Kizuna 2020: Nikkei Kindness and Solidarity During the COVID-19 Pandemic
In Japanese, kizuna means strong emotional bonds. In 2011, we invited our global Nikkei community to contribute to a special series about how Nikkei communities reacted to and supported Japan following the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami. Now, we would like to bring together stories about how Nikkei families and communities are being impacted by, and responding and adjusting to this world crisis.
If you would like to participate, please see our submission guidelines. We welcome submissions in English, Japanese, Spanish, and/or Portuguese, and are seeking diverse stories from around the world. We hope that these stories will help to connect us, creating a time capsule of responses and perspectives from our global Nima-kai community for the future.
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Although many events around the world have been cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we have noticed that many new online only events are being organized. Since they are online, anyone can participate from anywhere in the world. If your Nikkei organization is planning a virtual event, please post it on Discover Nikkei’s Events section! We will also share the events via Twitter @discovernikkei. Hopefully, it will help to connect us in new ways, even as we are all isolated in our homes.
Stories from this series
The worst viruses: racism, lies and misinformation against Japanese immigration
May 1, 2020 • Sergio Hernández Galindo
At the end of 1910, the number of Japanese immigrants in the United States had reached nearly 80,000; in Mexico and Peru there were more than 10,000 workers in each country, while in Brazil more than 5,000 were already working. As the number of Japanese immigrants grew on the continent, racist sectors of North American society fostered hatred and persecution against immigrants. To combat the arrival of Japanese workers, these sectors did not stop spreading false news and rumors pointing …
EO9066 vs. COVID-19
April 30, 2020 • Sharon Yamato
I’ve been struggling with what more to say about the pandemic now known as the worst disaster of our lifetimes. I don’t ever remember feeling this fearful and uncertain about the future, particularly knowing as infection and death statistics grow with steady predictability, this highly contagious virus will most certainly infect someone I love, many of whom are in the dangerous high-risk age group. In the midst of this immediate fear, I realized that most of us baby boomers and …
Los Angeles' Japanese Community During the COVID-19 Pandemic
April 27, 2020 • Keiko Fukuda
"There's no option to quit" As I write this article in mid-April 2020, Los Angeles is in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. The Governor of California has announced an extension of the stay-at-home order, and the stay-at-home order will continue until May 15th. Of course, there is no guarantee that the stay-at-home order will be lifted. Dr. Anthony Fauci, a member of the Trump Administration's coronavirus task force, has sounded a warning about President Trump's haste to reopen businesses …
COVID Ghost Town
April 23, 2020 • Terry Watada
In November 2019, I was in a US hospital for five days. My temperature was hovering around 102°F. I sweat profusely, followed by the chills. I couldn’t get out of bed without collapsing to the floor. I was dizzy, I had lost my appetite, I was extremely weak. This was before COVID was a daily news story, though medical researchers now have speculated that the virus started around that time in Northern Italy (and not China). I went to the …
Confusion and hope among Japanese Latinos in Japan regarding the COVID-19 pandemic
April 20, 2020 • Alberto J. Matsumoto
As of April 16, 2020, the novel coronavirus has spread and raged around the world, and the situation is changing day by day. On February 3 of this year, a large cruise ship docked in Yokohama1 . This was the beginning of Japan's fight against an invisible and yet not fully known "enemy." In order to prevent the spread of infection, schools were closed and events were requested to be refrained from in March. In March, entry and exit restrictions …
Just 10 Weeks Ago
April 15, 2020 • Keiko Moriyama
10 weeks ago, I joyfully drank sake and ate the best tonkatsu in Tokyo. 8 weeks ago, I toured snowy Hokkaido tasting their bounty of kombu, oysters, and uni. 6 weeks ago, I played Mahjong with my neighbors and won three rounds in a row. 4 weeks ago, I celebrated St. Patrick’s Day at the local pizzeria. Later that evening, our Governor called for a statewide shutdown. 2 weeks ago, the stock market crashed. How the world has changed. One …