Japanese Americans and the Racial Uniform: Citizenship, Belonging, and the Limits of Assimilation

**How race continues to shape the citizenship and everyday lives of later-generation JapaneseAmericans**Japanese Americans are seen as the “model minority,” a group that has fully assimilated and excelled within the US. Yet third- and fourth-generation Japanese Americans continue to report feeling marginalized within the predominantly white communities they call home. __Japanese Americans and the Racial Uniform__ explores this apparent contradiction, challenging the way society understands the role of race in social and cultural integration.To explore race and the everyday practices of citizenship, Dana Y. Nakano begins at an unlikely site, Japanese Village and Deer Park, a now defunct Japan-themed amusement park in suburban Southern California. Drawing from extensive interviews with the park’s Japanese American employees as well as photographic imagery, Nakano shows how the employees' race acted as part of their work uniform and magnified their sense of alienation from their white peers and the park’s white visitors. While the racial perception of Japanese Americans as forever foreigners made them ideal employees for Deer Park, the same stigma continues to marginalizes Japanese Americans beyond the place and time of the amusement park. Into the present day, third and fourth generation Japanese Americans share feelings of racialized non-belonging and yearning for community. __Japanese Americans and the Racial Uniform__ pushes us to rethink the persistent recognition of racial markers—the racial body as a visible, ever-present uniform—and how it continues to impact claims on an American identity and the lived experience of citizenship. How race continues to shape the citizenship and everyday lives of later-generation Japanese Americans Japanese Americans are seen as the “model minority,” a group that has fully assimilated and excelled within the US. Yet third- and fourth-generation Japanese Americans continue to report feeling marginalized within the predominantly white communities they call home. Japanese Americans and the Racial Uniform explores this apparent contradiction, challenging the way society understands the role of race in social and cultural integration. To explore race and the everyday practices of citizenship, Dana Y. Nakano begins at an unlikely site, Japanese Village and Deer Park, a now defunct Japan-themed amusement park in suburban Southern California. Drawing from extensive interviews with the park’s Japanese American employees as well as photographic imagery, Nakano shows how the employees' race acted as part of their work uniform and magnified their sense of alienation from their white peers and the park’s white visitors. While the racial perception of Japanese Americans as forever foreigners made them ideal employees for Deer Park, the same stigma continues to marginalizes Japanese Americans beyond the place and time of the amusement park. Into the present day, third and fourth generation Japanese Americans share feelings of racialized non-belonging and yearning for community. Japanese Americans and the Racial Uniform pushes us to rethink the persistent recognition of racial markers—the racial body as a visible, ever-present uniform—and how it continues to impact claims on an American identity and the lived experience of citizenship. Contents 7 Preface: I Was Born to Write This Book 9 1. Race, Belonging, and the Affective Dimensions of Citizenship 15 2. Contextualizing Japanese America 47 3. The False Promise of Assimilation 63 4. How to Be Cool at Deer Park 78 5. The Racial Replenishment of Ethnicity 118 6. Have Ethnicity, Will Travel 152 7. Ethnic History as American History 176 Conclusion: Citizenship, Belonging, and the Racial Critique of Assimilation 201 Acknowledgments 219 Notes 223 Bibliography 229 Index 239 About the Author 249