For my interview, I spoke with “Mariko”, a Japanese American acquaintance of mine, who immigrated to the U.S. about 30 years ago, while she was in her early to mid-twenties. She comes from Nagoya, Japan. Her family is of good socioeconomic status, although not notably wealthy, and she is a college graduate. She did not intend to immigrate to the U.S., but, after getting married to a husband who had a promising career in management at the Toyota Motor Corporation, she traveled with him to the American corporate headquarters in Torrance. Hence, the pull factor of economic opportunity brought her and her husband to the U.S. Furthermore, their migration to the U.S. also fits in with the “globalization” perspective, in which employees and commodities are moved across countries in accordance with the needs of the global economy (Min, pp. 8-9). Moreover, she and her husband fit the type description of “third wave” immigrants post-1965, as educated professionals. At first, Mariko felt very much out of place and subject to racist nativism. She believes that it was her broken English that was at the root of these difficulties. Though she had studied English at school, her classroom English was not sufficient to actually communicate easily with native English speakers. So, when speaking with Americans, it was clear that her inability to express herself fluently would irritate them. Fortunately, Torrance has a robust Japanese American community. So, she was able to find companionship among her fellow Japanese immigrants.
It was Mariko’s desire that she and her husband would eventually return to live in Japan, but, after having a couple of children, she started establishing strong bonds with non-Japanese Americans, as a part of being an active and supportive mother. So, she became more broadly socially engaged, by attending events with her children and also by pursuing her interests in gardening, which led to being active in social opportunities involving gardens and flowers. Thus, Mariko grew to feel at home in the U.S. and lost her desire to return to Japan, especially since her children, now college-educated adults, so strongly identify as American citizens. It seems to me that this process of acculturation follows a common experience among immigrants in that they become more greatly invested in their new country when their social ties and connections grow deeper and stronger. So, when she had children who were U.S. citizens, Mariko found herself engaging more actively, broadly, and positively with U.S. society and culture. Thus, her children rooted her in the U.S. and she began to reassess her citizenship in the context of her family.
