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Fictional Interview with Tajiki Kobayashi on “The Cannery Boat”
Regarding Personal Insight and Historical Context
Elizabeth: Hello, Mr. Kobayashi! It is so nice to meet you, thank you for time.
Tajiki Kobayashi: Good afternoon, I am very glad to meet you. Thank you for your interest in my writing and proletariat writing. I am pleased to offer you any answers I am able to.
E: Good to hear. I do have more than a few questions that we will get to, in time. Let’s begin with getting to know you, first of all. What should people know about you before we discuss your writing and dive into the historical trends you involved yourself in?
K: Well, I was born on October 13th, 1903 in the city of Ōdate- North Western Japan. However,
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How were you keeping busy?
K: Oh, I joined in the labor movement before starting my bank employment. I am very much interested in the economic inequalities, especially due to my own personal financial hardships.
E: Not to mention the world wide recession, of course.
K: Exactly. Those of us involved with the labor movement were trying to ensure things such as workers’ rights in health and safety, fair wages and the right of every employee to be treated well by their employer. I believe you call these groups unions today, correct?
E: Yes, we do. There are still debates on unions’ necessity, in fact. If I recall correctly, you became politically involved somewhere around this time as well.
K: Yes I helped with a candidate’s campaign for the general election in 1928. I reference my experiences with this in my first book since my graduation, Higashikutchankō, if you would like some further reading. I suppose this marked my quick return to public writing, being politically involved.
E: That would make sense, seeing as most if not all of your work includes either a political or social opinion as a take away message. What did you write after
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After being treated inhumanly and working under unbearable conditions without good wages or benefits, nor representation of their behalf, the boat’s crew revolts against their manager and run their boat as they formed a union. Eventually, the Imperial Navy suppresses the new order on board, and the story ends. I wrote this to show the capitalist exploitation in Japan, as well my personal pessimistic view on Japanese as a whole. I added many aspects to the story to which I has issue with, for example in the beginning, I mentioned the pollution of the Hakodate harbor. After I published the story though, I was marked by the government by the Tokkō, and later lost my position at the bank. Eventually, I was arrested for aiding the Japanese Communist Party, and since has been my downfall. Though “The Cannery Boat” was only a short piece of work, I do believe it was my best and definitely my most important work in my personal history, as well as in the history of Japanese proletariat literature.
E: Wow, that’s a lot of meaning for such a short story; only about 80 pages in English.
K: Indeed it is. Long novels aren’t the best mechanism for social change.
E: I agree. Thank you so much for your time, Mr. Kobayashi. I thoroughly enjoyed our conversation, it was quite refreshing and educational. Have a great rest of your day.
K: Thank you. I hope I aided in your education of Japanese
Among the many things that individuals enjoy doing with their families, visiting amusement parks is at the top of the list. Sea World is a multi-billion dollar chain of marine animal parks, aquariums, and animal theme parks. (Wikipedia) When people are watching the rehearsed performances that the animals and the trainers do, the animals and the trainers seem to be happy. Witnessing the interaction between the animals and the trainers can remind individuals of the beauty of nature and it serves as entertainment.
To conclude this analysis on the basis of the labor’s extensive history, Sloane & Witney (2010) propose, “it is entirely possible that labor’s remarkable staying power has been because of the simple fact that to many workers, from the nineteenth century to the present, there really has been no acceptable substitute for collective bargaining as a means of maintaining and improving employment conditions” (p.80). In the end, it is important to anticipate unions and employers presently work together to find solutions that will enhance collective bargaining strategies and practices to serve the interest of both parties.
Union affiliation was first seen in the 1600’s when the roots of the United States were just being planted with skilled trade groups such as artisans, laborers, goldsmiths and printers. Over the next two hundred years, unions developed their desires for higher wages through the use of strikes and protests. The nation’s progress spurred the need for more labor and so began the Industrial Revolution. During the Revolution, many union members began to witness the power that employers had and as a result decided to make use of the concept of power in numbers. The National Labor Union formed in 1866 and worked to persuade congress to set a Federal eight-hour workday, which applied to government employees (Miller). Many large unions formed following in the NLU’s footsteps and uni...
Beginning in the late 1700’s and growing rapidly even today, labor unions form the backbone for the American workforce and continue to fight for the common interests of workers around the country. As we look at the history of these unions, we see powerful individuals such as Terrence Powderly, Samuel Gompers, and Eugene Debs rise up as leaders in a newfound movement that protected the rights of the common worker and ensured better wages, more reasonable hours, and safer working conditions for those people (History). The rise of these labor unions also warranted new legislation that would protect against child labor in factories and give health benefits to workers who were either retired or injured, but everyone was not on board with the idea of foundations working to protect the interests of the common worker. Conflict with their industries lead to many strikes across the country in the coal, steel, and railroad industries, and several of these would ultimately end up leading to bloodshed. However, the existence of labor unions in the United States and their influence on their respective industries still resonates today, and many of our modern ideals that we have today carry over from what these labor unions fought for during through the Industrial Revolution.
A common trend was always that wages were not keeping up with the cost of living. Many could not make ends meet and were struggling to simply survive. They started to question the effectiveness of the National Recovery Administration (N.R.A.). It was unfair to them that businesses were still making enormous profits while its employees were forced into poverty. Pushing for a unionization was disowned by factories where they threatened to close their doors if a worker’s union formed. Some thought businesses were crooked and angled themselves to take advantage of the economy to increase their
...ile the war is still happening. The lack of freedom and human rights can cause people to have a sad life. Their identity, personality, and dignity will be vanish after their freedom and human right are taking away. This is a action which shows America’s inhuman ideas. It is understandable that war prison should be put into jail and take away their rights; but Japanese-American citizen have nothing to do with the war. American chooses to treat Jap-American citizen as a war prisoner, then it is not fair to them because they have rights to stay whatever side they choose and they can choose what ever region they want. Therefore, Otasuka’s novel telling the readers a lesson of how important it is for people to have their rights and freedom with them. People should cherish these two things; if not, they will going to regret it.
Throughout American history, labor unions have served to facilitate mediation between workers and employers. Workers seek to negotiate with employers for more control over their labor and its fruits. “A labor union can best be defined as an organization that exists for the purpose of representing its members to their employers regarding wages and terms and conditions of employment” (Hunter). Labor unions’ principal objectives are to increase wages, shorten work days, achieve greater benefits, and improve working conditions. Despite these goals, the early years of union formation were characterized by difficulties (Hunter).
Ethics and the Unions - Part 1. Industrial Workers of the World. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.iww.org/en/history/library/Dolgoff/newbeginning/1
M: Ah, it’s been a long time since I’ve seen you. Sorry, my memory doesn’t always serve me right anymore.
After ten years of legal action and no progress on their fight for reparations, the Japanese American community held public forums to get the entire community involved in the fight for reparations. They worked to educate the Japanese community about the injustices and inhu...
Japanese Americans underwent different experiences during the Second World War, resulting in a series of changes in the lives of families. One such experience is their relocation into camps. Wakatsuki’s farewell to Manzanar gives an account of the experiences of the Wakatsuki family before, during and after the internment of the Japanese Americans. It is a true story of how the internment affected the Wakatsuki family as narrated by Jeanne Wakatsuki. The internment of the Japanese was their relocation into camps after Pearl Harbor was bombed by the naval forces of Japan in 1941. The step was taken on the assumption that it aimed at improving national security. This paper looks at how internment impacted heavily on Papa’s financial status, emotional condition and authority thus revealing how internment had an overall effect on typical Japanese American families.
In the collective society of Japan there is a certain stigma about women like Fubuki that set them apart. Choosing to work past the age of marriage is not necessarily the accepted (find a better word) in Japan because no matter the situation, collectivism and honor always come first. “Wish for work. There is little hope, given your sex, that you will get far up the ladder” (Nothomb, 1999, pp.66-67). She has worked so “far up the ladder”, so far up from what society said she should do, and it makes Fubuki is one of the biggest faces of individualism and hypocrisy shown throughout Fear and Trembling and the first time the reader see this is when Amélie and Tenshi were reported for their wrong doings. “I can see why and I disapprove of your reasons,” she says “I’m the one who had some reason to feel indignant about your attitude. You had your eye on a promotion to which you had no right” (Nothomb, 1999, p.37). Her constant use of possessive pronouns creates a selfish-like tone. “I can see why I disapprove… I’m the one who had some reason to feel indignant” (Nothomb, 1999, p.37). And that selfish tone highlights the hypocrisy that can be found within the Japanese society despite their claim of being a collective society. Fubuki goes on to say, “I’m twenty-nine years old. You’re twenty two. I’ve been in this position since last year. I fought for it for years. Did you think you were going to get a comparable job within a matter of weeks?” (Nothomb, 1999, pp.37-38). The tone of victimization (?) is created and this is constant throughout the whole book, “Do you think I can’t see what you are doing? You made these incomprehensible mistakes to get your revenge on me!” (Nothomb, 1999, p.45). The use of (another phrase) the word “you” reader can also see that Fubuki constantly uses Amélie’s mistakes to make her seem like the victim.
This book depicts how Japanese behaved both before and after the World War II. In this book, it describes how Japanese military slaves (a.k.a. comfort women) was made, what motivated Japan to do these abuses.
"Well goodbye then Aru-kun!" I waved off, with a Speke and a blush. I closed the door and leaned on the door. I glanced down at the rise in my hand and smiled.
For my essay I chose to interview my neighbor Kyle to learn more about his personal writing system he has been creating. I learned a lot more than I had been anticipating and could say that I received an eye opening from the way he discussed his passion. He opened my eyes in two ways. One, to how I viewed his passion and two, how I view my own passions. Now let me get a little more in depth on the real effects of these two things.