Dear Family and Friends,
I write to you all from Kitahiroshima—a quaint town in Yamagata District of the Hiroshima Prefecture of Japan—as I wrap up my second day of the eight-day Global Immersion Program with the Tomodachi Inouye Scholars Program of 2023. Today, I graciously spent the day engulfed by the warmth of the Shimono family as my peers and I experienced homestay for the first time. Upon reflecting on the travel to Japan and the impressionable folks I’ve encountered here in Kitahiroshima, I have already acquired so many stories and perspectives that allow me to have a greater understanding of Japanese culture and how it plays a different role within each community it touches. Alongside the Global Immersion Program, Tomodachi Inouye Scholars (including myself) are concurrently taking the course, TransPacific Japan, taught by Dr. Curtiss Takada Rooks. This class has been a gateway for me to examine TransPacific relations of the Japanese American community within the context of both transnational and international settings. TransPacific Japan has recontextualized different aspects of the diasporic Asian American experience both specific to the Japanese community and within the realms of similarly marginalized and underrepresented groups of color. Furthermore, TISP has foundationally provided me with greater insight into how individuals of different cultures come to converge in their perspectives through experiencing realities and cultivating shared experiences.
History is an act of interpretation ultimately founded upon a multifaceted intersection of personal, sociological, ideological, and political constructs of race, society, and people. One way that this history is found and kept is through the oral and familial ties of individuals to a greater community. Hearing the stories of Shimono-san and his lifelong experience of living in Kitahiroshima, I was astonished by the level of connectedness and almost red-string like quality of storytelling that I encountered in my short time here at the Shimono residence. Oto-san (father) as I called him, moved to Kitahiroshima upon meeting and tying a string in his life with Oka-san (mother) early on in his bachelor days. What began as a classic fell-in-love-at-first-sight story eventually led to a conversation about his personal experience living within the town of Kitahiroshima. To me, Oto-san seemed like a wonder beyond my eyes as there was nothing it seemed he could not do. He taught us the importance of maintaining a self-sufficient diet and showing us his many recipes he practiced and utilized daily in his life. From the homemade sausages to the celebratory sweets and treats they made together; I was stunned by the level of comfort I felt in the heartfelt warmth the family provided within a home I had just entered six hours prior. And while Oto-san provided his experience through a more definitive and concrete story, I was able to gain an understanding of a resilient personhood from observing Oka-san and seeing her soft-spoken yet firm presence and compassion.
One motif I digested within the class that I have come to experience personally in my travel here is the notion of shared peoplehood and how connections within a group of people produce a plethora of contemporary events to aid in the upkeep and continued manifestation of that connection. This exchange of the past and present is what lays the foundation for the preservation of personal and social history. I see this exchange as a form of negotiation which is mutually met amongst a people and their environment to follow in the footsteps of telling their story, and having their voice heard. This brings me to my next point of the importance of storytelling and how my experience here has allowed me to appreciate the capacity of oneself to articulate their thoughts within the current time, creating the standard for what is contemporary and newly digestible.
Storytelling calls for a subjectivity or sensitivity of subject matter in collaborating and knowing whom, where, and when a story is told and for what or how it is told to others. The systemization and institutionalization of Japanese society within the context of academic pursuit, community building, and preservation of voices is something we discussed both in class and on our excursion to the Go-For-Broke National Educational Center. One personal story I heard from Oto-san that I was dynamically shocked by was his connection to the Zainichi and his understanding of the Zainichi populations within Japan. He told us that he had only recently acquired Japan Nationality which I believe is not only relevant in the discourse of Zainichi in Japanese history, but also within the current status of Zainichi who reside within cities such as Osaka, as the Korean ethnic presence continues to live on within Japan.
Likewise to a well-curated exhibition, each community is formed within a certain context and the tone of each group of people varies very much so based on the folks that constitute it, in addition to factors such as nationality, race, and ethnicity. Hearing about Oto-san’s relation to ethnic Koreans and his current relationship with his multiethnic grandson (the son of a Korean and Japanese household), provided me with the context to examine the discourse of a group of people whomst I share ethnic ties with yet am so separate within the national or political context. This reminded me of the complexity of the roots of people within the town of Kitahiroshima, and how the stories of Oto-san and Oka-san are one of many, yet there are so many intricacies within the individual levels of society and community that demonstrate strength and resilience even in the mundane every day. As I wrap up my reflection of Day 1 in Kitahiroshima, I hope everyone that reads this blog can began to think of the moving dynamics in constructing certain kinds of historical narratives and how they ultimately serve as the frameworks for future negating or adjacent contemporary existing narratives.
While there is still much to learn about the people and city, my experiences during the homestay stand as a reflection of how Japanese Americans and multiethnic folk stand at the junction of this storytelling in sharing stories, creating a collective memory, and sense of shared peoplehood in who we honor, what, when, where and why. As Dr. Rooks said once before in our class, a shared people begins in a shared space; and I shared the space with two lovely Kitahiroshima locals and two very passionate TISP scholars, whom I have great respect and admiration for. Further continuing this exploration will be more activities within the Hiroshima Prefecture followed by a return and continued exploration of the bustling city of Tokyo. As I move forward with the program, I hope to continue my reflection of my journey and share my story in how I have become, by what means and in what direction moving forward.
With affection,
Jenn Erin Choi
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