Nisei Voices: Japanese American Students of the 1930s--Then & Now - Softcover

Hirohata; Joyce; Paul T.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0972814906 ISBN 13: 9780972814904

Publisher: Hirohata Design, 2004

Synopsis

Nisei Voices documents and celebrates the lives of the first Japanese American valedictorians of California public schools in the 1930s. These students are called Nisei (pronounced "nee-say") which means second-generation children of Japanese immigrants.

The students' speeches were first published in the 1930s by Paul T. Hirohata in a book called Orations and Essays. Now, over seventy years later, Hirohata's granddaughter, Joyce Hirohata, has updated and expanded the volume.

In this new edition, she documents the valedictorians' lives and adds a collection of poignant photographs to the original 1930s material. The fifty manuscripts of the valedictorians' orations give a rare glimpse into the hearts of Japanese Americans in the period between World Wars. Over 160 images bring to life the history of the Nisei students and their generation.

Through interviews with the valedictorians, as well as their families and friends, Nisei Voices creates a collage of the students' lives, forged in hope but tested by the adversity of incarceration. An epic story of triumph, Nisei Voices lends a powerful, personal perspective of Japanese Americans before, during and after World War II, and the decades that followed.

About this title

About the Author

Joyce Hirohata (b. 1969) is granddaughter of Paul T. Hirohata and was born and raised in San Francisco. She has a B.A. degree in design from the University of California at Los Angeles and holds an M.B.A. from the University of San Francisco. She currently lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband.

Paul T. Hirohata (1898–1965) was born in the Fukuoka prefecture in Japan and spent twenty years in the U.S. He earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Whittier College and in the 1930s was the U.S. correspondent for The Japan Times newspaper. In addition to publishing Orations and Essays, he authored several other books, including Zaibei Fukuoka Kenjinshi that documents early Japanese immigrants from the Fukuoka prefecture who came to America at the turn of the century.

Review

"Gives a strong voice to this largely silent but noble and dedicated generation." -- David Mayer, Nanzan University, Nagoya, Japan

"Makes a substantial contribution to the understanding of the Nisei and the struggles they encountered . . . ." -- Florence Hongo, Asian American Curriculum Project

"Provides unique and very important commentary on a critical period of U.S. and California history." -- Susan Hinojosa, University of California, Berkeley Library

Edition details

• Publisher: Hirohata Design
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0972814906
• ISBN 13: 9780972814904
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 262