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Involvement with ethnic studies

The students were pressing for any kind of classes that had to do with ethnic experience. And so the Dean of Social Sciences got me to be the faculty member for one of the initial classes that had to do with the ethnic experience. And all this time, you know, I’m not knowing what’s happening very much, because I had just come back from Africa. And then so when the Dean told me that he was going to sponsor a course in the Behavioral Social Science School on Ethnic Experience. So I says, “OK, I’ll take over the class.”


education ethnic studies

Date: January 7, 2004

Location: California, US

Interviewer: Art Hansen

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

Interviewee Bio

James Hirabayashi, son of hardworking immigrant farmers in the Pacific Northwest, was a high school senior in 1942 when he was detained in the Pinedale Assembly Center before being transferred to the Tule Lake Concentration Camp in Northern California.

After World War II, he earned his Bachelor of Arts and Masters in Anthropology from the University of Washington, and eventually his Ph.D. from Harvard University. Dr. Hirabayashi is Professor Emeritus at San Francisco State University where he was Dean of the nation’s first school of ethnic studies. He also held research and teaching positions at the University of Tokyo, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, and Ahmadu Bellow Univerity, Zaria, Nigeria.

He passed away in May 2012 at age 85. (June 2014)

George Ariyoshi
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George Ariyoshi

Teacher who helped with lisp

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Barbara Kawakami
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Barbara Kawakami

Kids working hard

An expert researcher and scholar on Japanese immigrant clothing.

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Barbara Kawakami
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Barbara Kawakami

First day of school

An expert researcher and scholar on Japanese immigrant clothing.

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Robert (Bob) Kiyoshi Okasaki
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Robert (Bob) Kiyoshi Okasaki

Grandmother's influence on decision to go to Japan

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Wally Kaname Yonamine
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Wally Kaname Yonamine

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Richard Kosaki
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Richard Kosaki

Teaching at the military language school during World War II

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Richard Kosaki
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Richard Kosaki

Lesson learned from community college faculty

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Richard Kosaki
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Richard Kosaki

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Mitsuo Ito
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Mitsuo Ito

Japanese school

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Shizuko Kadoguchi
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Shizuko Kadoguchi

Strict school policy of separating boys and girls in Japan

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Sam Naito
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Sam Naito

Growing up outside of Portland’s Japanese community

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Seiichi Tanaka
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Seiichi Tanaka

Japanese musical education

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Alice Sumida
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Alice Sumida

Education in a Buddhist temple and a country school

(1914-2018) Founder of the largest gladiolus bulb farm in the United States.

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Alfredo Kato
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Alfredo Kato

Post-war experiences in Lima (Spanish)

(b. 1937) Professional journalist

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Bill Hashizume
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Bill Hashizume

Father’s will to have Japanese education

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