2015 Fiscal Year Research-status 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
|
|---|
| Research Institution | Kanazawa University |
|---|
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)
|
|---|
| Project Period (FY) |
2015-04-01 – 2018-03-31
|
| Keywords | National Identity / Japanese American / Kona Coffee / Shinto Shrines |
|---|
| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
(1) Archival research at the University of Hawaii, Hamilton Library, The Kona Historical Society (2) interviews, in Kona. After I submitted the application for the “Kiban-C” in April 2015, I investigated the life experiences of the Japanese Nisei in Kona, Hawaii, based on archival sources and interviews. (3) These findings were presented at an International Conference in June and were received with constructive comments. In addition, I am in agreement a contract for my monograph book with Palgrave Macmillan: “Sitting Pretty in the Middle”: Rural Isolation and the Dual Cultural Existence of the Japanese American Kona Coffee Community.
On the whole, the project has progressed at a much higher pace than originally expected. It has already created a solid basis by substantiating the connection between shrines and identities which is rooted from the absent of white America.
|
| Current Status of Research Progress |
Current Status of Research Progress
1: Research has progressed more than it was originally planned.
Reason
In the second year I completed three task: (1) archival research, (2) interviews, in Kona. 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 archival sources and interviews. This preliminary 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. (3) These findings were presented at an International Conference in June and were received with constructive comments.
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. Further, this persistence of Japanese cultural identity, which of course was always evolving and adapting, was made possible by the Kona community’s physical isolation from white American society.
On the whole, the project is progressing at a much higher pace than originally expected. It has already created a solid basis by substantiating the connection between shrines and identities which is rooted from the absent of white America.
|
| Strategy for Future Research Activity |
The project plan is to return and conduct archival research in Hawaii, and perform multi-linguistic at two different research sites, Keauhou Inari, and Napoopoo Shrines. Additional amount of time is necessary at The Hamilton Library, and The Kona Historical Society archivaes both, has vast amount of document that could take weeks to uncover. This year I plan to investigate the ruins of the Keauhou Inari Shrine (in the Keauhou District) the interviewees include: A 95-year-old Nisei, member of the Kona Daifukuji Soto-Zen Temple, who served as a Shinto priest (kan-nushii) until the destruction of the shrine, a 87-year-old retired Nisei fisherman who witnessed the destruction of the shrine, and, a non-Japanese female who grew up with Japanese servants in a large cattle ranch and is devoting a lot of time preserving the Japanese cultural heritage. In addition, I am in agreement a contract for my monograph book with Palgrave Macmillan: “Sitting Pretty in the Middle”: Rural Isolation and the Dual Cultural Existence of the Japanese American Kona Coffee Community.
|
