While all my family members from my grandparents’ generation, as far as I am aware, married within the Japanese Canadian community, almost all members of my father’s generation intermarried with non-Japanese Canadians. I followed suit and also married someone outside the community. I think this high rate of intermarriage is undeniably a partial product of...Continue reading
Tag: Intermarriage
2 – On Intermarriage
Since first hearing about my family and the Japanese Canadian experience during the war from a reluctant father through a Grade 8 Social Science assignment, I have always been curious to learn more about my heritage, including learning the language and studying Japanese creative and martial arts. Although I expected I might glean stories from...Continue reading
Intermarriage
I know my parents and certainly my husband’s parents didn’t want us marrying “out.” They were quite happy that both my sister and I married Japanese. But when it came to our children, my parents never said anything. I don’t know what the future is going to bring. I don’t know why there is such...Continue reading
Intermarriage
Since the internment and subsequent dispersal of the JC community greatly served to weaken cultural and language bonds, and integrate JCs into the larger, English-speaking Caucasian population, it’s no surprise that there is such a high out-marriage rate among JCs. When I was growing up, there were hardly any other JCs in my high school,...Continue reading
We’re Such A Small Group of People
Because we’re such a small group of people, Japanese people, it’s hard to meet someone from the same, uh, ethnic group. So, it’s, it stands to reason that this [intermarriage] would happen. It is… you know, there’s no other way that you could meet some other person—unless you go to Japan, and then, you know,...Continue reading
Let me be a part of this community
As a child, most of what I knew about my heritage came to me from my white mother. As far as I am concerned, intermarriage is a non-issue. I think it’s dangerous to think of mixed-race people like myself as any less a part of this community: these types of discussions are alienating to people...Continue reading
Intermarriage
At one time or another, my sisters and I, and most of my Canadian and American Sansei cousins, married or partnered with others neither Asian nor Japanese. Although dispersal likely played a big role, because many of us lived and grew up where there were few other Japanese Canadians around, I also believe that incarceration...Continue reading
Intermarriage
I think that the high rate of intermarriage is a reflection of our community’s desire to “blend” in with the rest of society. This is a result of being targeted during WWII and the dispersal of our communities to further their assimilation into the Canadian mosaic. Most other ethnic groups still hold onto their community...Continue reading
Intermarriage
I did not marry outside of the Japanese race. I instinctively felt the taboo. When I was about 8 years old, one of my aunts married a Caucasian person, and my grandfather did not attend the wedding. I remember the feeling in the air, and it was a rather solemn occasion. I’m not even sure...Continue reading
Intermarriage and being mixed race
I’m a mixed race yonsei living in Alberta. My dad is Japanese, my mom is white. They were married in the mid eighties, and it was not agreeable to my dad’s parents. As an adult I became involved with the local JC community. At a pan-American conference for JC communities in 2019, the issue of...Continue reading
Thoughts on intermarriage
I always thought the high rate of intermarriage amongst Japanese Canadians is because there are so few Japanese. There are so many more Chinese people. I don’t see intermarriage as an issue. Not anymore. Certainly when I was growing up [it was]. My cousin married a hakujin / white fellow. I think there was a...Continue reading
Intermarriage
Yosh’s three daughters have either married non-Japanese or have never married. It doesn’t matter to him. However, he mentioned that growing up he strove to speak good English and to fit in. He never took Japanese food to school. I always took sandwiches. We had to make our own lunch. Nobody made it for you....Continue reading
Intermarriage
I think that Japanese Canadians look up to hakujin. They feel somewhat inferior to them and want to become more Canadian. I believe that’s the reason why they choose to marry hakujin.
Thoughts about intermarriage
I think that persons should marry whomever they want. I do not have an explanation for why JCs seem to have the highest intermarriage rate. It is interesting that it started almost immediately after internment and never slowed down. My opinion is that the dispersal of JCs to many non-Japanese communities across Canada is a...Continue reading