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Interview by Elaine Ikoma Ko, Special to The North American Post Artwork and photos by Michelle Kumata

Seattle native Michelle Kumata’s artistic journey has taken her across the country to New York and across the hemisphere to Brazil, not only to discover her identity and legacy but to express it through her work. By exploring her family’s Japanese-Brazilian (JB) roots, she shares her story of how, through oral histories and visual art, she has established a legacy for future generations of her family.

A shy, only child growing up, Michelle has become an accomplished artist whose work has been showcased in The Seattle Times, and in cultural centers, museums, and galleries locally and across the nation. Indeed, she shows that you can express your identity and convey strong messages to impact others through all types of creative endeavors. The North American Post interviewed Kumata by email, as excerpted below.

How and when did you discover your interest and talents in art?

I grew up an only child and I was quiet and introverted but had a vivid imagination. Art was a way to entertain myself, where I could create my own world. I wasn’t a prodigy, but I had a passion for art from an early age.

My father is a talented artist, and introduced me to art. He would draw with me when I was little. I have fond memories of the line drawings he’d create on my paper lunch bags and I was so proud to bring them to school. When I visited my grandmother’s house, I noticed several professional looking paintings on her walls. I asked who made them, and she told me my father painted them as a teen when he was at Franklin High School.

My maternal Issei (first-generation) grandparents would watch me in the Keene Apartments, which they managed, across the street from the Wonder Bread factory in the Central Area—I can still smell the baking bread. My grandmother also fueled my artistic interests by letting me paint with leftover beet juice. They were poor but resourceful, and epitomized the “mottainai” spirit, to not waste anything.

Even today, there is still something magical about art and the act of creating, especially when you start drawing and you lose sense of time and space, and get lost in your work.

What shaped your parents’ Japanese American identities?

My mother is Nisei (second generation) and her parents immigrated from Kajika, Mie-ken, Japan. My father is Sansei (third generation) as his parents were born in the U.S. and his grandparents were from Hiroshima. Both my parents were born in the Minidoka incarceration camp during World War II, so they don’t have any vivid memories of the camp experience.

My mom said that her parents never discussed the incarceration camps—it was rare for Issei and Nisei to talk about camp, especially in the 1970s and early ‘80s. For many, there was a sense of shame, anger and resentment, and also a desire to put it behind them.

My mother’s family returned to Seattle after their incarceration. Her parents managed “flop-house” (cheap hotel/boarding house) hotels in the downtown/Pioneer Square area.

There was a lot of propaganda encouraging Japanese Americans (JAs) to move away from the Pacific coast after the war. My father’s family relocated to Cleveland, Ohio, and they later returned to the Seattle area in the 1960s.

My mother grew up in a mainly Japanese-speaking household, but she only spoke a few words and phrases to me. My father grew up being cared for by his Issei grandmother, so Japanese was his first language but as he grew older, English was the main language spoken in his household. It seems that in order to fit in and assimilate, to become more American, the language was lost through their generations. I took Japanese language classes in junior high school but it wasn’t a priority for me at the time, so I do regret that I didn’t take that opportunity to learn the language.

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