Secret ingredient to spice up drama

IT’S NOT LIKE IT’S A SECRET By Misa Sugiura (New York: HarperCollins, 2017, 400 pp., $17.99, hard cover) Secrets are hard to discuss in the open, especially when layered deep in teenage drama. For Sana Kiyohara,  those secrets come in the form of her sexual orientation, her suspicion of her father having a mistress and […]

The evolving face of San Jose and the South Bay

Last year, the University of Maryland and the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) published a report that looks at the education, employment and cultural makeup of Japanese American populations throughout the United States. The paper found that the greater San Jose, Calif. area contained the fifth largest concentration of Japanese Americans in the country, following […]

CONNECTING OVER COFFEE: Shin-Issei and Shin-Nisei discuss cultural nuances

Most people have never heard the phrase “Shin-Nisei,” including those to whom it applies. “I didn’t even know there was a term for someone like me whose parents are Japanese,” said Atsushi Miyamoto. His comment elicited sympathetic nods. More than 30 people had gathered for the first “Shin Nisei/Issei Coffee Date” organized by nihonmachiROOTS, a […]

You know you’re Shin-Nisei/Issei when…

Culture •   You thought the idea of spam musubi (and chilli over rice!) was blasphemous •   You go karaoke and the first songs you want to sing are Arashi •   You have lots of clutter in your house •   You think it’s a little strange that some people have kimono, Japanese doll displays and Japanese […]

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