Browse > Theme > Capitalism – effect on the individual
6 articles
Drops of Water (short story)
- Short Stories
- Grades 9-12, Adult
- Capitalism – effect on the individual, Immigrant experience, Individual versus society, Working class struggles
- Widely available
Short story by Ferris Takahashi. A presumably young Sansei social worker and a colleague discuss the case of an elderly Issei homeless man who seems to want to remain homeless. Sections written from the perspective of the Issei man reveal his life as a laborer first on Hawai'i sugar plantations , then in the continental U.S. and the impact of his wartime incarceration and the razing of the residential hotel he once lived in.
Manzanar, Diverted: When Water Becomes Dust (film)
- Films and Video
- Grades 9-12, Adult
- Capitalism – effect on the individual, Displacement, Man against nature
- Available
Documentary film on Manzanar that focuses on the region's relationship with water and with the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, which owns much of the land and water rights in the area. The film also juxtaposes the forced removal of Japanese Americans to Manzanar with the forced removal of Native Americans from the Manzanar area in the 19th Century. The film also looks at the contemporary water related issues that saw Japanese Americans, Native Americans, and local white environmentalists come together. Much of the Japanese American perspective comes from Sue Kunitomi Embrey , the co-founder of the Manzanar Committee , and her family.
Maybe (short story)
- Short Stories
- Grades 9-12, Adult
- Fiction
- Capitalism – effect on the individual, Necessity of work, Will to survive, Working class struggles
- Widely available
Short story by Wakako Yamauchi about a middle-aged Japanese American woman working in a sweatshop with a group of undocumented immigrant workers from Latin America. Divorced after twenty-five years of marriage, Florence wanders into a garment factory with a help wanted sign and is hired on the spot and given a relatively responsible position despite her lack of qualifications due to what she thinks is the owners' stereotype about "Japanese." In her first person voice, she introduces various workers as well as the owner's much younger Colombian immigrant wife who takes an immediate disliking to her. She befriends a young couple who were forced to leave their young son back in Mexico and are unable to bring him to the U.S.; the husband semi-jokingly asks Florence to marry him so that he can get a green card. At the end of the story she recalls her and her family's confinement …
This Time Will Be Different (book)
- Books
- Grades 7-8, Grades 9-12, Adult
- Grades 7-8
- Young Adult, History
- Capitalism – effect on the individual, Coming of age, Family – blessing or curse, Power of the past
- Widely available
Acclaimed coming of age novel by Misa Sugiura that explores the continuing impact and relevance of Japanese American incarceration.
Fugetsu-Do (film)
- Films and Video
- Grades 9-12, Adult
- Documentary
- Capitalism – effect on the individual, Change versus tradition, Importance of community
- Widely available
Documentary film on the Fugetsu-Do Japanese confectionery shop in Little Tokyo, Los Angeles, narrated by third-generation proprietor Brian Kito. Kito discusses the history of the shop that was founded in 1903 by his grandparents, the decision to take over the shop from his Nisei father, his trials and tribulations as the shop owner, the different kinds of manju and mochigashi the store carries, and the hopes for the future of the shop now that his son has expressed a desire to take it over one day. The film also explores the Kito family's wartime incarceration at Heart Mountain and its long-term impact. Filmmaker Kaia Rose shot the film at the shop itself and at the Heart Mountain Interpretive Center , sometimes using archival footage against the backdrop of contemporary scenes.
Jinan: A Japanese American Story of Duty, Honor, and Family (book)
- Books
- Grades 9-12, Adult
- Memoir
- Capitalism – effect on the individual, Family – blessing or curse, Overcoming – fear, weakness, vice
- Available
Memoir of a Kibei man whose story takes him from Los Angeles to Hiroshima and back, to " voluntary evacuation " in Colorado, and postwar business success back in Southern California.