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Japanese American musicians across generations draw identity from incarceration

February 28, 2024 • In February of 1942 after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the U.S. government issued an executive order to incarcerate people of Japanese descent. That legacy has become a defining story of Japanese American identity. In this episode, B.A. Parker and producer Jess Kung explore how Japanese American musicians across generations turn to that story as a way to explore and express identity. Featuring Kishi Bashi, Erin Aoyama and Mary Nomura.

Japanese American musicians across generations draw identity from incarceration

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Across the ocean: a Japanese American story of war and homecoming

Joan Suzuki, the grandmother of reporter Kori Suzuki, who was born and raised in the U.S., but lived in Japan during World War II. Kori Suzuki hide caption

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Kori Suzuki

Across the ocean: a Japanese American story of war and homecoming

May 24, 2023 • One of the most pivotal moments in Japanese American history was when the U.S. government uprooted more than 100,000 people of Japanese ancestry and forced them into incarceration camps. But there is another, less-known story about the tens of thousands of Japanese Americans who were living in Japan during World War II — and whose lives uprooted in a very different way.

Across the ocean: a Japanese American story of war and homecoming

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Patrick Shiroishi's music moves a Japanese American saga forward

Patrick Shiroishi — pictured here in Los Angeles — released 19 albums in 2022; at least three were standouts in their respective fields, in part because of the questions of identity they examine. Sean Hazen for NPR hide caption

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Sean Hazen for NPR

Music Features

Patrick Shiroishi's music moves a Japanese American saga forward

February 1, 2023 • The saxophonist and composer resisted his Japanese American heritage for decades. He now funnels that painful and triumphant personal history into a string of vital records.

Yuri Kochiyama speaks at an anti-war demonstration in New York City's Central Park around 1968. Courtesy of the Kochiyama family/UCLA Asian American Studies Center hide caption

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Courtesy of the Kochiyama family/UCLA Asian American Studies Center

Throughline

Our Own People (2021)

March 17, 2022 • A Japanese American activist whose early political awakenings came while incarcerated in the concentration camps of World War II America, Kochiyama dedicated her life to social justice and liberation movements. One year after the spa shootings that killed eight people in Atlanta, Georgia — including six women of Asian descent — Throughline reflects on Kochiyama's ideas around the Asian American struggle, and what solidarity and intersectionality can mean for all struggles.

Our Own People (2021)

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Photographing One Of America's Oldest Tofu Shops

Nong's Khao Man Gai, a popular Thai chicken and rice restaurant, uses Ota Tofu in their vegetarian option, Khao Man Gai Jay. Will Matsuda for NPR hide caption

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Will Matsuda for NPR

The Picture Show

Photographing One Of America's Oldest Tofu Shops

January 26, 2020 • Ota Tofu has nourished the Japanese American community in Portland, Ore., for more than 100 years, using a production process that has changed little through the decades.

A Century Later: The Treaty Of Versailles And Its Rejection Of Racial Equality

Members of the Japanese American Mochida family, in Hayward, Calif., await relocation to an incarceration camp during World War II. Dorothea Lange/Getty Images hide caption

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Dorothea Lange/Getty Images

Code Switch

A Century Later: The Treaty Of Versailles And Its Rejection Of Racial Equality

August 11, 2019 • A century ago, Japan submitted a proposal for racial equality in the Treaty of Versailles. The U.S. struck it down. What followed had implications for World War II and Japanese Americans.

Walking In Their Footsteps At A Former Japanese Internment Camp

Our group was made up of Americans of Japanese, Chinese, Vietnamese, and Korean descent. All together, we were eight adults and six children, all boys. Melissa Hung for NPR hide caption

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Melissa Hung for NPR

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The Salt

For Great Japanese Cuisine And Grocers, Head To Central Ohio (Really)

The Statehouse News Bureau

May 11, 2016 • Why Ohio? Thanks to a nearby Honda plant, Columbus is full of bakeries, highly-regarded restaurants, markets and other retailers specializing in Japanese food, ingredients and wares.

For Great Japanese Cuisine And Grocers, Head To Central Ohio (Really)

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In California, A 'Welcome Home' For The Japanese-American Queer Community

Michelle Honda-Phillips stands with her transgender daughter, Malisa, at a pre-event for Tadaima in Berkeley, California. Tadaima Bay Area 2016 hide caption

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Tadaima Bay Area 2016

Code Switch

In California, A 'Welcome Home' For The Japanese-American Queer Community

April 2, 2016 • Japanese-Americans in California have been working hard to strengthen ties between the API queer community and its friends, families and allies. This new conference series is a start.