ティム・アサメン

(Tim Asamen)

インペリアルバレー開拓者博物館の常設ギャラリー、日系アメリカ人ギャラリーのコーディネーター。祖父母は、現在ティムが暮らすカリフォルニア州ウェストモーランドに鹿児島県上伊集院村から1919年に移住してきた。1994年、ティムは鹿児島ヘリテージ・クラブに入会し、会長（1999-2002）と会報誌編集者（2001-2011）を務めた。

（2013年８月更新）

identity en

Japanese American Name Culture - Part 1

ティム・アサメン
2017年5月11日

Is it Eisenhauer or Eisenhower? Gonzalez or Gonzales? Yasuzo or Yasudo? Whether they are misspellings, attempts at assimilation, or expressions of individualism, the variations in the spelling of immigrant names make up a distinctive feature of the American experience. (By the way, that is why I am not keen on the idea of standardizing the spelling of Nikkei names – say, in accordance with the modified Hepburn system – for bibliographies and even library and archival collections.) Nikkei name culture begins with the romanization of Japanese names. Upon arriving in America, the Is…

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Coming to Terms with Tenchosetsu

ティム・アサメン
2017年4月10日

On the front page of the English section of the December 24, 2016, issue of The Rafu Shimpo, there was a small photograph of the emperor and empress of Japan. The caption read in part, “Emperor Akihito, accompanied by his wife Empress Michiko, waves to the crowd at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo on December 23, his 83rd birthday.” The Japanese American daily newspaper still deems the emperor’s birthday as newsworthy. Until 1948 the reigning emperor’s birthday was a national holiday in Japan called Tenchōsetsu. Before the war, Tenchōsetsu was an important occasion in Nik…

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What Made Them Such Good Farmers?

ティム・アサメン
2017年3月7日

During the early days of agricultural development in California’s Imperial Valley, most of the cotton farmers hailed from Texas and other southern states. They grew cotton as an annual crop. That is, the crop was planted and nurtured only until the cotton was picked. Then the bare stalks were plowed under and a new crop was planted the following season. In 1909 a prominent local pioneer named Ira Aten boasted that he discovered through experimentation that when the stalks were pruned back after the initial harvest and the same plants were allowed to sprout new growth the following seaso…

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Inaka: Moving from Scorn to Pride

ティム・アサメン
2017年2月10日

I sometimes refer to the Imperial Valley as my little inaka corner of the world. Literally translated, inaka (田舎) means “the countryside” or “one’s native village.” And in adjectival form, it means “rural,” “rustic,” or “provincial.” The Imperial Valley is definitely that; it is farm country in California’s southern desert bordering Mexico and Arizona. Approximately two hundred miles southeast of Los Angeles and one hundred twenty miles due east of San Diego, it is undeniably out in the boondocks. The Issei pioneers pl…

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Come Out First – Imperial Valley’s Winter Harvest

ティム・アサメン
2017年1月10日

To create the farming oasis called the Imperial Valley, in 1901 water from the Colorado River was diverted to the middle of the desert that stretches across Imperial County in the southeastern corner of California. The region is notorious for its scorching summer heat; the temperature exceeds 100 degrees Fahrenheit for more than 100 consecutive days. For a few days during the month of July, it is not uncommon for the afternoon highs to reach at least 120 degrees. But it is the area’s warm climate that makes possible the production of fruit and vegetables during the winter season. As a …