To answer this question, I must go back to the years 1907-08. Japanese laborers had been coming to the U.S. to work in agriculture, mining and the railroad. But in that year the Gentlemen's Agreement between the U.S. and Japan ended the flow of Japanese laborers from Japan to the U.S. Thus Japanese laborers began emigrating to Brazil to pick coffee beans. There had been a labor shortage in Brazil for most of the 1800s. Today there are more Japanese in Brazil than here in the U.S. In 1915 my paternal grandfather graduated from Waseda University in Tokyo with a degree in economics, and went to study the condition of Japanese immigrants in Brazil. He temporarily left behind his wife and son in Japan. He only intended to remain in Brazil for two years, after which he was to pursue graduate work. But at the end of his stay the Japanese embassy in Brazil persuaded him to remain in Brazil to help with the Japanese immigrants. So he wired to have my grandmother and uncle join him in Brazil.

    My grandmother was from the upper class, and resented being in Brazil with the lower class Japanese laborers. She became a bitter woman and created much difficulty within the family. My father was born in Sao Paulo in 1927, and was raised in a very strict Japanese-Brazilian family. He was educated in public schools, and attended the University of Sao Paulo, until he was expelled for some radical activities. After WWII, my father came to finish his undergraduate and graduate work in chemistry at Caltech in Pasadena, California.

    Back in 1908, the year of the Gentlemen's Agreement, my maternal grandfather came to the U.S. Eventhough Japanese laborers were no longer allowed to emigrate, students, diplomats, and businessmen were still allowed in. He came to Seattle to be a student at the University of Washington. He never quite graduated, worked for a Japanese newspaper for a while, and then eventually began an import-export business. He primarily imported fishing line made with Japanese silk.

    In September 1923 the Great Kanto earthquake destroyed most of central Japan. My grandfather returned to Tokyo to see how his family and friends were managing. At this time he was 36 years old, and his parents arranged a marriage for him. My grandmother was 24 at the time. As she tells the story, the first time she met him, she merely entered the room, served tea to my grandfather, his parents and her parents. The next time she saw him, they were getting married. Three days later in 1924 they were on a ship bound for the United States. She arrived in Seattle, not speaking any English, never having worn any Western style clothes, and married to a man she did not know. She was not happy here, and insisted on returning to Japan. After my mother was born the following year in Seattle, they returned to Japan. My grandfather continued his business from Japan, with frequent visits to the U.S until the war.

    My mother grew up in war-torn Tokyo. After the war the Japanese economy was devastated. She remembers care packages from my grandfather's friends in the States. In particular she recalls the delicious packages of Lipton soup. Since my mother was born in Seattle, she was a U.S. citizen. Thus she was one of the lucky few who were able to leave Japan and emigrate to the U.S. She made her way to San Francisco, and then eventually to Los Angeles where she met my father.

    I was born in Pasadena in 1959 and named after Linus Pauling, my father's professor at Caltech. After my father finished graduate school, we returned to Brazil. Since my father is a Brazilian citizen, I carry a Brazilian passport. In Brazil my father soon became frustrated with his inability to do good scientific research and we came back to the U.S.

    I mostly grew up in a community in New Jersey called Free Acres about 30 miles west of Manhattan. Free Acres is a social experiment which began in 1910 and has somehow survived into the 1990s. It is based on the principles of Henry George, a radical 19th century economist who believed that land should be owned by the community rather than individuals. Thus we can build houses on the lots that we lease, but we can never own the land. Free Acres was originally an artist's colony with a lot of left wingers. When I was growing up it was predominantly Jewish and still left wing. Thus most of my friends were Jewish. In my high school there were only two Asians-Americans, my brother and myself. There were no African-Americans or Hispanic Americans. I never thought much about being an Asian-American. No one else seemed to think much about it either. If anything, I thought about becoming Jewish.

    Because of my background, much of who I am becomes confused. As I was growing up I ate a lot of sardines and onions for lunch. I always assumed that it was a Japanese thing to do. Only recently I have discovered that it is a Portuguese tradition which has apparently made its way through Brazil to my Japanese family in New Jersey.

    So where am I from? I was recently asked this question again, and though I have been asked this question many times in my life, I was slightly offended by that question that particular evening. I had been reading about Asian American experiences, and had become sensitive to the presumption that Asians are all from somewhere else, that we are not Americans. Of course it is true that most Asians in the U.S. were born abroad. 63% of the Chinese, 82% of the Koreans and 90% of the Vietnamese in the U.S. were born abroad. But the majority of Japanese-Americans, 72%, were born right here in the USA. And that can't be the whole story. A survey was conducted at the University of Washington asking students about the origin of the largest group of foreigners in the state of Washington. By far, the most common response was Asia. But in fact, the largest group of foreigners in Washington state are from Canada. But Canadians are not perceived as foreigners. Only Asians.

    As an academic, I often find myself at gatherings and receptions where I meet other people. After being introduced to people and chatting with them for a while, every now and then people comment on how well I speak English. I usually just say thank you.

    Thus in subtle ways I am not always treated like an American, and consequently I am not sure I always feel like an American. I find that a disproportionate number of my friends are foreign students. Perhaps it is because I enjoy their perspectives and insights on American society. Perhaps it is because I share their sense of being marginalized in our society. But all this does not bother me all that much. The world continues to become a smaller and smaller place while people become increasingly more mobile. National borders are becoming more like state borders, and state borders like town borders. Fewer and fewer of us are clearly American or Brazilian or Japanese, while more and more of us are just human beings.

Linus Yamane
Claremont, California
Spring 1992