But when we came out of camp, that's when I first realized that being in camp, that being Japanese-American, was something shameful.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
I was fortunate to live for 3 years in another country, and although we lived in an American compound, still as a young adolescent I did venture into the world of the Japanese with great interest and enjoyment. But many Americans never left that safe and familiar life among their own people.
You know, I grew up in two American internment camps, and at that time I was very young.
After college, I wanted to learned about myself as an American, so I left the United States and went to Japan.
I think that American people really know how to pursue fun, they really know how to have a good time. Japanese are somewhat more reserved than Americans, so I'm jealous.
I'm not American. I still have my Japanese citizenship.
My life was very Japanese.
The recipe to an unhappy life in Japan is to want to be Japanese if you are not. Anyone who wants to penetrate the country is setting themselves up for tears and disappointment.
We were American citizens. We were incarcerated by our American government in American internment camps here in the United States. The term 'Japanese internment camp' is both grammatically and factually incorrect.
Growing up in California, I obviously knew about our deep connections with the Japanese.
The American society around me looked at me and saw Japanese. Then, when I was 19, I went to Japan for the first time. And suddenly - what a shock - I realized I wasn't Japanese; they saw me as American. It was an enormous relief. Now I just appreciate being exactly in the middle.