Discover Nikkei Logo

https://www.discovernikkei.org/en/journal/author/akiyama-kaori/

Profile image of Kaori Akiyama

Kaori Akiyama


Kaori Akiyama is a museum professional and researcher who was born in Nagano Prefecture, Japan. She lived in Hawai‘i from 1999 to 2009 and earned a B.A. in Anthropology and a Graduate Certificate in Museum Studies from the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa. During that time, she also worked at three museums, including the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawai‘i (as a researcher) and the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum (as a conservation assistant).

Currently, she is employed by the Matsumoto City Museum. In her spare time, she writes articles in Japanese and English on the culture and people of Hawai‘i. Her goal is to acquaint Japanese people with the “real” Hawai‘i and its people, and to enhance global awareness of the cultural connections between Hawai‘i and Japan.

Updated February 2011


Stories from This Author

Thumbnail for An Exhibit That Brings Japanese Americans Into Japanese History - Part 3 of 3
en
ja
es
pt
An Exhibit That Brings Japanese Americans Into Japanese History - Part 3 of 3

Nov. 30, 2011 • Kaori Akiyama

Read part 2 >>Section 3: A Cross Cultural View: The View From People Between Countries To me, the most confusing section of the exhibit was the one entitled “Foreign Correspondents in Occupied Japan,” although it also tried to express the theme of “people who were moving between countries” in the war era. Having no permission for residence in wartime, these correspondents were similar to Japanese in the U.S. at that time. However, the sudden change of the protagonists from “Japanese …

Thumbnail for An Exhibit That Brings Japanese Americans Into Japanese History - Part 2 of 3
en
ja
es
pt
An Exhibit That Brings Japanese Americans Into Japanese History - Part 2 of 3

Nov. 23, 2011 • Kaori Akiyama

Read part 1 >>Section 2: Repatriation The second section featured a major drama of the exhibition, from the time when the relationship between the U.S. and Japan began to decline until the end of WW2, entitled “Immigrants and the Outbreak of War Between the U.S. and Japan —Anti-Japanese Movements, Incarceration and Repatriation.” Although the section covers a long period with important historical events, the narrative relied on the presence of the Repatriation Ships to show the dynamism of the movement …

Thumbnail for An Exhibit That Brings Japanese Americans Into Japanese History - part 1 of 3
en
ja
es
pt
An Exhibit That Brings Japanese Americans Into Japanese History - part 1 of 3

Nov. 16, 2011 • Kaori Akiyama

IntroductionThe exhibit entitled Japanese Immigrants in the United States and the War Era at the National Museum of Japanese History, Chiba, Japan closed on April 3, 2011 after a year-long opening to the public. It was a special exhibit to commemorate the opening of the Sixth Exhibit Room of the museum in March 2010, which displays contemporary history. Some might think that this national museum mainly focuses on Japanese history, meaning events that took place in Japan. However, this project …

Thumbnail for Searching the Home of Mujina: For Glen Grant - Part 3
en
ja
es
pt
Searching the Home of Mujina: For Glen Grant - Part 3

March 4, 2011 • Kaori Akiyama

Read Part 2 >>During the Edo Period (1603-1868), there was a great flowering of ghost stories in many areas ranging from art to entertainment. Reider (2000) explains the psychology of the Edo people: because travel abroad was forbidden, there was a heightened perception of foreign lands, particularly China, as exotic places where mysterious things were believed to happen (p. 278). The parents of the issei grew up in late Edo culture and passed its longing for the cultural other to …

Thumbnail for Searching the Home of Mujina: For Glen Grant - Part 2
en
ja
es
pt
Searching the Home of Mujina: For Glen Grant - Part 2

Feb. 25, 2011 • Kaori Akiyama

Read Part 1 >>>The theme of the revengeful female spirit is still alive today in Japanese films. Probably the best-known recent example of a popular Japanese horror film in America is The Ring,1 (2002) which remakes the Japanese original for American audiences. The story contains a faceless female ghost with beautiful long hair that covers her face. She is shown on a strange video and anyone who sees the video dies in a certain number of days. There may be …

Thumbnail for Searching the Home of Mujina: For Glen Grant - Part 1
en
ja
es
pt
Searching the Home of Mujina: For Glen Grant - Part 1

Feb. 18, 2011 • Kaori Akiyama

One sunny day in August, I was on the way to go back to my new place in Kaimuki near the University of Hawaii. That day, I took a walk to the Kaimuki Shopping center to acquire some household implements for my new place. I had four plastic shopping bags and felt thirsty under the bright sun, so I decided to take a rest at a McDonald’s. Outside the McDonald’s on the Waealae there was a small triangle park having …

We’re looking for stories like yours! Submit your article, essay, fiction, or poetry to be included in our archive of global Nikkei stories. Learn More
Discover Nikkei brandmark

New Site Design

See exciting new changes to Discover Nikkei. Find out what’s new and what’s coming soon! Learn More

Discover Nikkei Updates

NIKKEI NAMES 2
Vote for Nima-kai Favorite!
Read the stories and give a star to the ones you like the most! Help select our Community Favorite.
PROJECT UPDATES
New Site Design
See exciting new changes to Discover Nikkei. Find out what’s new and what’s coming soon!
NEW SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNT
We’re on Instagram!
Follow us @discovernikkei for new site content, program announcements, and more!