The Yon-Say Podcast Network

The application for the Kakehashi Program is dropping next month, and this is an opportunity you don't want to miss! Created by the Japanese government to promote American travel to Japan, this 10-day all expenses paid (including airfare!) trip will take you and a group of other young JA adults on an adventure to explore culture, food, history, society, and diplomatic relations across Japan. In th...

The application for the Kakehashi Program is dropping next month, and this is an opportunity you don't want to miss! Created by the Japanese government to promote American travel to Japan, this 10-day all expenses paid (including airfare!) trip will take you and a group of other young JA adults (18ish to 25ish) on an adventure to explore culture, food, history, society, and diplomatic relations ac...

In the final episode of Mixed Feelings, Yoko sits down with her twin sister Hana to discuss their experiences growing up together as a white-passing and full-Asian-passing pair. They explore their intertwined identities and how those identities were shaped during childhood by everything from family, names, physical appearances and societal expectations. Available now on Spotify and Apple Podcasts...

On this episode of Mixed Feelings, host Hiro is accompanied by his good friends, Ayako Tischler and Ryan Scanlan! Join the three of them as they discuss how their experiences abroad have affected their own perspectives as individuals of mixed heritages. Available now on Spotify and Apple Podcasts 🎙🎙Art by @renmaicha

On this episode of Mixed Feelings, host Matt is joined by fellow Nikkei Rising members and movie aficionados, Caroline and Lauren! Listen to them discuss what it means to be mixed in the media, why representation is important, and some insights into their favorite movies and characters! Join us for Mixed Media!

On this episode of Mixed Feelings, join host Michelle Heckert and special guest Sydney Kasson for an important discussion about beauty standards. How do they different for mixed folks? Are there conflicting standards because we’re mixed race? And what role do social media and other institutions play in our understanding of beauty standards? Listen in to find out more on this episode!

Welcome back to the new and improved Yon-Say Podcast Network (YSPN)! In our first limited series, Mixed Feelings, your favorite mixed hosts discuss their experiences in different aspects of being mixed joined by special guests! In this first episode though our hosts sit down to discuss the importance of Lovings Day, a milestone in the civil rights movement, and explore their identities as mixed Ni...

In this episode of the Yon-Say podcast, hosts Jonnie, Yoko, Michelle, Sachi, and Matt sit down to discuss the past 3 seasons of the Yon-Say podcast, its inception, the good, the bad, and how the Yon-Say as we know it is coming to an end... But not for long! Listen in for a special peek at what the future of the Yon-Say Podcast looks like. Thank you everyone for your support these past few years! W...

This week on the Yon-Say, Sachi and Yoko are joined by Devon Matsumoto and Koki Atcheson from the Young Buddhist Editorial. We hear about the YBE’s origin, discuss our own religious backgrounds, learn about the experiences of Buddhists during WWII, and inspect the intersection of religious, ethnic, and cultural identities that many Nikkei Buddhists hold.

In this episode, Matt and Michelle sit down with artist, activist, and author Kiku Hughes to talk about her debut graphic novel, Displacement. Hear all about her journey through art and how she came to share the story of her family's incarceration experience.

In this special episode, Matt and Hiro partner with the Little Tokyo Historical Society to share the story of Issei civil rights activist, Sei Fujii! In a discussion with director and researcher, Jeffrey Gee Chin; actor, Chris Tashima; and translator, Saeko Higa-Dickinson, learn about Sei Fujii's life and the legacy he leaves behind. You can also hear about the short film, Lil Tokyo Reporter based...

In this episode, hosts Yoko and Michelle welcome fellow Yon-Say host Hiro Edeza, and Ethnic Studies student Kiara Konishi. We discuss the origin stories of our names, as well as our relationships to them. We also explore what factors may alter how we and our names are perceived (ie. location, gender). As we dive deeper into “what” our names mean, we ultimately uncover “how” they have impacted our...

In this Memorial Day episode, hosts Hiro and Matt sit down with descendants and supporters of the World War II Nisei Veterans of the 442nd, 100th, and MIS to give an overview of their history and legacy. From the bombing of Pearl Harbor to the beaches of Italy, the frozen forests of France, and war torn Japan, follow the story of the most highly decorated unit of its size in all United States mili...

In this episode we welcome our new team member, Sachi Koide. Yoko and Sachi talk to Ryan Lee and Melanie Shojinaga about all things sports: we discuss our relationship to sports growing up as JA athletes, how sports serve as a community builder and a source of empowerment, how the history of playing sports in camp has been carried forward, the experience of being an Asian American girl athlete, an...

79 years ago today, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, the document that allowed for the forced removal and mass incarceration of 120,000 persons of Japanese Ancestry during World War II. All these years later, the Japanese American community uses this date, February 19th, as Day of Remembrance, to honor that years of incarceration that the community suffered through. But...

The story of Japanese American Incarceration has, like many historical events, become the subject of countless books, movies, and other media. Though until recently, it was a story unshared by a major television network. With the premiere of AMC's The Terror: Infamy, the story of the incarceration made its way into the homes of hundreds of thousands of viewers. In this special episode of the Yon-S...

In this January special, two families discuss how their Oshogatsu traditions have transformed over the generations, while the core spirit of this beloved holiday has remained the same. Hosted by Jonnie and Yoko. Featuring Sara, Amy and Dan Kubo, Hana Fedorenko and Leslie Morishita.

For many Japanese Americans, returning to Japan is always one of the big items on their bucket lists. But even that idea in itself, “returning to Japan” is a loaded thought and brings about the question of how we identify as Japanese Americans and what our ties are to Japan no matter how big or small. In this episode, hosts Michelle and Matt sit down with Kristy Ishii and Mika Zattera, fellow Nikk...

The Japanese American community is one of the largest mixed-race/ethnicity communities in the nation. For our hosts, that's more than evident since four out of five us are all mixed themselves! In this episode, Hiro, Matt, Michelle, and Yoko discuss their experiences growing up mixed, what it means to them, and some of the quirks and interesting experiences that come along with it. For all of our...

Welcome back to the Yon-Say podcast! To kick off season 2, with a little less than a week to the 2020 election, hosts Matt and Hiro sit down with community members Amy Watanabe and Karman Chao to discuss some history around the Japanese community and voting. Going from the early days of when Japanese Americans could barely vote, to the fight for voting rights, and the importance of not only voting...

For these past 8 weeks, the Yon-Say Podcast team has had the chance to talk to various guests from different walks of life. That being said, for this final episode of the Yon-Say, we thought it would be fun if your favorite five (五) hosts were to come together for this last episode to explore the topics of identity & reconciliation together. We hope you enjoy our discussion as we dive into what i...

In our society at large, women’s histories are too often erased, forgotten, or misremembered in ways in ways which strip women of their agency, complexity and intelligence. Nikkei history is no exception. In this episode Michelle and Yoko are joined by guests Nina Wallace and Miya Sommers to learn about the vital, but often overlooked, contributions of women in the redress movement, share stories...

The story of incarceration doesn’t only follow Japanese Americans. Japanese Canadians and Japanese Latin Americans were also subjected to the cruel practice of incarceration during World War II. In today’s episode, Matthew and Jonnie sit down with Kayla Isomura and Marisa Nakada, descendent of Nikkei outside the US, to learn more about the stories of incarceration even we as Japanese Americans rar...

What happens when the war is over? In the sixth episode of the Yon-Say Podcast, Matt and Michelle talk to Rob Buscher of Philadelphia and Celeste Goedert of Detroit to discuss what their families did when the war finally came to an end. The Army gave every incarceree a bus ticket and $25 and told them to return to their non-existent homes as if nothing happened. From where their families went, wha...

What is citizenship? In the fifth episode of the Yon-Say Podcast Yoko and Hiro are joined by guests Leidy and Nat to interrogate the complicated and often dehumanizing notion of citizenship which pervades our country and its systems. Is citizenship a legitimate mode of belonging in a country that put its own citizens in concentration camps, barred others from naturalization on the basis of race, a...