2017 Fiscal Year Annual Research Report
The Memories of the Japanese Nisei in the Kona Coffee Belt: Shinto Shrines Left Destroyed and National Identities Eternally Hidden
| Project/Area Number |
15K03035
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| Research Institution | Kanazawa University |
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Principal Investigator |
アベ デヴィットキヨシ 金沢大学, 歴史言語文化学系, 准教授 (10735426)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2015-04-01 – 2018-03-31
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| Keywords | National Identity / Japanese American / Kona Coffee / Shinto Shrines |
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| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
In the Fourth year I completed three task: (1) interviews, in Kona and in Portland Oregon and Seattle. After I submitted the application for the “Kiban-C” in April 2015, I continued examining the life experiences of the Japanese Nisei in Kona, Hawaii, based on interviews. This research suggested that the relationship between Japanese national identity and Japanese national symbols utilized by the Japanese Shrines, such as Jinja and Inari were far more profound than assumed by the existing literature. (2) These findings were utilized in my monograph which after three rounds of peer review the book has officially been published. The book is titled, Rural Isolation and Dual Cultural Existence: The Japanese-American Kona Coffee Community. (3) In addition Abe, D., & Imamura, M. (2018) Forthcoming. The Destruction of a Religion: Japanese Shintoism after the Attack on Pearl Harbor. Journal of Japanese Studies. Has been submitted. Since the commencement of the “Kiban-C” project in April 2015, the whole research project has advance to the next level. Further investigation of indigenous and Japanese sources substantiated another previous finding that the assimilation process in the Kona community transpired in later generations. Therefore, the research reveals the experience of the first and second generations was based less on assimilation to a white American norm and more on maintaining a sense of Japanese-ness. On the whole, the project was extremely successful.
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