Being Japanese American / Miyabe Ota

Being Japanese American

By Miyabe Ota

For me, World War II is about sirens, dark cities and bomb shelters; little children being sent to the countryside for safety or **sokai**; the atomic bomb or **Pika**; sad news of Japan surrendering; Emperor Hirohito on the radio; disintegration of Imperial Japan; youth lost to the **Kamikaze Tokkoutai; "comfort women" of Korea and the Philippines; post-war hope in the voice of Misora Hibari; the baby boom era when my parents were born. These are the most relevant events during the war to me as a Japanese American.

Manzanar is a foreign story in another world belonging to an American named Wakatsuki--something I read about in junior high. It was just as new and foreign to me as other events in American history such as genocide, slavery or refugees.

I am Japanese American and everyone in my lineage was on the other side of the big blue Pacific during the depression, World War II and the Asian American Movement. Yes, my family's "World War II history" remains in Japan because that is where they experienced it.

I was born in the U.S. and am of Japanese descent. That should be all the explanation I need in order to say I am a Japanese American. According to some sociologist who bought into the American obsession with categorization, I am not "Nisei." I am "Shin Nisei." Who is he to argue what these Japanese words mean when he can hardly think in Japanese? Japanese people in Japan certainly do not see any definition of age and generation in those words.

I feel less ownership to my Japanese American-ness, feel less **authentic** simply because I cannot trace my lineage to American concentration camps, the Japanese Exclusion Act or first Nisei Week.

In Japanese America, where the majority shares a common ancestral past in U.S. history, I feel just as challenged as a "true" Japanese American as JAs feel they are challenged as "true" Americans.

But I stopped caring about this a long, long time ago, even before I lost my first front tooth. I know what I am and I can care less what other JAs have to say about me. I am no less JA and no less Asian American; and actually, I know more Japanese language, history, art, music and TV shows from being brought up by my Japanese parents than from studying about Japanese/Asian Americans in AA Studies classes or through books.

I have had no problems being who I am to mainstream White society and among my Black, Latino and other Asian American friends. None of them have made as much fuss as the JA community over what I am.

Japanese America, wake up! Time to put post-war immigrants from Japan in your timeline. Time to recognize the youth who do not want to be restricted by Japanese America when they can be free and successful in mainstream society. Time to recognize mixed race JAs of whatever racial mixture are as fully entitled to the label "Japanese American" as any JA of completely Japanese heritage. Time to talk about racism not just from mainstream American society, but the racism within the JA community toward other races of people. Time to realize that gay and lesbian JAs are numerous in the community, and should not be treated as shameful outcasts or non-existent myths. Time to welcome JAs in Hawai'i to be just as JA. And especially, to recognize that there are large Nikkei communities far beyond the borders of the U.S.

Time to wake up to the big picture of Japanese America (and even global Nikkei connections) that have been there for just as long as JAs have been here in the U.S.

*(Miyabe Ota is an American-born Japanese American of post-war immmigrant parents.)*



	Being Japanese American By Miyabe Ota
	For me, World War II is about sirens, dark cities and bomb shelters; little children being sent to the countryside for safety or sokai; the atomic bomb or Pika; sad news of Japan surrendering; Emperor Hirohito on the radio; disintegration of Imperial Japan; youth lost to the Kamikaze Tokkoutai; "comfort women" of Korea and the Philippines; post-war hope in the voice of Misora Hibari; the baby boom era when my parents were born. These are the most relevant events during the war to me as a Japanese American. Manzanar is a foreign story in another world belonging to an American named Wakatsuki--something I read about in junior high. It was just as new and foreign to me as other events in American history such as genocide, slavery or refugees. I am Japanese American and everyone in my lineage was on the other side of the big blue Pacific during the depression, World War II and the Asian American Movement. Yes, my family's "World War II history" remains in Japan because that is where they experienced it. I was born in the U.S. and am of Japanese descent. That should be all the explanation I need in order to say I am a Japanese American. According to some sociologist who bought into the American obsession with categorization, I am not "Nisei." I am "Shin Nisei." Who is he to argue what these Japanese words mean when he can hardly think in Japanese? Japanese people in Japan certainly do not see any definition of age and generation in those words. I feel less ownership to my Japanese American-ness, feel less authentic** simply because I cannot trace my lineage to American concentration camps, the Japanese Exclusion Act or first Nisei Week. In Japanese America, where the majority shares a common ancestral past in U.S. history, I feel just as challenged as a "true" Japanese American as JAs feel they are challenged as "true" Americans. But I stopped caring about this a long, long time ago, even before I lost my first front tooth. I know what I am and I can care less what other JAs have to say about me. I am no less JA and no less Asian American; and actually, I know more Japanese language, history, art, music and TV shows from being brought up by my Japanese parents than from studying about Japanese/Asian Americans in AA Studies classes or through books. I have had no problems being who I am to mainstream White society and among my Black, Latino and other Asian American friends. None of them have made as much fuss as the JA community over what I am. Japanese America, wake up! Time to put post-war immigrants from Japan in your timeline. Time to recognize the youth who do not want to be restricted by Japanese America when they can be free and successful in mainstream society. Time to recognize mixed race JAs of whatever racial mixture are as fully entitled to the label "Japanese American" as any JA of completely Japanese heritage. Time to talk about racism not just from mainstream American society, but the racism within the JA community toward other races of people. Time to realize that gay and lesbian JAs are numerous in the community, and should not be treated as shameful outcasts or non-existent myths. Time to welcome JAs in Hawai'i to be just as JA. And especially, to recognize that there are large Nikkei communities far beyond the borders of the U.S. Time to wake up to the big picture of Japanese America (and even global Nikkei connections) that have been there for just as long as JAs have been here in the U.S. (Miyabe Ota is an American-born Japanese American of post-war immmigrant parents.)