On Thursday, April 15, I met with Machiko Kyoya in the coffee shop in the King library called On Fourth: a novel café. We had a short lunch together while I was conducting my interview. I learned a lot about the Japanese culture and I have become very proud of gaining my new knowledge.
Machiko initially came to the United States in 1969. She was the only one in her family who came and stayed in America. The rest of her family is still in Japan. She currently works in the human resources department for Sunwize technology in downtown San Jose.
I asked her to compare the old lifestyle in Japan to the new one here in the United States. She told me that Japan’s public transportation is very developed and that it is very easy for the general public to get around without having a car. Here the average American people has their own car parked in the garage and it is very convenient to get around without making a great effort. As a result, things are much more convenient here in terms of transportation.
In Japan, the culture is connected to the seasons. In Japan there are 4 seasons where as here in California we only have 2 seasons. The Japanese are closely connected to the seasons where they are very much aware of their surroundings in terms of nature. Here in the United States people are not really in tune with the seasons and nature. They are into things like cars, houses and cloths. In America, people are more materialistic.
She now lives in San Jose and did go through many struggles to get to the comfortable lifestyle she is currently in. Machiko explained that everyday was a challenge for her and that it took her a while to catch on and to understand the discrimination she was dealing with. For example, when she first came to America and had started to work, people would automatically assume that she had come from Hawaii without asking her. Since in the 70’s there were not a lot of Asians in her community, she thought that at that time the general public thought all Asians came from Hawaii. Machiko did not like being stereotyped and was not being looked at as an individual. She felt that the general public was not educated and did not know anything about other cultures. “You can look Asian, but every single person has their own home and are not all the same”.
Next, I asked her what she thought the future of the Japanese Americans look like? Machiko replied that since the internment experience, Japanese people felt that being isolated, like forming their own community somewhere and living in that community has repressed their connections to the outside world. She does not think that it was a very good idea. Therefore, the Japanese have made a lot of efforts to become politicians. They have sent many representatives to congress to really work within the government, inside out instead of outside in. They have become very successful in their positions. Norm Mineta and Hawaii’s Senator Daniel K. Inouye are just a few people sent in the government with a purpose of really affecting the legislation and laws that affect the Japanese people. There has been a lot of change in that area and feel as if our future is very bright.
At the same time they are very interested in educating their sons and daughters. So their children have moved out of their small community into a much more diverse culture. Many Japanese have married outside of their race and have become multicultural. She believes that it will be very difficult for the new generation Japanese to maintain their real culture. When a Japanese person marries outside of their culture, and is not living in their traditional community, it makes it hard for them to be able to retain and preserve their cultural values. In the future, many Japanese people will become more and more diluted into other cultures and will forget their own.
As a Japanese American, she has married outside of her race and still to this day has not taken her husbands last name. She believes that the values she possess, her individuality, the way she looks and thinks are all influenced by her Japanese culture. Although she is married, she still likes to be her own person and likes to retain her own identity as an individual. Her culture is embodied into her name and does not want to be integrated into other cultures like everyone else. As a result, just because she lives here in America, it does not mean that she has to do everything by the American culture. Machiko does not want to be integrated therefore she has not taken her husbands last name.
As a mother of two culturally diverse children, she has made sure that they are still connected to their Japanese heritage.
The most enjoyable part of my interview was learning about the importance of the cherry blossom tree. Since the Japanese culture is connected to nature so much, the cherry blossom tree signifies the coming of spring. The way the tree blooms is connected to the life cycle. It blooms very quickly and the petals get blown away very quickly. Machiko explained, “In our culture the cherry blossom shows our way of living and dying.” When the petals are blooming, they are not resistant to anything and do not hang on to the tree, they are not ugly, they do not fight or go against nature and are very fragile, then the petals are blown away. In the Japanese culture, it is the way they view life. While you are living in this life it is important the way you conduct yourself. It is just as important that when you die, you should be able to pass on your goodness and identity to the next generation. “The petals on the cherry blossom tree signify the beginning of life till the end of life. The petals just go with the flow just like the way life takes you.”
(Evidence of the interview: Mrs. Machiko Kyoya can be reached at this number (408) 510-5176 or 274-2701 and I also have our conversation recorded)
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