Book Description
This postmodern feminist study explores changes in Japanese American women's perspectives on child rearing, education, and ethnicity across three generations-Nisei (second), Sansei (third), and Yonsei (fourth). Shifts in socio-political and cultural milieu have influenced the construction of racial and ethnic identities; Nisei women survived internment before relocating to the midwest, Sansei women grew up in white suburban communities, while Yonsei women grew up in a culture increasingly attuned toward multiculturalism.In contrast to the historical focus on Japanese American communities in California and Hawaii, this study explores the transformation of ethnic culture in the midwest.Midwestern Japanese American women found themselves removed from large ethnic communities, and the development of their identities and culture provides valuable insight into the experience of a group of Asian minorities in the heartland. The book explores central issues in studies of Japanese culture, the Japanese sense of self, and the Japanese family, including amae (mother-child dependency relationship), gambare (perseverance), and gaman (endurance). ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Excellent insights on growing up Japanese-American
If you grew up in a Japanese-American family, Ms. Adler's content will sound familiar.A lot of insight is provided on the dynamics of life in a Japanese-American family and some of the ethnic roots of those dynamics. Cultural explanations are provided for behaviors I thought "just ranin my family."The book is useful for anyone who deals withJapanese-Americans and wants to understand some of the motivations fortheir behaviors. ... Read more

Book Description
Daughters of a British father and a Chinese mother, Edith and Winnifred Eaton pursued wildly different paths. While Edith wrote stories of downtrodden Chinese immigrants under the pen name Sui Sin Far, Winnifred presented herself as Japanese American and published Japanese romance novels in English under the name Onoto Watanna. In this invigorating reappraisal of the vision and accomplishments of the Eaton sisters, Dominika Ferens departs boldly from the dichotomy that has informed most commentary on them: Edith's "authentic" representations of Chinese North Americans versus Winnifred's "phony" portrayals of Japanese characters and settings.

Arguing that Edith as much as Winnifred constructed her persona along with her pen name, Ferens considers the fiction of both Eaton sisters as ethnography. Edith and Winnifred Eaton suggests that both authors wrote through the filter of contemporary ethnographic discourse on the Far East and also wrote for readers hungry for "authentic" insight into the morals, manners, and mentality of an exotic other.

Ferens traces two distinct discursive traditionsÐ-missionary and travel writingÐ-that shaped the meanings of "China" and "Japan" in the nineteenth century. She shows how these traditions intersected with the unconventional literary careers of the Eaton sisters, informing the sober, moralistic tone of Edith's stories as well as Winnifred's exotic narrative style, plots, settings, and characterizations.

Bringing to the Eatons' writings a contemporary understanding of the racial and textual politics of ethnographic writing, this important account shows how these two very different writers claimed ethnographic authority, how they used that authority to explore ideas of difference, race, class and gender, and how their depictions of nonwhites worked to disrupt the process of whites' self-definition. ... Read more

Book Description

Book Description
Examining contemporary Okinawan culture, politics, and historical memory, this book traces the dynamic reconstruction and reframing of Okinawan identity. The contributors explore the cultural and political expression that has flowered in the past decade w ... Read more

Book Description
Japanese migration to Latin America began in the late nineteenth century, and today the continent is home to 1.5 million persons of Japanese descent. Combining detailed scholarship with rich personal histories, The Japanese in Latin America is the first comprehensive study of the patterns of Japanese migration on the continent as a whole.

When the United States and Canada tightened their immigration restrictions in 1907, Japanese contract laborers began to arrive in mines and plantations in Latin America. Daniel M. Masterson, with the assistance of Sayaka Funada-Classen, examines Japanese agricultural colonies in Latin America, as well as the subsequent cultural networks that sprang up within and among them, and the changes that occurred as the Japanese moved from wage labor to ownership of farms and small businesses. Masterson also explores recent economic crises in Brazil, Argentina, and Peru, which combined with a strong Japanese economy to cause at least a quarter million Latin American Japanese to migrate back to Japan.

Illuminating authoritative research with extensive interviews with migrants and their families, The Japanese in Latin America examines the dilemma of immigrants who maintained strong allegiances to their Japanese roots, even while they struggled to build lives in their new countries. ... Read more

Book Description

Book Description
This unique book compiles some 120 remarkable letters from Japanese citizens to General Douglas MacArthur during the postwar occupation of Japan (1945-1952). Painstakingly culled from a vast collection, these letters evoke the unfiltered voices of people ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Rich and Illuminating!
"Dear General MacArthur" is a wonderful and very illuminating compilation of letters written by the Japanese to Gen. MacArthur during the American Occupation (1945-1952). Sodei's running commentary alongside the letters is full of powerful insight and helpful explanations which allow the reader to genuinely understand how, and why the Japanese wrote the General with their praise, adoration, pleas, and criticism regarding him and the occupation. It is a "must" read for any who are interested in, or are students of Japanese culture. The letters are moving, incredible, sad, and hilarious. Never in world history did a country ever "love" MacArthur as much as the Japanese did after WWII. As the Pulitzer Prize-winning and illustrious historian of Japan, John W. Dower notes in his foreword, "This is a rare gem of a book. We have nothing else like it concerning Japan." Compiled and expounded by the foremost authority on, and biographer of MacArthur, it is a book that all should enjoy. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

A dramatic retelling of a great moment in U.S. History
Drs Maki, Kiano, and Berthold have done a tremendous service to U.S. historians and future generations of Americans with their well-documented account of the redress movement for Americans of Japanese ancestry who wereincarcerated in concentration camps during World War II. Besides offering atheoretical policy model to explain the successful passage of the redressinitiative, the authors provide a dramatic retelling of how thousands ofAmerican citizens, groups, and ultimately, U.S. congressmen from differentracial and political backgrounds joined together in their attempt toacknowledge one of the most terrible miscarriages of justice in U.S.history.Especially, the passages describing the former interneetestimonies and final fight for the bill in the Congress is the stuff ofhigh drama and speaks to the nobility and courage of our country's citizensand leaders. An exceptional book, which I hope, will finally refute anyreal objections to the redress bill and make clear in some increasinglyisolated critics' minds, the distinction between the the WWII JapaneseMilitary -- and loyal Americans of Japanese ancestry who fought hard forthe survival and principals of this country.

Excellent !Excellent ! Excellent !
This is a great book detailing how the case for redress was formed.It contains great info for those studying the great tragedy that hit the Japanese American community during WWII --their internment in AmericanConcentration Camps.And it serves as a reminder for us all that we needto live in harmony in order for our great country the United States tocontinue to succeed both socially and economically in the future.

Lesson for All to Learn
This is "the" book on the behind the scenes action of how redress was finally achieved for all Japanese Americans, who were illegally incarcerated in concentration camps for crimes they did not commit.Thefact that these camps were unconstitional has been proven countless times(refer:President Reagan's apology in 1988).The credibility of the bookis proven by the academic careers of the university professors who wrotethis tell-tale book (as opposed to the national enquirer level writing ofthe person who wrote the book mentioned in the below review) and its use asa textbook in the finest universities in America (Harvard, UCLA,UCBerkeley, to name a few).A must reading for those with an interest inethnic studies and American history/policy.

A biased view of a troubled time with 20/20 hindsight.
I would have followed the intended emotional path had I not also done some research of other sources. Americans are quick to punish themselves now days without really getting the facts.I suggest reading "DishonoringAmerica" by Lilian Baker,or make an internet visit to the San FrancisoMuseum website for actual, unaltered information. ... Read more

Book Description
Aging is inevitable. Every individual experiences life's pathos of diminishing strength, flexibility, beauty, roles, relationships, and memory. On the other hand, aging is a group experience that differs from culture to culture. Especially in multicultural societies like the United States, aging differs from one ethnic group to another. The Japanese American elderly, who are perceived as a model minority, are no exception to this differentiation. Aging among Japanese American Immigrants explores the ethnic dimensions of aging among Japanese immigrants in the United States. Due to the successful assimilation of Japanese (Issei) and Japanese Americans (Nisei and Sansei) into American society, they have not been perceived as a discrete age group that needs social support or special health care. Their aging experience, however, is essentially dissimilar to that of 'white ethnic' elderly. Most of the Issei and Nisei are now old men and women who relish Japanese ethnic food and croon Japanese songs in Japanese. It is apparent that the elderly are forced to re-synthesize themselves and transform their social and cultural involvement based on their ethnicity. The ethnographic research explores the ethnic dimensions of aging among Japanese and Japanese-American elderly in the United States, and illustrates their acculturative aging process and the parallel diminishment of culture-deculturative process. ... Read more