story
Part 1: An oasis for the Japanese
川井 龍介
"I miss the accent of my hometown. I go to the train station to listen to it in the crowd." This famous song by Ishikawa Takuboku expresses the loneliness he felt when he came to Tokyo in 1908 and went to Ueno Station, where people from Tohoku were gathering, to …
Reading Japanese American Literature
Episode 18 (final episode) "I was supposed to be an American"
川井 龍介
David Mura, a poet of third-generation Japanese-American birth in 1952, has always wondered about who he is. He has never considered himself 100% American. His paternal grandfather came to America to avoid being drafted during the Russo-Japanese War. His father, a second-generation American, grew up as an American and was …
Reading Japanese American Literature
17th 『Japan Boy』
川井 龍介
Among Japanese Americans, there are people called "Kibei" (returning Americans). They were born in America, but were educated in Japan during their childhood and then returned to America. They are called Kibei because they return to Japan once and then to America (the U.S.). In addition to referring to the …
Reading Japanese American Literature
16th "Ganbatte - 60 Year Journey of a Japanese American Revolutionary"
川井 龍介
A life of fighting for conviction For second and third generation Japanese Americans, the word "ganbatte" (do your best) is one of the most memorable Japanese words that express the Japanese spirit. Carl Yoneda (1906-1999), author of "Ganbatte: The 60-Year Journey of a Japanese American Revolutionary," was a man who, …
Reading Japanese American Literature
15th "Collection of Hisae Yamamoto's Works - "Seventeen Characters" and 18 other pieces"
川井 龍介
Born in August 1921 in Redondo Beach, Southern California, Hisaye Yamamoto was one of the earliest Japanese American writers and gained national recognition as a short story writer in the postwar period. Her parents were immigrants from Kumamoto Prefecture who grew tomatoes and strawberries in Southern California. Although she grew …
Reading Japanese American Literature
14th "Year of Meat"
川井 龍介
Being a Japanese minority in America is a major creative motivation for the novelist, and his work often focuses on his identity as a minority. The protagonist of Ruth L. Ozeki's debut novel, My Year of Meats (1998), is a Japanese-American television director named Jane Little Takagi. Many Japanese people …
Reading Japanese American Literature
13th "Wild Meat and Brie Burger"
川井 龍介
Hawaii has the oldest history of Japanese immigration in the United States. The people who live there are a diverse range of races, including Asians, whites, Hispanics, blacks, and native Hawaiians and Polynesians, and the cultures that each of these people brings, combined with the unique nature, climate, and customs, …
Reading Japanese American Literature
12th "Twinkle Twinkle" and "Seven Moons"
川井 龍介
The story takes place in the 1950s and 1960s in southern Georgia and central Arkansas, and explores how Japanese families lived there, what their children thought of themselves, and how they felt about the people and scenery around them. Japanese American female author Cynthia Kadohata's novels "Seven Moons" and "Sparkle" …