Stephanie Woessner

Nikkeijin opposed to militarism Stephanie Woessner

Seminar paper from the year 2002 in the subject Orientalism / Sinology - Japanology, grade: 1, University of Tubingen (Japanologie), course: Hauptseminar: Religion, Politik und Ideologie im Japan der frühen Shôwa- Zeit, language: English, abstract: This term paper is going to be about people of Japanese origin, or Nikkeijin, who were opposed to Japanese militarism of the 1930s and left Japan to live in the United States as a consequence of their political beliefs. I will talk about Ishigaki Ayako, Yashima Tar?, and Karl Yoneda. The former two were Japanese citizens, whereas Karl Yoneda was a Kibei, i.e. a US citizen of Japanese origin who was educated in Japan. This paper is based on autobiographies of the three persons in question. Since their autobiographies deal only with a certain time period in their lives extensively, and because it was almost impossible to find supplementary material to cover the time not included, my accounts of the life of each individual may not be equally detailed for specific years and may vary in length. I will begin with a brief introduction of the United States as a nation of immigrants, followed by a short history of the Japanese in the United States. I will end the introduction with a description of militarist Japan of the 1930s. The main part will deal with the three persons mentioned above and will be followed by a conclusion. The appendix includes the translation of ten pages of Ishigaki Ayako's diary, further documentation, photos, etc.