Nikkei Heritage

Our executive director, Rosalyn Tonai, was having trouble getting her son, Kiyoshi, to finish his lunch. A sensitive and selective eater, he’d return from school carrying his homemade goodies he’d barely nibbled. In despair, Ros joked: “If you don’t watch out, I’ll make you eat peanut butter, mayonnaise and natto sandwiches!”
“OK,” Kiyoshi said. So Ros made one. He bit into it. And he liked it. For the next few weeks, he feasted happily on food most of us would think of punishment.

When it comes to food, Nikkei are incredibly resourceful, infinitely experimental. Yeah, we consume a lot of strange stuff, too—and we’re proud of it. As immigrants, we’ve always eaten from a menu of hard work and bare bones; upon arriving in America, we bent our backs over its harvest. We’ve made do: when we couldn’t find fresh eel, we substituted canned tuna; when no one’s around for a mochitsuki, we fire up the microwave. As Lisa Masai notes in her essay, even our most westernized dishes are a soulful connection to our past. Occasionally, they’re the only connection, Eleanor Park discovers on p.8.

It’s amazing how our foods, once considered exotic, have become common ingredients in the American diet. On p.10, Kenji Murase traces the evolution of abalone, once considered “trash fish,” into a gourmet delicacy; Grace Wada Miyamoto reminisces about the fanciful offerings of her island home on p.6. Humble, hidden matsutake is worth the price of gold—both in taste and memory, as Homer Yasui reports on p.5. Changing times threaten to make fresh manju a thing of the past, so pick up a dozen from Benkyodo while you can; sometimes, memory makes life’s flavor that much sweeter, as in the poignant essay by a masterful writer, Toshio Mori.

Thanks to those who’ve commented on past issues of Nikkei Heritage. In response to our spring “Manga” issue, Stanley Kanzaki of New York sent photocopies of a comic strip, “Jankee,” that ran in Topaz Times at Topaz Relocation Center. Bennie Nobori, who worked for Walt Disney’s studio, created the strip and on Saturdays taught cartooning classes in his small barrack room. Kanzaki, of his young students, wonders: “Does anyone know where he is or what he’s doing?” Kanzaki also shared memories of Mine Okubo (featured in our Winter 2002 issue) and Chiura Obata (whose work appeared on the cover of our Spirng 2001 issue), who taught brush painting in camp.

We also heard from Harold Kameya, who with his wife founded the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Islander Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays. “We look up to the Niseis of WWII as models of courage,” Kameya wrote. “From the stories of JA gays and lesbians that I have heard, they too are models of courage for me.” For promoting open dialogue and information in our community, the Kameyas can take their place among our heroes.

Finally, we’d like to welcome the newest NJAHS member to our table: Charlene Kiyomi Tonai Din was born to proud parents Rosalyn Tonai and Grant Din on July 12, 2002. Her big brother Kiyoshi can’t wait to fix her first sandwich.

- Chiori Santiago, Editor, Nikkei Heritage