Nanka Nikkei Voices
Nanka Nikkei Voices (NNV) is a publication of the Japanese American Historical Society of Southern California. Nanka means “Southern California.” Nikkei means Japanese American(s).” The focus of NNV is to record the stories of the Japanese American Community in Southern California through the “voices” of average Japanese Americans and others who have a strong connection to our history and cultural heritage.
This series introduce various stories from the past 4 issues of Nanka Nikkei Voices.
Stories from this series
Kawana’s Kamaboko Kingdom
April 29, 2014 • Sharon Yamato
One thing was clear to businessman Frank Kawana when he took over his father’s Little Tokyo kamaboko business in 1955: people were not clamoring for fishcake. Quite the opposite—once a Japanese American staple, kamaboko sales were declining in the U.S. Like his father Otoichi Kawana, Frank somehow could not abandon what he secretly hated as a “smelly business.” At his mother Kume’s pleading, he reluctantly joined the family enterprise. While working to keep the company alive, he did something few …
Starting a New Life
April 2, 2014 • Marie Masumoto
My mother, Kinuko Saito, was holding me in her arms as we left Japan. I was six months old when we embarked on a military ship headed for Los Angeles via Seattle. Without knowing any English, my mother left her family and friends to start a new life in the United States. We had arrangements to stay with my father’s relatives whom she had never met before. We patiently stayed and waited for my father to arrive; he was a …
Channeling Grandma: Passing on the Gardening Genes
March 14, 2014 • Jenni “Emiko” Kuida
I remember walking through my Grandma Kuida’s garden as a child. She had ten or twelve rows of different vegetables growing, and lots of old rusty cans and tools. Along with a bountiful lemon tree, her small backyard garden near Crenshaw and Jefferson was filled with delicious tomatoes, Japanese cucumbers, and zucchinis. When she hunched over with her apron full of fresh-picked vegetables to send home with us, she was 4½ feet tall. But to me, she was a gardening …
Revival: The Rafu Shimpo
March 7, 2014 • Chris Komai
On April 4, 1942, The Rafu Shimpo produced its final edition before everyone of Japanese ancestry was unconstitutionally forced to leave the West Coast by the U.S. government. No one, least of all my uncle Aki Komai, could know with any certainty if this was an interruption in the operation of the family newspaper, or its demise. A Nisei and only 32, Akira Komai was thrust into the role of publisher when the FBI came to the family house on …
My Name is “BAKA”: Issei Discipline & Expectations in a Dr. Spock World
Feb. 24, 2014 • Roy Y. Sakamoto
As a “baby boomer” raised by Issei parents on a farm in San Jose, CA after the war, I’ve often thought about how different it might have been if I had been raised as part of the “Dr. Spock1 generation” of my suburban hakujin (Caucasian) classmates. I often heard my hakujin friends have discussions with their parents about, (1) why they weren’t allowed to do something; (2) making excuses for not getting something done; or (3) denying blame when they …
Recollections of the Hatchimonji Family
Feb. 11, 2014 • Ike Hatchimonji
My father and mother, Kumezo and Nobue (Komuro) Hatchimonji (originally spelled Hachimonji) were, like so many other immigrants from Japan, two Issei individuals who came to America to start a new life, a new family, and to seek new opportunities. Like their fellow Issei, theirs was not an easy life but with characteristic patience and hope, they succeeded with a legacy of achievement and pride. To describe some of the cultural traits that the Issei generation possessed, certain generalizations can …
Discover Nikkei Updates
June 25 (US) | June 26 (Japan)
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Stan Kirk
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