Gil Asakawa

gilasakawa

Gil Asakawa is a journalist, editor, author, and blogger who covers Japan, Japanese American and Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) culture and social justice issues in blogs, articles, and social media. He is a nationally-known speaker, panelist, and expert on Japanese American and Asian American history and identity. He’s the author of Being Japanese American (Stone Bridge Press) and his next book, Tabemasho! Let’s Eat! (Stone Bridge Press), a history of Japanese food in America which will be published in 2022. His blog: nikkeiview.com.

Updated January 2022

community en

Eating Together Again for the Holidays

By Gil Asakawa
3 Jan 2023

It’s been a long, sometimes lonely three years since COVID-19 arrived in the world and changed all our lives. For many of us, this holiday season may be the first since the pandemic shutdowns when we’ll be traveling to visit family once again, and dining with them. (Of course, we didn’t know a historic deep freeze would disrupt nationwide travel over the Christmas weekend….) If we’re lucky, we live not far from our parents and grandparents, and have been able to drive over for Sunday dinners or pick up takeout to enjoy with them this whole time. But if we live …

media en

Nikkei View

Learning about Asian Americans through Pop Culture

By Gil Asakawa
28 Oct 2022

Pop culture can be a mirror that reflects the issues and values of its time—for good and bad. For instance, Hollywood initially embraced Asians, and two of the early film era’s biggest stars were Los Angeles-born Chinese American Anna May Wong and Japanese-born Sessue Hayakawa. Anna May Wong is now featured on a quarter; Sessue Hayakawa is probably best remembered today for The Bridge over the River Kwai. But as the 20th century progressed, Hollywood began casting white actors with eyes taped back and “yellowface” makeup on their faces to play Asian r…

food en

Sake to me, baby

By Gil Asakawa
30 Jun 2022

Nancy Matsumoto readily admits she’s a lightweight when drinking alcohol. “It’s ironic, that I wrote this,” she says. Matsumoto co-wrote Exploring the World of Japanese Craft Sake: Rice, Water, Earth with Michael Tremblay (Tuttle). It’s the latest in a number of book collaborations, including Displaced: Manzanar 1942–1945—The Incarceration of Japanese Americans and an upcoming book, By the Shore of Lake Michigan, in which she served as editor for a translation of a collection of her grandparents’ Japanese tanka poetry. Matsumoto is a pro…

community en

Nikkei View

I’m so disappointed to see stereotyped snack packaging in my supermarket

By Gil Asakawa
25 May 2022

Racial stereotypes used to be part of the American consumer landscape – everywhere you turned there was a depiction, playful caricature or a ghastly exaggerated image of a person of color on commercials and ads on television or publications, or on packaging on store shelves. But if nothing else, the recent years of anti-racism protests in the wake of the murders of George Floyd and the many Black men and women before him and since, has awakened mainstream Americans and the media and institutions that serve them and let them know in no uncertain terms that racial images are no longer acc…

community en

This Year’s Pilgrimage to Amache Will Be Very, Very Special

By Gil Asakawa
8 Apr 2022

Every year on the Saturday before Labor Day Weekend, people converge in southeast Colorado to visit Amache, the camp where 9,000 people of Japanese descent were incarcerated during World War II. This annual pilgrimage started in 1975, organized by Denver activists Marge Taniwaki and Russell Endo. It’s always an inspiring journey, which starts at the site of the concentration camp and ends at nearby Granada School, where community leaders and the amazing students of the Amache Preservation Society at the school welcome and feed the visitors and give presentations. There’s a ceremo…

Submit an article

Discover Nikkei

Japanese migrants and their descendants

Gil Asakawa

Nikkei View

Nikkei View

Series this author contributes to

Nikkei Chronicles #11—Itadakimasu 3! Nikkei Food, Family, and Community

Intercultural Communication Through Sushi

Nikkei Chronicles #11—Itadakimasu 3! Nikkei Food, Family, and Community

Food for Thought—TikTok & Tamagoyaki

Roger Arakaki, Chef and Teacher

The Nisei Women Who Fought—And Won—An Early Redress Battle In Seattle

子どもをサーファーにするため渡米 ― 五十嵐ツトムさんとミサさん

Nikkei Chronicles #12—Growing Up Nikkei: Connecting with Our Heritage

Journal Entry #Lesson 3450: "Sharpen Your Pencils!"

Narumi Ogusuku Ubiquitous Nikkei Artist

Herald Salutes – Staff Sergeant Higuchi

The Morgenthau Diaries and FDR's Troubling Views of Minorities

書評：和泉真澄『日系カナダ人の移動と運動―知られざる日本人の越境生活史』

1992年渡米、目標は「アカデミー賞」— 俳優の井上英治さん

Kizuna 2020: Nikkei Kindness and Solidarity During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Tiempos pandémicos: teletrabajo y koden digital

Kizuna 2020: Nikkei Kindness and Solidarity During the COVID-19 Pandemic

COVID-19 e os heróis anônimos

香川県海外移民の父：今雪真一の情熱と功績

第３部：金子正則知事の南米訪問とその主な見解

We Need Your Help!

Help us expand translations on Discover Nikkei.

Get updates

Support this project

A project of the

Major support by

Journal Entry #Lesson 3450: "Sharpen Your Pencils!"

Narumi Ogusuku Ubiquitous Nikkei Artist

Herald Salutes – Staff Sergeant Higuchi

The Morgenthau Diaries and FDR's Troubling Views of Minorities

Mercedes Luna: Thriving Within Her Rich Heritage - Part 2

Mercedes Luna: Thriving Within Her Rich Heritage - Part 1

Remembering Roger Daniels

Journal Entry #6am – 8am: "Childhood Delusions..."

Digging up Ways to Honor Her Ancestors—Kyoko Oda and Ireichō

Aloha 'Oe, Dr. Franklin Odo: Remembering a Brilliant Scholar and a Special Mentor and Friend - Part 2

Aloha 'Oe, Dr. Franklin Odo: Remembering a Brilliant Scholar and a Special Mentor and Friend - Part 1

Journal Entry #78.79 Years: "This Mortal Coil..."

Cuando llegue el momento

Journal Entry #At Least 195 Degrees...: "Unusual Tastes..."

Parental Responsibilities

Chapter 11 (Part 2) Picture-Bride Marriages on the Rise

Miye Sugino—Art as Advocacy: “To me, art is a reclamation of identity”

Veteran History – Earl Terao: Kotonk in Paradise

Poetry - Cow 1 Is Not Cow 2

Virgil William Westdale Takes One Last Flight at 104

Journal Entry #5 Great Powers: "I'm Telling You Why..."

No Christmas Like an Inouye Family Christmas

Reflections on a Pilgrimage: The Dust of Poston

Grammy-Nominated Musician Masa Takumi and His Move to the U.S. in 2018

ByFood.com: A Cornucopia of Information for Planning Food Adventures and More in Japan — Part 1

Academy Award Nominated Writer Iris Yamashita Uses Her Lifelong Love of Writing to Forge Her Next Chapter

Dr. T.T. Yatabe, the American Loyalty League, and the Birth of the JACL

Chapter 11 (Part 1) Picture-Bride Marriages on the Rise

How Do Nikkei Living in Japan Spend Their New Year?

Bay Area Man Recalls Career Exploring World for Energy in Exotic Places

Journal Entry #70 MM, B.C.: "Santa Claus is coming to town!"

In Tribute to Roger Daniels: The Father of Us All

Remembering Roger Daniels—A Reflection

William Saroyan and the search for "The Japanese American Novel"

Joe Oishi’s Nursery and The Promised Year

Stone Songs

Reflections on a Concocted Conversation

40 Years of Toronto Taiko with Kiyoshi Nagata — Part 2

'A Heuristic Model' for Historians to Emulate with Other Camps

Nikkei in Motown: Masao Hirata, Diego Rivera and Japanese in Detroit

Journal Entry #2023: "I Resolve to Win the Lotto..."

Japanese Canadian Culture Through a Japanese Lens

A Lifetime Christmas Gift

Two Books That Shine New Light on the Nisei Experience in Japan

Expansion

Recollections from Jerome and Rohwer

ByFood.com: A Cornucopia of Information for Planning Food Adventures and More in Japan — Part 2

Candies Falling from the Sky