05-16
For Immediate Release
January 27, 2005
Contact: Christine Somosi – 216-397-4663

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John Carroll University’s East Asian Studies Program Presents
On Becoming Japerican

This event is free and open to the public

WHAT: On Saturday, February 12, 2005, Sachiko Tankei will perform her one-woman show entitled “On Becoming Japerican,” highlighting the struggle facing Japanese students integrating into a new culture. This multimedia performance, written by Sachiko Tankei, a doctoral student in speech communication at Southern Illinois University (SIUC), Carbondale, examines the lives of Japanese students studying in America.

This funny and moving performance probes the dilemmas Japanese-Americans face moving between assimilation and their native identities, and delves into the intricacies of intercultural communications and ethnicity. At times during the performance, the audience is provided with translations, however, during select parts of the performance, the audience like the characters, are immersed in a foreign language and challenged to figure out the meaning of the dialogue. In this way, the performance tries to create a culture shock experience for the audience that mirrors that of the characters in the play.

The message of “On Becoming Japerican” is that regardless of the number of years spent in the United States, Japanese students cannot become one-hundred percent American; they always carry their Japanese identity. Ironically, if they go back home, the longer they have been away, the more likely it is for them to feel “otherness” at home as well. They are caught in between, neither Japanese nor American, which is where the title of the play originates.

WHO: In addition to teaching speech communications, Tankei also teaches Japanese at Southern Illinois University. Her interests of study are Intercultural Communication, Autoethnography, Performance Ethnography, Critical Pedagogy, and Whiteness Studies. She earned a bachelor’s degree in teaching Japanese as a foreign language and two master’s degrees, one in English from Aichi University of Education, Japan and one in speech communication at SIUC. She became interested in “performance art” and “Performance Studies” after she encountered these ideas in courses at SIUC.

The performance “On Becoming Japerican” is her first written-and-directed piece and was originally performed with five Japanese international cast members in the Kleinau Theatre at SIUC in January 2004. Recently Tankei has started performing the solo-version of “Japerican” that we will see at John Carroll University.

WHERE: Administration Building, Room 258
John Carroll University
20700 North Park Blvd.
University Hts., OH 44118

WHEN: Saturday, February 12, 2005
7 p.m.

CONTACT: Dr. Susan Long
East Asian Studies Program
John Carroll University
216-397-1685
long@jcu.edu