ABOUT OUR BRANDS

NOSEI - (ノセイ) is a falsehood. There is no Japanese word for ノセイ. However the memory it contains is twofold.

First, sei, references a term made for those of the Japanese diaspora.

The 一世 (issei,'first generation') were those who immigrated from Japan, the 二世 (nisei,"second generation), are their children and the 三世 (sansei, "third generation) are their grandchildren. The last generation to have a label are the 四世 (yonsei, "fourth generation) who are the great-grandchildren of Japanese immigrants. On my father's side I am a yonsei but on my mother's side I am a nisei. There is tension there. Uncertainty. But also warmth. It is home. This is the first part.

The second is the no. The no refers to the no-no boys. In 1943, during the mass incarceration of nearly 120,000 Japanese-Americans, the War Relocation Authority drafted a questionnaire aimed at draft-aged Nisei men, with two questions in particular that stood out from the rest. Questions 27 and 28. Question 27 asked if they were willing to immediately serve in combat in the name of the United States, while Question 28 asked for their, "unqualified allegiance to the United States... and for[sworn] any form of allegiance or obedience to the Japanese emperor, to any other foreign government, power or organization"

The term no-no boy was originally an epithet used by Japanese-Americans (JAs) towards those who answered no to both questions. Saying no compromised the foundation for which the model minority myth would be built upon years later. "Behave, respect the United States, Forget Home" was the rallying cry among many JAs at the time, who despite being forced behind barbed wire still glorified the West. The term was flipped when those who answered 'No', were jailed and sent to a maximum security segregation camp, Tule Lake, designed for disruptors and resisters. Many took on the term no-no boy with pride. Those who refused to pledge allegiance to a nation imprisoning them in their own home country. I feel a connection to this. "