Identity: Being Asian American

[yuiyoshida]

[Stellar]

1. Thank you for sharing.

I found the video to be interesting and informative. I believe every minority has a story that they can probably share and make some of the same (or different) points of view.

Now, I'd like to try sea weed, she made it sound delicious.

[yuiyoshida]

2. Nori is so wonderful...

But the sodium is super high..


Best eaten in Miso Soup or on rice crackers!!

[Stellar]

3. I've got to find a way to at least taste it.

I am on medication to treat my high blood pressure.

[yuiyoshida]

4. You can also find it on Sushi!!

[Stellar]

5. Never wanted to try Sushi before, but

I'm willing to try it now...broaden my horizons.

[weissmam]

8. You might like this

we take seaweed and wrap crab legs (that's the fake crab meat) wasabi mayonase and lettuce together

[yuiyoshida]

9. Sounds yummy to me...

We call that (FAKE CRAB) "Surimi ".

[weissmam]

11. now I am hungry

Make that really hungry!!

[Jack Rabbit]

14. For the record: this haole likes seaweed, too

!!

[yuiyoshida]

15. Its wonderful.

I used to eat it out of the package when we ran low on snacks.

[Beams1969]

6. Thanks for the video.

I have been thinking about a lot of these things lately. Like you, I'm American, but of German descent. I lived in Japan for nine years, as well as Hawaii for three. My wife is Korean, but grew up in Japan from the time she was 10 years old. She experienced the prejudice many Japanese have for Koreans, and then experienced the prejudice the Koreans have for the Japanese when she returned to Korea with a school brass band and everyone just assumed they were all Japanese. They were actually Zainichi, people of Korean parents who were born and raised in Japan, often not able to speak Korean fluently. She often identifies as Japanese, although feels more Korean when she sees things like the disputes over the islands.

We moved to the US in 2010 and we now have a four-month old son. We live in a small town (pop. 7000) and I wonder what life is going to be like for him. He looks far more Asian than European, but he is beautiful no matter what. We have friends and the husband is white and the wife is Chinese. Their sons are really great kids and seem very well adjusted in school, so I am not too worried. At my wife's baby shower, everyone wrote down "advice" to give our son later on. She wrote to not worry about other kids staring and making comments about the strange food he brings for lunch, so I smiled when I heard you talking about that. I also work in international education, so our son will probably be exposed to many different cultures growing up.

Anyway, we are looking forward to the journey and all its ups and downs with our son.

Best wishes.

P.S. Why is the group only for women?

[yuiyoshida]

7. I should mention that I didn't make

This video, but it was made by Alison who is Chinese American (I am Japanese American) and lives in New York. I am a huge fan of her videos (https://www.youtube.com/user/ilikealison) and follow her on twitter. (https://twitter.com/ilikealison). I am not exactly quite sure why the conference she mentioned is for women only, perhaps you could ask more about it, by leaving a message on her youtube page.

[weissmam]

10. I guess youI don't know how luck you are sometimes

I am white my wife is chinese and mty daughter is chinese (adopted from china) the area we live in has a huge chinese population to te point that my daughters sarurday chinese school has about 600-700 students

[wilt the stilt]

12. Interesting but very different from my experience

My family was the group that were the pioneers. My Grandfather was born in CA in the 1890's. I grew up in the fifties. There were hardly any Asians in America at the time. We were orientals and for better or worse we blazed the trials for Asians. we suffered the discrimination and all we wanted to be were americans. Ask anyone who is of Asian descent and grew up in the fifties and I'm sure their experiences is very different.

[yuiyoshida]

13. Wait... You grew up in the 1950s and there were few Asians here?

I could have sworn there were Asians working on the Railroads in California ... at least that is what my history books have said... (Chinese and some Japanese)



And I seem to recall George Takei mentioning something about Japanese Internment camps...


Seems to me there were a lot of Asians in California in the 1950s and before that.

[wilt the stilt]

16. Do you doubt me?

I'm 62. My dad grew up in St. Louis and couldn't swim in the public swimming pools. We went to get a mortgage in 1962 and we had 50% down payment and we had to go to Harlem to get a mortgage. I grew up in the back of a Chinese laundry and in my high school which was in Yonkers there were exactly 3 orientals in my high school and one was my brother. Someone suffered through the discrimination and it wasn't you.

[Beams1969]

17. I think both have made valid points.

First, I think the discrimination that Ms. Yoshida experiences, while maybe not as severe as you and your ancestors, is still real and poignant. Yes, your generation and those before you experienced denial of housing and other essentials, along I'm sure with much worse racism, which she probably hasn't to that extent.

Just to show discrimination can be in the opposite direction, I was denied being able to look at several apartments and entry into a few restaurants because I was a foreigner in Japan. The policy was actually in writing that the landlord wouldn't rent to foreigners. While I am not trying to equate my relatively few experiences with discrimination in Japan to the systematic and regular discrimination you and your generation have experienced in the US (although the discrimination in Asian countries against non-Asians can be pretty systemic as well), I do want to point out that prejudice and discrimination happen everywhere. Just because people aren't being put in internment camps and movies like Breakfast at Tiffany's with Mickey Rooney dressing in "yellow face" aren't being made any more (although The Mikado is still performed very stereotypically) doesn't mean I can't worry about how my wife and son are treated in this society. Yes, your experiences certainly were very different than Asian Americans growing up today and definitely your and previous generations helped open opportunities they wouldn't have today (Thank You!), but their experiences today are still valid and they still experience discrimination.

I also think there should be a definition of "many" in this conversation. Relative to the west coast and Hawaii, there definitely were few Asians in the Mid-West and on the east coast in the 50s and at other times, as you stated. Of course the Chinese Exclusion Act, which was in effect from 1882-1943, eliminated Chinese immigration during that time. There were large Asian populations in Hawaii (Filipino, Korean, Japanese and Chinese) brought to work the plantations. So, I think you are both correct, but we all need to be careful when using relative terms.

Maybe we can all take a step back and learn what we can from each other's experiences in a meaningful and respectful manner.

Just my two cents.

[yuiyoshida]

18. I DON'T doubt your story.. about ST. LOUIS ...

BUT as FAR AS I know California is still apart of the UNITED STATES, as is HAWAII... and we had plenty of ASIANS in California for a long, long time. AS for discrimination, I see it every day. I hear the word "Chink" "Jap" "Gook" and "Nip" often on line and sometimes in real life, SO PLEASE don't tell ME I DON'T know discrimination.

[Uncle Joe]

19. One of the perks about having been in the military is living abroad and experiencing places one

wouldn't have otherwise been exposed to.

There is a certain amount of culture shock when you see how dramatically different other peoples live but it does serve to broaden your horizons.

I believe most every society exists in a bubble and those people consciously and subconsciously define what is normal and apply that to the rest of the world.

Deviations from that norm causes discomfort, having said that I believe the world is getting smaller and the Internet is having a major impact in broadening the horizons even of people who haven't traveled to other nations and seen other cultures in action.

I love sushi it tastes buttery to me, my favorite dish in the Philippines was Panzit, I like to try different things but I could never bring myself to eat Balut, however my girlfriend loved it.

Thanks for the thread, yuiyoshida.

[yuiyoshida]

20. i would pass on the Balut as well

Thank you.

[JDPriestly]

21. K&R.

Great video.

But I do have to say that I think that people who play the violin or even try to play the violin are great, but then I have to admit that I think that because I used to play the violin.

I have lived in a number of countries.

Customs and culture do differ. No way around it.

If they didn't life would be boring.