On being Japanese and American

The origin of name Kishi Bashi His Shin-Issei parents On being Japanese and American On his songfilm Omoiyari The reason for creating the songflim Omoiyari On music

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I speak Japanese and I go to Japan a lot so I kind of identify both as Japanese and then American and I’m still trying to figure out this, what it is to be Japanese American.

I definitely see myself as different, cause my upbringing is different than west coast Japanese Americans, but there’s a commonality in that, like the history really affects me, probably in a very similar way.

I never felt…either I masked it very well, in that whatever prejudices were around me, but I had friends and I…since I played music, music is a very kind of colorblind art form I think. So…a lot of art is.

Date: August 21, 2018
Location: California, US
Interviewer: Sharon Yamato
Contributed by: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum

identity japanese japanese american music