WHO/WHAT: Author Myra Sachiko Ikeda, author of “A Harvest of Hawai‘i Plantation Pidgin: The Japanese Way,” will talk about her book and sign copies at this event. The book examines, from the perspective of language, the plantation experience of the Issei and subsequent generations who came to Hawai‘i (Tengoku) to work in the sugar fields.
Ikeda, born in Hilo, shows how the Japanese language spoken by the first workers became influenced by the need to communicate with other workers, and how pidgin, the common plantation language that had developed earlier among the Chinese, Portuguese, and Hawaiians to understand each other, quickly integrated Japanese words. Ikeda shares her personal story and motivation in tackling this project, including important descriptions of plantation life along with discussion of camp names, children’s games like Jan Ken Po and Hanabata Days.
WHEN/WHERE: Saturday, April 15, from 2-3 p.m. at the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawai‘i, Historical Gallery Theater.
ADMISSION: Free. For more information, call 945-7633.
