Description
Book SynopsisWhat happens when Japanese Americans, born and raised in the United States, are the ones living abroad in Japan?
Redefining Japaneseness chronicles how Japanese American migrants to Japan navigate and complicate the categories of Japanese and “foreigner”. Jane H. Yamashiro tracks the multiple ways these migrants strategically negotiate and interpret their daily interactions.
Trade Review"Based on excellent and extensive research,
Redefining Japanesenessis a comprehensive look at a previously understudied area. Yamashiro has produced a work of the highest academic quality." -- Stephen Murphy-Shigematsu * author of When Half is Whole: Multiethnic Asian American Identities *
"Not only does Yamashiro give us engaging portraits of how Japanese Americans navigate the social and cultural terrain of contemporary Japan, but she also provides a fundamental rethinking of the analytic frameworks by which migrant identities have been contextualized and understood." -- Michael Omi * University of California, Berkeley *
"Yamashiro’s insightful and ethnographically rich account of the migration of Japanese Americans to their ancestral homeland and its impact on their identities is an important intellectual contribution to numerous fields of study." -- Takeyuki Tsuda * Professor of Anthropology at Arizona State University *
“Jane H. Yamashiro’s Redefining Japaneseness is an innovative and provocative addition to Asian American studies….Yamashiro’s Redefining Japaneseness gives readers a solid understanding of Japanese American identity construction in Japan while also reflecting upon her subjects’ identities after their return to the United States.” * Journal of Asian American Studies *
Table of ContentsPrefaceAcknowledgmentsNote on Terminology
Introduction
2Japanese as a Global Ancestral Group: Japaneseness on the US Continent, Hawaii, and Japan
3Differentiated Japanese American Identities: The Continent Versus Hawaii
4From Hapa to Hafu: Mixed Japanese American Identities in Japan
5Language and Names in Shifting Assertions of Japaneseness
6Back in the United States: Japanese American Interpretations of Their Experiences in Japan
Conclusion
Appendix A: Methodology: Studying Japanese American Experiences in TokyoAppendix B: List of Japanese American Interviewees Who Have Lived in Japan
NotesGlossaryBibliographyIndex
