Encore: The Little Known Wartime History of Japanese Americans Living in Japan

12/23/23 • 30 min

This week we’re sharing a story from August 2023. It’s the little known history of Japanese Americans who were living in Japan during World War II.

Reporter Kori Suzuki found out that his own grandmother, who he’d always thought was born in Japan, is a Kibei Nisei, a second generation American who returned after living through World War II in Japan. He explores his grandmother’s memories and discovers new aspects of himself along the way.

This story was originally produced by our friends at Code Switch.

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This week we’re sharing a story from August 2023. It’s the little known history of Japanese Americans who were living in Japan during World War II.

This story was originally produced by our friends at Code Switch.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Previous Episode

Centering Shared Humanity In Wartime

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Like a lot of people, journalist Asal Ehsanipour has been in a state of despair since the latest war between Israel and Hamas began on October 7. One of the only times she’s found comfort was at a San Francisco Jewish Community Center event with Israeli and Palestinian speakers who’ve lost a loved one to the ongoing conflict. One of the speakers was a man who’d moved from Gaza and now lives in the Bay Area. Coming to California opened up his thinking about embracing our shared humanity – even during times of war.

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Next Episode

Encore: Oakland Rapper Guap on His Black and Filipino Roots

This week we're revisiting a story from our series Mixed: Stories of Mixed-Race Californians. It originally aired in March 2023.

Even if he’s not always recognized as part of the Asian American community, Oakland-born rapper Guap is fiercely proud of his Filipino roots. On the last track of his 2021 album, 1176, he tells an origin story spanning decades and continents. His grandfather, a Black merchant marine stationed in Subic Bay in the Philippines, ripped the pocket of his uniform. He knew he'd be in big trouble if he didn't fix it, so he found a young Filipina seamstress to repair the pocket — and fell in love. When his time in Subic Bay came to an end, the two married and moved to a one-story house in West Oakland, where they would eventually raise their grandchild Guap, the first-born child of their youngest daughter.

Sasha Khokha and Marisa Lagos spoke to Guap about growing up Black and Filipino, the cultural impact his lola had on him, and how his mixed identity shows up in his music.

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