ABSTRACT
I don't speak Japanese. I don't read Japanese. I don't know where in Japan my ancestors came from.
This used to bother me. For one thing, it made communication with my grandmother (who lived with us) and other Japanese-speaking relatives difficult. Secondly, grandmothers and Japanese-speaking relatives have a way of making you feel guilty for not knowing Japanese. As a child, I remember meeting Japanese relatives who would speak to me in Japanese. I would look helplessly at my mother (a Nisei who is unusually proficient in Japanese) who would say something to them (the Japanese equivalent of "No, my stupid American son doesn't speak a word ofJapanese, isn't that terrible. Where did I go wrong?" no doubt) at which point they would all shake their heads in disapproval. A few years of this and any selfrespecting Sansei kid would begin to feel a bit inadequate.
