The reason to stay in Japan after his third year

Little contact with Asians growing up on the east coast Spending summers in Los Angeles Japanese Americans brought up to deny their roots Being multicultural before it was “in” Moving to and living in Japan The reason to stay in Japan after his third year Being a Japanese American in Japan Never being Japanese Japan as my home Different tension between East Coast and Los Angeles A stereotype of Japanese Americans Main differences between Japanese and Japanese Americans

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Now, the reason I decided to stay after my third year is because, like you said, it was cumulative. I had been out here for a while, but there was work opportunities out here. I found that I wasn’t very attracted to the idea of going back to the States and trying to jump back into my career again. It’s easier to start something new out here. At that time, there were a lot of opportunities for foreign expats. So that was part of it. The other part of it is that I’ve grown kind of a distaste of America at this point. It had started a long time ago, even before I had left—just being in Los Angeles and seeing a lot of political hypocrisy and stuff. Having been in Japan and being able to see the first Iraq war, the first Gulf war, from an outside perspective, that just sold me on that fact that it’s not a place that I want to be anymore.

Date: September 12, 2003
Location: Tokyo, Japan
Interviewer: Art Nomura
Contributed by: Art Nomura, Finding Home.

FindingHome immigration Japan migration