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that Caucasian newcomers from the mainland face in Hawaii are not unique to them. OurJapanese American children, withoutexception, had great difficulty in finding jobs in Hawaii because they did not have "roots" or "connections" when they first arrived. Surprisingly, E!ven in such a modern and Americanized place like Hawaii, there remained a "closedness" similar to that of an ancient Japanese village. In Hawaii, the special human ties based on family, geographl~al origins, etc., are notasclearand strongasinJapan-but similar human relationships are woven into a complex network, forming an "organic entity." Our family, having just arrived in Hawaii, did not have points of contact with this organic and living network which formed Hawaiian society. This type of"closed" society, however, differed from the discrimination based on race in that it was not absolutely exclusive. Ifone, through some opportunity, gained a link with one point of the network, itbecame possibleto makecontactandgain acceptancewith all other points ofthe network. One is no longer an "outsider." Thisisevidenced,Ifeel, bytheexperiencesofouroldestdaughter's husband, who has become widely accepted as a member of the Hawaiian community and has even become active with the Honolulu ChamberofCommerce. This would have been impossible in the white society of the mainland, where race is often a major condition for becoming an "insider" in the community. Moreover, on the mainland, even ifone had extraordinary talent and qualifications, not all areas ofsociety would necessarily be open to him. But, in Hawaii, all one needed to do was to build relationships with those who had firm roots in Hawaii. Our son, Arthur, who was the first to move to Hawaii, spent several weeks looking for work. He could not find anything appropriate and nearly gave up hope of moving to Hawaii. But on the night before he returned to Chicago he met a Japanese American attorney in a barat his hotel and, through thatacquaintance, found ajob as an accountant in Honolulu. Once in thatjob, more avenues opened up to him and he now has many connections within the Honolulu community. As can be seen from his case, the "closed" Hawaiian society is different from that of white society in the mainland United States. "Kotonks" and "Buddhaheads" Another aspect ofthe "closedness" which members ofour family encountered in Hawaii is the result ofthe antagonism thatJapanese 240-HIGASHIDE Americans in Hawaii retain against Japanese Americans on the mainland. In Hawaii, Japanese Americans from the mainland are referred to as "kotonks." On the other hand, Japanese from the mainland use equally derogatory terms such as "Buddhahead" or "pineapple"to refer toJapaneseAmericansfrom Hawaii. I have heard that these terms originated among the youths ofboth areas who first were forced to have continuing contact during WWIL It then gradually entered general usage, I am told, in both communities. During the war, Japanese Americans were assigned to special military units. Often, I have heard, because ofdifferences in upbringing and ways of thinking, misunderstandings arose between the Japanese Americans from Hawaii and those from the mainland. When those differences developed into physical confrontations, those from the mainland usually could not contend with the more robust Japanese Americans from Hawaii. When they were knocked down against walls and floors in their barracks, there was a hollow sound, "kotonk," when their heads hit obstacles-implying, of course, that their heads were empty. On the other hand, Japanese Americans from the mainland held the attitude that even if they were physically stronger, Japanese Americans from Hawaii were headstrong and stubborn and could not accept otherviews. They labelled the Hawaiians"Buddhaheads" and also called them "pineapples," viewing them as persons who had only "the ability to raise pineapples." Thesederogatoryepithetsstillhavecurrencyata time when there is much movement between the mainland and the islands. The sense of alienation and opposition expressed by such terms still remain to some degree. Accordingto HawaiiJapaneseAmericans, theJapanese Americans from the mainland are "flashy" dressers and talkers, and try whenever possible to express disdain for Hawaiian Japanese Americans. At the same time, Hawaii Japanese Americans perceive their mainland counterparts as being subservient to white cultural patterns and as having no confidence or fundamental self- respect. We were unaware of such differences in attitudes and relationships at first. Our children felt confused when they were treated as "kotonks" and, in some cases, were regarded as even more foreign than whites from the mainland. They were accustomed to being regarded as "alien" by whites on the mainland, but to face similar prejudice in Hawaii by those who had the same ancestors and same physical features, they...

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