Being Japanese American: A JA Sourcebook for Nikkei, Hapa . . . & Their Friends

(Paperback, Second Edition)

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Description

This entertaining compendium is a celebration of Japanese American history and heritage. While detailing favorite foods, customs, words, games, and holidays, it explores the painful history of immigration and WWII internment, with suggestions for connecting to your Japanese American community and passing on traditions across generations and into intermarried families. This revised edition has fresh interviews with Japanese Americans about their life experiences and explores contemporary Japanese pop culture like anime and J-pop, with information on traveling to visit your Japanese roots and lists of resources on the Web and social media.

Gil Asakawa lives in Denver, Colorado, and is a nationally known journalist, editor, author, speaker, and blogger focusing on Japanese and Asian American issues.

Reviews

"Being Japanese American is a superb guide to avoiding breaches of tact around Japanese friends, family, or visitors, regardless of one's own ethnic heritage or background, and is also chock-full of helpful ways to embrace, preserve, and treasure one's cultural identity." -- Midwest Book Review "Offers a great opportunity for JAs to process their feelings and experiences in relationship to other JAs who, through their stories and photos, share empathy and understanding." -- Asian Reporter "Teens who want to know a little more about contemporary Japanese American culture beyond all the history books about the World War II internment experience will find great information here..." -- Voice of Youth Advocates, April 2005 Issue "A must-read book that will delight you with its humor and amuse you with its insights; for non-Asian, a must-read book if you're curious about what makes Japanese Americans tick." -- John Tateishi, National Executive Director, Japanese American Citizens League "Part history, part photo album, part cultural document, part memoir, part language lesson, even part cookbook, Being Japanese American is an entertaining primer on many aspects of the Japanese American experience." -- BookDragon "A lighthearted view into the unique lingo, idiosyncrasies and nuances of Japanese American life." -- DiscoverNikkei.org

Author Bio

Gil Asakawa a is a journalist, editor, author, speaker and blogger who covers Asian American, Japanese American and Japanese culture in blogs and social media. He writes regular columns for and is a member of the Editorial Board for the Pacific Citizen, the national newspaper of the Japanese American Citizens League, and his columns are also published in the Nikkei Voice, the national newspaper of Japanese Canadians