Interviews

1. Growing up in a Japanese American family

2. The reason for coming to Japan

3. Sudden acceptance in Japanese society

4. Tracing my family crest

5. Disadvantages of looking Japanese

6. Ring name: "Yamato Damashi"

7. I’m American, but my home is Japan

8. Citizenship and identity

Enson Inoue

(b. 1967) Hawai`i-born professional fighter in Japan

Ring name: "Yamato Damashi"

And I’m also flattered the my nickname is “Yamato Damashi,” which means “Japanese spirit.” Lot of people portrayed it as a samurai spirit because it was a word that was used back in the Edo-jidai, which is the samurai days. And it is a very, very great word, subarashi word. [It’s] almost a word so good that I feel like I’m not doing the word justice, me equaling yamato damashi. So to me, they not only took me under, they slammed me—I didn’t choose that word. I didn’t pick that word. I didn’t even know what the word meant at first. But the mass komi (mass communication), the press, are the ones who slammed me with that word, saying that you equal yamato damashi. You have more yamato damashi than Japanese people themselves. And there’s some articles that say that “Enson is more Japanese than Japanese,” which is really flattering for me.

Finding Home (film) identity

Date: October 14, 2003

Location: Saitama, Japan

Interviewer: Art Nomura

Contributed by: Art Nomura, Finding Home.

Interviewee Bio

Enson Inoue was born and raised in Hawai`i and attended college there for 3 years studying psychology. At age 23, he went to Japan to play racquetball in a two-week tournament without any intention of living there. He won the tournament and then stayed for 3 months to give racquetball seminars. Thereafter, he continued to live in Japan, intending to return to Hawai`i in a year. Enson, however, decided to stay for still another year, teaching English and running his brother’s racquetball company in Japan. He then became a boxer and gave up racquetball. At the time of the interview in Fall 2003, Enson had lived in Japan for thirteen and a half years and had not been back to Hawai`i for six years. Now he is a professional fighter with the ring name “Yamato Damashii (Japanese Spirit or Samurai Spirit).” As for his identity, he feels that although he is an American, his home is Japan. (October 14, 2003)