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Being Japanese American: A JA Sourcebook for Nikkei, Hapa . . . & Their Friends
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This entertaining compendium is a celebration of Japanese American history and heritage. While detailing favorite foods, customs, words, games, and holidays, it explores the painful history of immigration and WWII internment, with suggestions for connecting to your Japanese American community and passing on traditions across generations and into intermarried families. This
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Paperback, 176 pages
Published
August 18th 2015
by Stone Bridge Press
(first published June 1st 2004)
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Start your review of Being Japanese American: A JA Sourcebook for Nikkei, Hapa . . . & Their Friends
This is one of those books that I wish I had when I was younger. I feel like I learned a lot about my heritage and culture through reading it (I'm a yonsei hapa), especially about some things that I do or hold close that many others do not seem to share. Asakawa's writing is accessible, and while the book does not go into heavy details about the subjects, it's great for getting an overview and finding out ways of further exploration. The book covers a wide variety of subjects that deal with Japa
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This is a really good book about Japanese American culture and even includes material on how a Japanese American can construct a scrapbook of their family's past.
It includes, for example, information on customs, food, the language and Japanese American communities.
The author does include information on the internment, though, noting:
”Still, the scars of internment have affected the JA community at large. Even if they themselves weren't interned, many JAs know someone in their family, or another ...more
It includes, for example, information on customs, food, the language and Japanese American communities.
The author does include information on the internment, though, noting:
”Still, the scars of internment have affected the JA community at large. Even if they themselves weren't interned, many JAs know someone in their family, or another ...more
This is definitely a book I wish had existed when I was younger. Asakawa does a great job, through his own anecdotes and of others he's interviewed, about what it's like to be Japanese-American, and how it is different from being Japanese. Many of the conclusions he's come to mirror my own. One feature I particularly liked about the book are the little sideboxes of Japanese words, and how JAs will pepper them into English conversations. This is definitely something that happens a lot in my famil
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Gil's book was very easy to read: organized like a history book on Japanese Americans (JAs), I enjoyed reading about how JAs have maintained some of their Japanese heritage while weaving that in with growing up in America (or Canada).
Reading the book gave me a greater appreciation of my own Chinese American upbringing. I liked the various Japanese words/phrases sprinkled throughout the book along with the insights from various JAs/JCs about how their experience was growing up in North America. ...more
Reading the book gave me a greater appreciation of my own Chinese American upbringing. I liked the various Japanese words/phrases sprinkled throughout the book along with the insights from various JAs/JCs about how their experience was growing up in North America. ...more
found out at the library conference that the newer edition will be coming out end of july 2015!
Aug 05, 2007
JOE IRON THE GREAT www.myspace.com/joeironmusic
rated it
it was amazing
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review of another edition
My uncle wrote the "Introduction".
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