Learning from and appreciating the Nisei experience

Experiencing discrimination as a child Feeling empowered by taiko Taiko as self-expression Sense of lineage between Sansei and Issei through Taiko Learning from and appreciating the Nisei experience Diverse membership in San Jose Taiko Bringing Japanese American taiko to Japan A “principally-based” taiko group in England creating a global taiko community

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Thinking that the Nisei weren’t really addressing the needs of the community in such a way that the Sansei, at least progressive Sansei, were looking at the community. I almost placed them as almost apathetic. I have to say that my realization about the Nisei kind of came to be where I can really appreciate that generation was when we could really get into the internment and the reparations movement. The stories of their hardships and growing up, I could really understand. I misplaced my feelings toward them in a negative that made my kind of open up into a different way of looking at the situation.

Date: January 26, 2005
Location: California, US
Interviewer: Art Hansen, Sojin Kim
Contributed by: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum

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