Club Nisei: Japanese Music of Hawaii

Following World War II, life was hard for Hawaii’s Japanese population. They faced a wave of discrimination in the wake of the Pearl Harbor attack and most were relegated to a life of hard labor with little chance for economic prosperity. Many Japanese nisei (second generation immigrants) in Hawaii felt equally disconnected from America and Japan, which caused a significant identity crisis for some. Club Nisei is a snapshot from that tumultuous period which shows a small point of light in the darkness. Nisei culture occupied a place within the nexus of Japanese and American, and this collection of restored 78s shows a healthy mix of songs from both nations. The Club Nisei Orchestra performs everything from the Okinawan folk song “Asatoya Yunta” to “Japanese Rhumba”—which, despite its name, was written by an American stationed in post-war Japan and has nonsense lyrics. Under the thumb of American oppression, music was one way Hawaii’s Japanese held one another up.