Immersion
For my cultural
immersion experience I traveled to Japantown, where I visited
some of the sites and stores that were mentioned in the novel, No-No
Boy. Traveling down Jackson Street in the International district,
I spotted the old sign spelling Wonder Bread in large red letters
where Ichiro bought bread for his family’s store. Driving
further we came across an old brick building known as the Nippon
Kan Theatre, which has been around since World War II. Going down
Jackson Street we came across the Train Depot and looked up at
the same old clock tower that Ichiro had encountered as he
arrived home to Seattle. Traveling back up to 602 Jackson we
stopped at the Higo Drugstore, which was around during World War
II and was mentioned in the Densho project.
When we
walked in the door a musty smell hit us as we glanced around at
the merchandise. Making our way to the back of the store we
approached an elderly Japanese woman who was standing behind a
counter. After telling her what we where doing she proceeded to
tell us how even though her family was forced to move to the
internment camps, they managed to keep the store in the family.
They survived all the hardships and predjudices during the war
and held on to what they had.
Visiting Japantown was a valuable experience to me because it
helped me to gain more understanding of where Ichiro, from No-No
Boy, was coming from. The part of the trip that stood out to me
was talking with the Japanese lady at the drugstore because the
reality of the Japanese Internment didn’t fully impact me
until that moment. It’s one thing to read and hear about an
event in history, but when your actually there smelling, seeing,
and communicating with someone who directly experienced the
internment it gives you a whole different perspective.