| Issei |
(sometimes l.c.) a first-generation Japanese immigrant to the United States or Canada. (See Kibei, Nisei, Sansei.) |
| Jap |
(offensive slang) a Japanese person. |
| japan |
an ornamental object that has been carved and lacquered in a traditional Japanese manner. [2/4 definitions] |
| japonica |
any of various trees, shrubs, or plants of the Far East, such as the Japanese quince or the camellia. |
| Jerome Relocation Center |
a U.S. internment camp located in southeastern Arkansas that was built for the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II. At its peak in late 1942, there were 8,500 people forcibly living there. After it was closed, the Jerome Center was converted into a holding camp for German prisoners of war. |
| jinriksha |
a small two-wheeled vehicle of Japanese origin that can carry passengers and be pulled by one or two people; ricksha. |
| jujitsu |
a Japanese form of unarmed self-defense in which one uses one's opponent's weight and strength against him or her. (Cf. judo, karate.) |
| kabuki |
a form of Japanese popular drama using male actors for both male and female roles, and with highly stylized acting, music, and dancing. |
| kamikaze |
in the Japanese armed forces during World War II, a pilot whose mission was to crash his airplane against the target as a suicide bomb. |
| kana |
either of two Japanese syllabic scripts, katakana and hiragana, consisting of seventy-one characters each. (Cf. kanji.) [1/2 definitions] |
| kanji |
the part of the Japanese writing system that uses characters derived from Chinese ideographs. (Cf. kana.) [1/2 definitions] |
| kappa2 |
in Japanese mythology, a monkey-sized river imp having fish scales, a turtle's shell, a bird's or monkey's face, and a depression on the top of its head that holds the liquid that endows it with superhuman strength, said to prey on travelers. |
| kendo |
a Japanese sport of fencing with bamboo sticks. |
| Kibei |
(sometimes l.c.) an offspring of Japanese immigrant parents who is born in the United States or Canada but educated in Japan. (See Issei, Nisei, Sansei.) |
| kimono |
a long, Japanese garment, closing across the front of the body and having wide sleeves and a broad sash. [1/2 definitions] |
| koto |
a Japanese musical instrument consisting of thirteen waxed silk strings stretched over a convex wooden sounding board, played by plucking the strings with three plectra that are worn on one hand. |
| makimono |
a Japanese art scroll with pictures or calligraphy. [1/2 definitions] |
| Manzanar Relocation Center |
an internment camp located in east-central California that was built for the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II between 1942 and 1945. At its peak in late 1942, there were over 10,000 people being held there. Manzanar was the first and largest of the relocation centers and is now preserved as a National Historic Site. |
| Meiji Restoration |
a period in Japanese history that is characterized by the downfall of feudalism and the opening of Japan to trade and diplomatic relations with the West. |
| Minidoka Relocation Center |
a U.S. internment camp located in Idaho that was built for the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II. At its peak, there were over 7,000 people forcibly living there. |
| Minoru Yasui |
an American of Japanese descent who, during World War II, was one of few Japanese-Americans to openly violate curfew restrictions and defy the relocation orders of the U.S. Government. He challenged the constitutionality of the application of curfews to people based on their ethnicity, and his case eventually went to the Supreme Court, where he was unanimously ruled against in Yasui v. United States in 1943, in a companion case to Hirabayashi v. United States (b.1915--d.1986). |