Subject: Japanese Nationals Attitudes Towards Nikkei
> Evidently, many (older) Japanese still view Japanese Americans as
> "traitors". Yeah, go figure! He said, "You may look Japanese, feel Japanese
> and speak Japanese, but you are not Japanese."
With the younger generation, I don't think it is so much of an issue.
With more senior Japanese nationals, particularly businessmen, there is a difference,
which appears in what is said and how it is said ...
in Japanese it is referred to as "tatami" and "hakone" -- if I recall correctly.
Subject: Re: Japanese Nationals Attitudes Towards Nikkei
> Evidently, many (older) Japanese still view Japanese Americans as
> "traitors". Yeah, go figure! He said, you may look Japanese, feel
> apanese and speak Japanese, but you are not Japanese.
This is consistent with the "shoganai" attitude I have witnessed
from Japanese nationals and shin-ijusha. It is like the Nikkei have
been written off as irretrievably Westernized. When trying to work
with Nikkei-jin (sansei in particular), they might as well be dealing
with haku-jin. For them the aging of the nisei is a cause for concern,
since it means they have to work with the sansei, in whom so much has been lost
(language being perhaps the most significant).
"Shoganai" might seem a bit extreme, but it is probably the most practical approach.
I haven't seen a whole lot of effort by the sansei I know to learn
(I won't say "remember") where the shin-ijusha are coming from and bridge the gap.
Subject: Japanese Nationals Attitudes Towards Nikkei
Do you think there is much interest in JA matters in Japan?
Do Japanese (especially the post-War generations) know about
the interment in the US? The reason I ask, is that most non-JA
Americans (sounds redundant, oh well) don't seem to know much
about it, so I wonder what gets taught about American history in Japan.
Subject: Japanese Nationals Attitudes Towards Nikkei
> Do Japanese (especially the post-War generations)
> know about the interment in the US?
> Most non-JA Americans don't seem to know much about it.
> I wonder what gets taught about American history in Japan.
In years past, Japanese children probably learned more
about that part of US history than American kids. When
we were teenagers, I remember my cousin (Tokyo born and
raised, now in his early thirties) asking me to confirm
what he had heard about the historical discrimination
against North American Nikkei. Having grown up in more
tolerant times before the redress movement got started,
it was all news to me.
Nowadays, teaching about the Internment is a part of
the curriculum in many schools in Canada and the US,
at least on the West Coast.
Subject: Japanese Nationals Attitudes Towards Nikkei
> Nowadays, teaching about the Internment is a part of
> the curriculum in many schools in Canada and the US,
> at least on the West Coast.
Schools in Missouri have it as well.
Subject: Japanese Nationals Attitudes Towards Nikkei
> In years past, Japanese children probably learned more
> about that part of US history than American kids. When
> we were teenagers, I remember my cousin (Tokyo born and
> raised, now in his early thirties) asking me to confirm
> what he had heard about the historical discrimination
> against North American Nikkei. Having grown up in more
> tolerant times before the redress movement got started,
> it was all news to me.
Your cousin must have taken a special interest in Nikkei history
because he had a North American cousin.
Very little, if any, is taught about Nikkei matters in Japanese
schools. Every so often there is a documentary or dramatic
television show about Nikkei-jin, though.
Subject: Japanese Nationals Attitudes Towards Nikkei
> Very little, if any, is taught about Nikkei matters in
> Japanese schools. Every so often there is a documentary
> or dramatic television show about Nikkei-jin, though.
Five years ago the Japanese American National Museum
gathered a team of volunteers to go up to Powell, Wyoming, where
the Heart Mountain Concentration camp is. They dismantled two
barracks and trucked them to LA. Then they re-built one half of
the barracks on the parking lot as an exhibit which subsequently
was sent to Ellis Island for display. My husband drove up to help
and there were quite a few film crews there -- KABC-TV from L.A.
was one and did a program called 'Legacy of the Barracks'.
Another film crew was from NHK and they produced an interesting
90-minute program about Japanese Americans in general using the
barracks project as a starting point. Someone sent me a video copy
of the Japanese broadcast. There are no English subtitles but
from what I can understand it was fairly accurate.
They interviewed a lot of people, including younger Sansei about
how they felt as JAs, what they know of their heritage, etc.
After the program was shown in Japan our family received a lot of
calls and letters from relatives in Japan ... they said so many
people were surprised because they didn't know about JA internment.
Subject: Japanese Nationals Attitudes Towards Nikkei
> After the program was shown in Japan our family received
> a lot of calls and letters from relatives in Japan ...
> they said so many people were surprised because they didn't
> know about JA internment.
But do you think this knowledge is of interest in Japan? Do Japanese
wonder what it must have been like for internees to be in that
situation? I ask because I saw the movie "Rinko" on the Japanese TV
station here (dubbed in Japanese). I think it was originally in English.
It made me wonder why they would show such a movie, and whether
the internment was known in Japan, and whether people even cared.
I always assumed the answer to both questions was no, but I wonder
if things are changing.
