Representations of Home in Obasan and Nihonjin: The Issei, Nisei, Sansei of Canada and Brazil

Abstract

Joy Kogawa’s Obasan (1981) and Oscar Nakasato’s Nihonjin (2011) are two novels that narrate the lives of Japanese diaspora in Canada and Brazil respectively. Both countries share a rich tradition of Japanese migration during the late 19 th and early 20 th centuries, which, while distinct in important ways, has resulted in a significant body of cultural production. In this article, I examine spatiotemporal treatments of the home space in Obasan and Nihonjin , arguing that this realm serves two primary functions: 1) as a site for the expression and construction of identity 2) as a point of disruption and resistance in the face of cultural, linguistic and national alienation. Examining Japanese migration literature from a comparative lens sheds light on the past as a gateway to the present, while nuancing national discourses around race and ethnicity. Although these two narratives are separated by thousands of miles and thirty years in their publication dates, Japanese migrant tales from Brazil and Canada teach us diverse and intersecting lessons about ethnic heritage and cultural plurality. The domestic space is particularly critical for observing these crossings as its attention to language, food culture and other artifacts reveals a multi-layered experience.