Comments on: Japanese Americans Explore the Power of Ethnic Networks in Silicon Valley

By: Krantzstone

Krantzstone — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 07:52:50 +0000

I wonder if it has a lot to do with the WWII internment of Japanese-Americans which really tore up the fabric of Japanese-American community and it never really recovered from that. Perhaps there's a deep-seated reluctance to congregate with other Japanese-Americans because of that experience which shows the dangers of building a visible community because it might draw the same kind of jealousy and resentment that it did in the past. Assimilation might have been a survival trait to avoid being singled out as a community and possibly be perceived as a threat again. And then there are of course, Japanese nationals who have more recently arrived in North America as immigrants and tourists who really have nothing in common with the hyphenated Japanese-American (and indeed, Japanese-Canadian) experience and may not be interested in working with Japanese-American/Canadian business groups which exist.

For the record, I was born in Japan but grew up in Canada so I am effectively caught between two worlds and neither fit the description of a Japanese national nor that of a several-generations Canadian of Japanese ethnic descent, so I can't say I have any deep insight into any of this, I can only speculate. I am sure there are Japanese-American/Canadian business groups and I just need to look for them, but it is curious as to why there aren't more that are more prominent. I suppose there are greater numbers of non-Japanese Asian immigrants coming to North America than there are Japanese, and at a more consistent rate, mostly because there hasn't really been any reason for Japanese to leave Japan except out of curiousity or interest in nations and cultures outside Japan. I wonder if the recent economic recession in Japan will bring more Japanese to North America for business, and if so, will they be interested in working with Japanese-Americans/Canadians in building business networks that bridge North America and Japan?

By: MC

MC — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 05:29:48 +0000

could you maybe, just once in a while, write something that is NOT a re-worded rendition of the article to which you link? it’s worse than a 3rd grade book report. if you can’t manage it, how about just posting the picture and saying, “interesting article, click here.”

incidentally, you might not see a lot of JAs around because you don’t know where we hang out. or maybe because of the whole assimilation thing. just because you don’t “run into” us doesn’t mean we’re not connected or that we’re non-existent. just a thought…

By: MC

MC — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 05:29:00 +0000

By: Yokum Taku

Yokum Taku — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 05:00:04 +0000

Thank you for the kind words about NLN.

By: Yokum

Yokum — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 05:00:00 +0000

Thank you for the kind words about NLN.