beyond generations

Welcome to the second season of “beyond generations,” an interview series. It’s my journey of discovering what happened to Japanese American people during WWII, and how people have been trying to acknowledge, understand, and learn from it, and figure out how to connect it to the future. I am your host, Monica.

Today’s guest is Jay Rubin. He is the author of a novel the Sun Gods, a story about a Caucasian boy and his adopted Japanese mother whose lives were separated at the mercy of World War II. The story takes you to Seattle, to Camp Minidoka, and to Japan - before, during, and after the war.

Jay Rubin is also one of the most distinguished English-language translators of Japanese literature.

In this episode, Jay will talk about how he got interested in studying Japanese, how his moving to Seattle made him start working on this novel, and how crucial it was for him to have a deep experience with the Japanese language and people to write this story.

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Special thanks to Jay Rubin and Rakuko Rubin

Welcome to the second season of “beyond generations,” an interview series. It’s my journey of discovering what happened to Japanese American people during WWII, and how people have been trying to acknowledge, understand, and learn from it, and figure out how to connect it to the future. I am your host, Monica.

Today’s guest is David Yamaguchi. He is the editor of the North American Post, the community newspaper that has been serving Seattle's Japanese American Community since 1902.

In this episode, David will talk about how a stack of family letters he found in his parents’ basement helped him learn about his family history and how it guided father-son conversations that revealed some amazing facts about his father’s younger days including why he took a typewriter to Minidoka.

You will be surprised how little you know about the person who is behind the North American Post that is such a familiar face in Seattle’s Japanese American community.

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Glossary:

• Some abbreviations David used

INS=Immigration and Naturalization Service

WRA=War Relocation Authority

JCCCW= The Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Washington

• Some Japanese words David mentioned

Nisei-han: 2.5 generation Japanese American（2世半）

Senbei: Japanese rice crackers （煎餅）

Shiryo: Documents. Historical documents in this episode’s context （資料）

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Special thanks to David Yamaguchi and Gwen Shigihara

Welcome to the second season of “beyond generations,” an interview series. It’s my journey of discovering what happened to Japanese American people during WWII, and how people have been trying to acknowledge, understand, and learn from it, and figure out how to connect it to the future. I am your host, Monica.

Today’s guest is Tamiko Nimura. She is a third generation Japanese American. She is a co-author of a graphic novel “We Hereby Refuse: Japanese American Resistance to Wartime Incarceration.” She is also an organizer of the annual Day of Remembrance in Tacoma and Affiliate Professor of Urban Studies at the University of Washington Tacoma.

In this episode, Tamiko will talk about how her Japanese American father made her proud of her heritage as a child and how she found her purpose and mission as a public historian.

Let me take you along on my journey of discovery, with Tamiko Nimura.

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Special thanks to Tamiko Nimumra

Do you know a book called Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet? It is a sweet love story between a Chinese American boy, Henry, and a Japanese American girl, Keiko, during World War II in Seattle.

The novel was published in 2009, and spent two and a half years on the New York Times bestseller list and won the 2010 Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature. It was named the #1 Book Club pick in 2010 by the American Bookseller Association and is now read widely in schools all across the United States. Also, it has become “the book” to read among people in the Japanese American community in Seattle and for anyone who is interested in the Japanese American incarceration during the war.

In this bonus episode, you will hear Jamie Ford, the author of Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, talk about his love for Seattle’s International District, what motivated him to write this story, and why it is important for him to keep telling this story. He will also talk about why award-winning poet Lawson Inada used to make breakfast for him as a child, and if there is a model for the main character, Keiko.

----------------------------- Special thanks to Jamie Ford

Do you know there is a Japanese American student mural near the University of Washington campus?

The center piece of the mural is a black-and-white photo of some 100 Asian American students taken in the autumn of 1941 at the University of Washington campus. Among them were many Japanese American students. A few months after the  photo was taken, the war between the United States and Japan started, and  these Japanese American students were taken to the wartime incarceration camps  just like other Japanese Americans were. But it seems that we do not know about their experiences as much as we should. Why do we not know? Why did they not tell us? And, why did we not ask?

In this episode of "beyond generations," you will hear two stories around this Japanese American student mural. One, about a student in the mural photo who went to the incarceration camp and to the European theater to fight for America during WWII, and taught his post-war born son to be as American as he can be. The other, about an artist who uses public art as a means to bring people’s attention to injustice that Japanese American people experienced during WWII, including her own family.

Join our community on Instagram @beyondgenerations.seattle

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Special thanks to Mike Eguchi and Erin Shigaki for their stories.

In this episode of “beyond generations,” you will hear about some 440 former Japanese American students at the University of Washington who were forced out from the university due to the evacuation order put in place 80 years ago in 1942 during World War II following the attack on Pearl Harbor by Japan the year before. You will also hear about someone who has been trying to keep their stories alive today and into the future. Your host, Monica, will take you on a journey of discovery of what happened to the Seattle community that she cares about.

Join our community

Instagram: @beyondgenerations.seattle

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Mitsi Uyeta Mihara interview from “The Voices of the Class” is a courtesy of the University of Washington Libraries.

This first episode of “beyond generations” is about an owner of a hotel in Seattle’s International District where you can see first-hand some of the belongings that Japanese American people in Seattle left when they were uprooted and sent to the wartime incarceration camps during the World War II. She turned the hotel into a living museum so that people can learn about the internment. She did not go through the camp experience herself, or is not a Japanese American. But she devoted herself to it. In this episode, you will find out why. Your host, Monica, will take you on a journey of discovery of what happened to the Seattle community that she cares about.

Join our community on Instagram @beyondgenerations.seattle

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Special thanks to Jan Johnson, the owner of the Panama Hotel and Suzan Hori, a daughter of the former owner of the Hotel.

Introducing “beyond generations” - a podcast mini-series by Monica starting on Sunday, October 16, 2022. It is a journey of a Japanese student living in Seattle discovering what happened to Japanese American people in Seattle during World War II and how people have been trying to acknowledge, understand, and learn from it, and figure out how to connect it to the future.

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