Topaz Oral History Project research files: Published articles (1920s-1980s)

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7 On the other hand, if parents plan to return to Japan eventually with their children, it is understandable that they might want to educate their children to the Japanese way in s t ead aE encouraging them to become too Americanized. However, because they themselves have this particular need, they should not try to convince others to do the same. The United States is the native birthplace of the Nisei, and education can be obtained easily here. Even for the Issei, America is far easier to live in than is Japan. Inasmuch as the general trend of the Japanese seems to be moving towards settling here permanently, it seems to me to be unwise to advance a Japanese-style education at a public institution such as the Japanese language school. One should, incidentally, bear in mind that settling here permanently serves to fulfill both the idea of America serving as an outlet for Japan's increasing population overflow and the more general purpose of expanding our presence abroad. Those who want to educate their children Japanese-style should find means to accomplish that in their own homes, privately. We must always be very conscious of whatever negative effects that a "Japanese-style" education for our children might have on the American public, for in the future, those effects might fall upon Japanese-American citizens who have made the determination to live here. (8/1/28) v Otherwise, anti-Japanese sentiment may become increasingly intense and may even lead to an actual movement to deprive citizens of Japanese extraction the right to citizenship, though such a thing would be nearly impossible to attain. If this should happen, however, it would greatly hinder attempts to expand the presence of Japanese people abroad.