Double-sided obi with brown bird design and brown and gold swirls on blue-green design

Past Exhibition

Textured Lives

Japanese Immigrant Clothing from the Plantations of Hawai`i

Image with blue background of Textured Lives activity book

Activity Guide

Download the activity guide produced by JANM’s Education Unit for the exhibition. It includes some activities you can do at home!

download

 

Discover Nikkei Resources

JANM’s DiscoverNikkei.org website is a treasure trove of materials and resources on Nikkei (Japanese emigrants and their descendants) life, history, culture, and community around the world. It is a community-based project that partners with organizations and individuals throughout the Americas to share Nikkei-related community and personal stories, events, and more in four languages—English, Japanese, Spanish, and Portuguese.

Check out the articles and life history video interview clips related to the exhibition on Discover Nikkei below.

February 28 - August 22, 2010

Japanese American National Museum

Image with blue background of Textured Lives activity book

Activity Guide

Download the activity guide produced by JANM’s Education Unit for the exhibition. It includes some activities you can do at home!

download

 

Discover Nikkei Resources

JANM’s DiscoverNikkei.org website is a treasure trove of materials and resources on Nikkei (Japanese emigrants and their descendants) life, history, culture, and community around the world. It is a community-based project that partners with organizations and individuals throughout the Americas to share Nikkei-related community and personal stories, events, and more in four languages—English, Japanese, Spanish, and Portuguese.

Check out the articles and life history video interview clips related to the exhibition on Discover Nikkei below.

February 28 - August 22, 2010

Japanese American National Museum

Image with blue background of Textured Lives activity book

Activity Guide

Download the activity guide produced by JANM’s Education Unit for the exhibition. It includes some activities you can do at home!

download

 

Discover Nikkei Resources

JANM’s DiscoverNikkei.org website is a treasure trove of materials and resources on Nikkei (Japanese emigrants and their descendants) life, history, culture, and community around the world. It is a community-based project that partners with organizations and individuals throughout the Americas to share Nikkei-related community and personal stories, events, and more in four languages—English, Japanese, Spanish, and Portuguese.

Check out the articles and life history video interview clips related to the exhibition on Discover Nikkei below.

Discover Nikkei Articles

Arm protectors for working in the fields, navy in color with white dots

Kasuri to Palaka, Journey from Japanese Villages to Hawaiian Plantations, 1885-1941

In this 1999 article by Barbara Kawakami, she explains how her research has taken her on a journey that has helped her to understand the struggles of the Issei to survive on alien soil and the relationship between their old traditions and the new plantation culture. 

Read Now

Woman on stage Hole hole bushi performance dressed in plantation clothing and a hat

“Hole Hole Bushi Girl”: Interview with Allison Arakawa

In this 2010 interview, Allison Arakawa discusses her Hole Hole Bushi performance at the Textured Lives exhibition opening. Hole Hole Bushi is a hybrid term that combines the Japanese word for tune (bushi) with a Hawaiian term describing the stripping the leaves off of cut sugar cane (hole hole).

Read Now

Dean Rafaelli demonstrates the kimono during a discussion on Japanese American and Asian Indian American communities

Connecting Cultures through Kimono and Sari

On a February morning when a faint hint of spring was in the air, a diverse group of Chicagoans gathered at the Indo-American Center on North California Avenue to discuss how attire and appearance impact the Japanese American and Asian Indian American communities. (2006)

Read Now

Discover Nikkei Life History Video Interviews

Barbara Kawakami still from video interview, framed pictures and flowers in the background

Barbara Kawakami: Expert Researcher and Scholar on Japanese Immigrant Clothing

A noted storyteller, author, and historian, Barbara Kawakami is widely recognized as the foremost authority on Japanese immigrant clothing.

Watch Now

Haruo Kasahara sings ho-le-ho-le bushi for the camera sitting on an upholstered chair with a bookshelf in the background

Haruo Kasahara: Sings a traditional plantation labor song (ho-le ho-le bushi) in Japanese and Hawaiian

Haruo Kasahara sings traditional plantation labor song (ho-le ho-le bushi) in Japanese and Hawaiian.

Watch Now

Jean Hayashi Ariyoshi wearing a plum blazer and pearls discusses working in the pineapple fields

Jean Hayashi Ariyoshi: Working in the Pineapple Fields

“I remember a lot of my girl friends came from Whitmore City, and Whitmore City is, of course, situated right in the middle of pineapple fields. And they used to work every summer, working in the pineapple fields.”

Watch Now

Jean Hayashi Ariyoshi speaking on picture brides

Jean Hayashi Ariyoshi: Father Retouching Photos of Picture Brides

“...in those days they used to retouch and took out all the wrinkles from the negatives. And I think a lot of picture brides that came down the plank were quite disillusioned when they saw their future husbands, because, you know, my father did a lot of that retouching.”

Watch Now

Wally Yonamine speaking to the camera

Wally Yonamine: Working in Cane Fields as Teenager to Supplement Family Income

“We all had to work to help because my father was working in the cane field all day, 12, 14 hours a day, and he’ll come home and make only about $70 or $80 a month.”

Watch Now

Margaret Oda in a blush pink blazer and pearl necklace and earrings speaking to the camera

Margaret Oda: Father’s role in starting the Wailea Milling Company

“My father was asked by Mr. Cabrino, who had lots of land in Wailea, if he would take over his property and he would lease all of his property to me dad to raise cane. So he took a great liking to my father so my dad did that and my grandfather and grandmother also came to live in Wailea.”

Watch Now

Masako Iono speaks to the camera

Masako Iino: Impressions from interviews with Issei women (Japanese)

“I would ask questions like, ‘How much about America did you know at that time?’ or, ‘Weren’t you afraid to come to the States without knowing much about America?’ and most of them would answer, ‘No, not really.’ You’d think that they would say that they were afraid, right? However, that wasn’t the case at all.”

Watch Now

Masako Iono speaks to the camera

Masako Iino: The differences between Japanese women who emigrated from Japan and those who did not (Japanese)

“Around that time (1970s-80s), I was asked by newspapers, like Asahi Shimbun, to write about my impressions of Issei women. I would still say that the ones who emigrated were the ones with a strong sense of independence.”

Watch Now

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