No No Boy By John Okada Download Zip

1957 novel by Japanese-American author John Okada

Front cover of the first edition of No-No Boy

No-No Boy is a 1957 novel, and the only novel published by the Japanese American writer John Okada. It tells the story of a Japanese-American in the aftermath of the internment of Japanese Americans during World State of war Ii. Gear up in Seattle, Washington, in 1946, the novel is written in the vocalization of an omniscient narrator who frequently blends into the vocalism of the protagonist.

Plot [edit]

Subsequently Earth War II, Ichiro Yamada, a Japanese American male and former student at the University of Washington, returns home in 1946 to a Japanese enclave in Seattle, Washington. He has spent two years in an American internment camp for Japanese Americans and two years in federal prison for refusing to fight for the U.S. in World State of war Two. At present home, Ichiro struggles with his parents for embracing American customs and values, and he struggles to maintain a relationship with his brother, Taro. Also, Ichiro faces ostracism from the Japanese American customs for refusing to join the U.S. military machine and fight Nippon when many in his customs did. Despite his struggles with his family and some members of the community, Ichiro maintains a friendship with Kenji, a Japanese American who fought for the U.Southward. and badly injured one of his legs. Kenji introduces Ichiro to Emi whose husband re-enlisted and remained in Germany after the war. Ichiro even manages to run into Mr. Carrick who interviews him for a draftsman position.

Perceived as disloyal to the U.South. simply not fully Japanese, Ichiro struggles to find his path. Through Ichiro's story, Okada examines what it means to exist American in a postal service-war lodge whose non-white communities are struggling to observe their places.

Themes [edit]

Japanese vs. American
Socio-cultural differences
Family
Isolation
Depression
Loyalty vs. disloyalty
Honey
Sacrifice
Racism
Inter-racism
Identity

Background [edit]

On 7 December 1941, the Regal Japanese Navy launched a surprise assault on Pearl Harbor, a U.S. naval base virtually Honolulu, Hawaii. The following day, December eight, the United States declared war on Japan. Many Americans rushed to join the military. Afterwards Pearl Harbor, all citizens of Japanese ancestry had been classified 4-C, "enemy aliens", and denied entry into the armed forces. In bound 1942, the government began removing Japanese and Japanese American families from their homes and sending them to alive in remote internment camps. As the war continued, the need for more soldiers increased.

In 1943, the War Department, forth with the State of war Relocation Authority (WRA) created a bureaucratic means of testing the loyalty of all adults and teens in the WRA camps. The first class was aimed at draft-historic period Nisei males and the 2d grade at all other residents. The last two questions, numbers 27 and 28 - where affirmative answers signaled unwavering loyalty to the U.S. - created confusion and resentment.

Question 27 asked if an private would exist willing to serve equally a combat soldier, nurse, or in the Women'southward Ground forces Auxiliary Corps. The internees had been brash that if accepted, they would serve in a segregated unit. Many felt this was offensive. Serving in the armed forces meant leaving their families backside in the terrible conditions of the camps. Some resisted the draft, because their constitutional rights were being violated.

Question 28 was even more disruptive. Information technology was a 2 part question with i answer: "Will you swear unqualified allegiance to the U.s.... and forswear whatsoever form of fidelity or obedience to the Japanese emperor, to any other foreign government, power or organisation?" Did an affirmative answer imply that they had in one case sworn allegiance to Japan? As a thing of principle some answered, "no" to both questions. For varied reasons, many respondents answered "no" to questions 27 and 28 and became known every bit "no-no boys".

The epithet "no-no boy" came from ii questions on the Leave Clearance Awarding Class, also known as the loyalty questionnaire, administered to interned Japanese-Americans in 1943. Some immature male internees answered "no" to 1 or both of these questions:

"Are you willing to serve in the armed forces of the United States on gainsay duty wherever ordered?"
"Will you swear unqualified fidelity to the U.s. and faithfully defend the United States from any or all attack past foreign or domestic forces, and forswear any grade of fidelity or obedience to the Japanese emperor, to whatever other strange regime, power or organization?"

Both questions were confusing to many respondents. Regarding the first, some respondents idea that by answering yes, they were signing up for combat duty, while others, given their forced removal and incarceration, said no to resist the draft. Regarding the second, to many respondents, most of whom were American citizens, it implied that the respondent had already sworn allegiance to the Japanese emperor. They saw the second question as a trap, and rejected the premise by answering no. Afterwards, all who answered "no" to one or both questions, or who gave an affirmative answer simply qualified it with statements like "I'll serve in the military after my family is freed", were sent to the Tule Lake Segregation Heart.^[i] Approximately 300 young men served fourth dimension in federal prison for refusing to join the military from campsite.^[two]

The basic plot is not autobiographical. Okada, a Seattleite like his protagonist, served in the U.S. military himself. The novel was published in 1957 and remained obscure until much later. He died in 1971, at age 47.^[iii] A few years later, ii young Asian-American men heard of Okada and his novel, and resolved to revive interest in information technology. With the co-operation of Okada's widow, they had it republished in 1976, with a 2d printing in 1977. Since then, it has become a staple of college assigned reading.

Content of the novel [edit]

Although a crucial part of the novel's setting is the injustice of the internment of Japanese-Americans, the novel is not a polemic near that event. Ichiro'due south turmoil during the novel besides has much to do with rejecting his mother, whose personality and worldviews he despises and resents. His dissatisfaction with her is personal, going across her stance on the war. In chapter 1, information technology is disclosed that his female parent and at least one of her women friends are loyal to Nihon, refuse to believe the news that Japan lost the war, and are eagerly awaiting the arrival of Japanese warships in Seattle. They even refuse to accept the evidence of photos they have seen of the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki after the atomic bombings. These attitudes antagonize Ichiro and other Japanese Americans.

Forepart encompass of the University of Washington Press 1976 edition of No-No Boy with Bob Onodera's blueprint

Publishing history and response [edit]

Following a string of rejections by American publishers, the Japanese publisher Charles E. Tuttle published an original run of one,500 books in 1957, which still had not sold out past the time Okada died in 1971. The initial response within the Japanese community was like to that faced past the book'southward protagonist, and ostracized for drawing attention to what was still perceived as disloyalty to the country and community.^[4]

Plant in a used book store by Jeff Chan in 1970, he and young man Asian-American writers Frank Mentum, Lawson Fusao Inada and Shawn Wong reached out to the Okada manor to first try and run into with John Okada, and so when they discovered that he had died, to acquire the rights to reissue the volume under their Combined Asian-American Resources Project (CARP) label in 1976. Bother sold out 2 printings of three,000 copies each before transferring the rights in 1979 to Academy of Washington Printing. University of Washington Printing has since sold over 157,000 copies of the volume (every bit of 2019), including its most contempo edition in 2014.^[five]

Penguin Random House published an edition of the novel in 2019, claiming that information technology was in the public domain and was never registered for copyright protection, sparking a controversy inside the literary community for its failure to consult with the Okada estate and disregarding the struggle Okada and Carp had in attempting to publish the work.^[half-dozen] It has been asserted that when No-No Boy was starting time published in 1957, the Copyright Human action of 1909 applied, which granted volume authors 28 years of protection unless renewed by the copyright holder, which Carp and the Okada estate failed to correctly apply.^[vii] Both the UW Press and the Penguin editions remain in apportionment, although Penguin has since withdrawn any ad in regards to its printing and has removed mention of the book from its webpage.^[8]

2010 play adaptation [edit]

The novel was adjusted as a stage play, likewise called No-No Boy, past Ken Narasaki. The play had its earth premiere on 26 March 2010, at the Miles Memorial Playhouse in Santa Monica, California.^[9]

References [edit]

^ Cherstin Lyon, "Loyalty questionnaire", Densho Encyclopedia, nineteen March 2013. Retrieved 9 May 2014.
^ Eric Muller, "Draft resistance", Densho Encyclopedia, 10 June 2013. Retrieved 9 May 2014.
- Annie Nakao, "A Unique Tale of WWII Resistance: Japanese American Internees Refused Typhoon", San Francisco Chronicle, 26 October 2001. Retrieved 9 May 2014.
^ La Forcefulness, Thessaly (4 Nov 2019), "The Story of the Dandy Japanese-American Novel", The New York Times
^ Schleitwiler, Vince (2019). "The legacy of 'No-No Male child'". University of Washington Magazine . Retrieved 28 Feb 2020.
- Macdonald, Moira (xvi June 2019). "'No-No Boy' went from unknown book to classic thanks to UW Press and Asian American writers. Now, it's at the center of a controversy". The Seattle Times . Retrieved 28 February 2020.
^ Schleitwiler, Vince (18 Nov 2018). "The Bright Futurity and Long Shadow of John Okada'southward No-No Boy". Asian American Writers' Workshop . Retrieved 28 February 2020.
^ Chin, Frank (1976). In Search of John Okada: Afterword to 'No-No Boy' . Combined Asian American Resource Project. ISBN9780295955254.
^ Fuchs, Chris (seven June 2019). "Penguin Classics edition of Japanese American novel 'No-No Boy' sparks copyright dispute". NBC News . Retrieved 28 February 2020.
^ No-No-Boy. OCLC. OCLC 881386427.
^ "World Premiere of No-No Boy announced", Los Angeles Daily News online

External links [edit]

OCLC Worldcat reference to No-No Boy
Brian Niiya, "No-no boys", Densho Encyclopedia.
Official website of the play, No-No Boy adapted past Ken Narasaki
Introduction to a chat on John Okada's No-No Boy

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