Growing up Japanese American in the Bay Area, I was surrounded by a diverse group of friends and family, and I was taught that the world is full of people from diverse backgrounds. But that is from a naive kid’s perspective; most of my friends were Chinese, Hispanic, Taiwanese, Filipino, Black, or White. I stuck out and did not completely understand why. As much as we don’t think about how race affects our daily lives, it had a significant impact on my growth in retrospect.
For context, I am plugging some data from Stanford Medicine on demographics. “According to 2023 US Census Bureau, 1,6 million of the U.S., 0.5% of the total US population, identified their “race” as Japanese alone or in combination. 23% of Japanese Americans are 65 years of age or older; the largest population over 65 of any Asian American subgroup, and 65.4% of these residents were born in the United States.”
My grandparents on my Dad’s side were kids when they went to spend time in internment camps during World War II. Their identities and possessions were stripped away, leaving them to leave these camps with nothing. The repercussions of the government's action forced many Japanese American families to assimilate and join blue-collar workforces, primarily in California. The silencing of my family and others alike caused generations of us to shut up and blend in. Our language has faded over the generations to the point where I am unable to speak it. The injustice inflicted on such a small population went unnoticed because it is in our blood to keep our heads down and work hard, an aspect of Japanese culture still seen today in the workforce, causing high suicide rates in Japan.
Outside my own family, I know few Japanese Americans. We come from an affluent culture full of beauty that repression has pushed down deep inside us. I have found a few people who truly understand me and how I see the world. This is due to the small population of people like me.
American Culture, however, promotes the romanticization of Japanese culture without proper representation historically and today. Entertainment like Anime and Manga are so popular that conventions of white Americans come together to celebrate something they are being fed by a money-hungry corporate America, feeding on the shiny cultural aspects of another country. I often find myself in situations where I face microaggressions about anime, sushi, ramen, and all of the above. I think it is sad that people don’t take the time to uplift this community when a large part of American culture is stolen from Japan.
That ends here. I will continue to speak on and about Japanese American culture and its historical value.
“Historical Experiences of the Cohort.” Geriatrics, Stanford, 6 May 2025, geriatrics.stanford.edu/ethnomed/ethno-med/japanese/japanese-american/introduction/historical.html.
