Good, old Japanese values are dying out in Japan but still thrive outside the country, says a former Los Angeles police detective who led an international probe into a 1981 murder case widely known here as "L.A. suspicion."
Jimmy Sakoda, 62, a sansei, or third-generation American of Japanese ancestry, visited Tokyo last month to attend a convention for descendants of Japanese emigrants, or "nikkei-jin," living overseas. "I've found out (by attending the convention) that nikkei-jin throughout the world (represent) very, very old Japan. The characteristics of 'gaman' (patience) and 'giri' (obligation) are still very much alive in nikkei-jin," he said in an interview.
Sakoda was born in Seattle in 1935. Like other Americans of Japanese descent, he was confined to an internment camp following the outbreak of World War II. There he learned the morals and values of the country of his ancestors as well as the Japanese language. His childhood experiences in the camp, he says, have strongly affected his way of thinking and the formation of his identity.