Joseph Yoshimasu Kamiya │ Ryūkyūan Sanshin Musician and Filmmaker

"stage name yana-imi (“nightmare” in Uchinaaguchi, one of the endangered Ryūkyūan languages)"

Joseph Yoshimasu Kamiya is a creative from Southern California with roots in Ryūkyū (Okinawa) and Japan.  He had the honor and privilege of studying abroad in the Okinawan Emigrants’ Descendent and Asian Scholarship Program (“Kenpi Scholarship”) and was acknowledged as one of the Next Generation Representatives during the 7th Worldwide Uchinaanchu Taikai/Festival.  Since 2013, he has been heavily involved with local and international Ryūkyūan communities including the Okinawa Association of America (OAA) where he currently works as an administrative assistant and helps with organizing community events. 

He is also a student of sanshin (a traditional three-stringed lute), works/volunteers as a freelance filmmaker and audio engineer, promotes Ryūkyūan creatives through Shima Playlist, and composes music under the stage name yana-imi (“nightmare” in Uchinaaguchi, one of the endangered Ryūkyūan languages).

Can you tell me a bit about your background and upbringing, including your cultural heritage?

Joseph Yoshimasu Kamiya · My paternal great-grandparents are from Tamagusuku and Awase in Uchinaa (Okinawa Island) and emigrated in the early 1900s.  My maternal grandfather is a nisei (second generation) and my maternal grandmother emigrated from Fukuoka, Japan, after the war. I was raised “westernized,” but I was fortunate to be surrounded by Japanese language (thanks to both of my grandmothers) and, living in Southern California, there was no shortage of Japanese food and cultural activities. 

I enthusiastically started taking Japanese language classes in elementary or middle school, but that quickly became a begrudging after-school activity when the self-hating Asian teenage angst kicked in (though I am now extremely grateful for my mother’s unwavering insistence that I continue learning).

Wanting to be a “normal American kid” (i.e., “white kid”), I didn’t start embracing and appreciating my Asian roots until late-high school.  In college, volunteering for the Go For Broke National Education Center and Visual Communications was instrumental in developing and strengthening my identity.  The Ryūkyūan side didn’t factor in until after college, when I volunteered as a videographer for the Okinawa Association of America (OAA)’s 100th Anniversary festivities (suggested by my Auntie Helene Shimane who was extremely involved with the organization). 

It was such a fantastic introduction to the association and to Ryūkyūan identity in general because the milestone celebration meant they organized a bunch of special events including panel discussions about community and identity, and a one-time performance of Daiichi Hirata’s traditional-modern fusion musical about King Shō Hashi’s unification of the Ryūkyūs!

In 2013, I was one of the co-organizers of the second World Youth Uchinaanchu Festival (“Wakamono Taikai”), a conference that brought together over 80 young people from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, England, Hawai‘i, Mexico, Okinawa, Peru, and across the U.S.  Wanting it to be more than a social gathering, we coordinated a number of cultural workshops and identity-focused panels with esteemed guest speakers including Byron Fija (Uchinaaguchi expert); Tamari Miyashiro (silver medal U.S. Olympian); Annmaria Shimabuku, Ph.D. (activist, author, scholar); Jon Shirota (author); Wesley Ueunten, Ph.D. (activist, author, scholar).

I began working at the OAA around that same time while also volunteering at several of their activities.  I eventually started to organize my own activities like the annual Irei no Hi Battle of Okinawa Remembrance (guest speakers via Skype included former Okinawa Prefectural Government Representative Keiko Itokazu and the late-Governor Masahide Ōta) and smaller cultural presentations about music, spirituality, and identity.

In 2016 - 2017, I had the privilege to participate in the Okinawan Emigrants Descendant and Asian Scholarship Program (colloquially known as the “Kenpi/Kempi Scholarship”), an astoundingly generous program sponsored by the Okinawa Prefectural Government that provides an all-expenses-paid opportunity for young adults in the diaspora to study and live in Okinawa for six months to a year.  I say without hesitation that this was the most profound experience of my life and I am forever indebted.

How has your cultural background influenced your identity and values?

Joseph Yoshimasu Kamiya · The practice of yiimaaru/yuimaaru (mutual cooperation) and the concept of ichariba choodee (once we meet, we’re siblings) are essential to Ryūkyūan values.  I experience these every time I have the opportunity to travel there and it always inspires me to implement them as much as possible in my own life.  I’ve also heard stories about how my paternal grandfather, Charles Masuei Kamiya, and many in the community would assist fellow Okinawan emigrants newly arriving in Southern California.  I also learned that he sent money after the war to help rebuild the family haka (tomb) in Tamagusuku and donated scholarship money to a local school he attended.  One of my goals is to continue these legacies of yiimaaru/yuimaaru and ichariba choodee.

What are some of the most important cultural traditions or practices in your family or community?

Joseph Yoshimasu Kamiya · Though not Ryūkyū-specific, I feel that the Bon Dance (a traditional Buddhist practice honoring our ancestors) festivals across Southern California are extremely important and have successfully been connecting younger generations in their respective communities.  It’s always encouraging to see young people enthusiastically dancing along to traditional songs, some even adding their own “aji (flavor)” to the choreographies!  (Southern California festival organizers eventually started incorporating a couple of Okinawan songs into their sets and the uta-sanshin group that I’m a student of sometimes provides live musical accompaniment.)

For Okinawan communities in Southern California, I feel that the Okinawa Association’s annual picnics have been the most impactful.  I always hear about picnics back in the day (pre-war) bringing together close to or over a thousand Okinawans, with everyone dressed in formal attire, bringing homemade bentōs, and enjoying both traditional and contemporary performances.  And then I hear from folks who talk about how they used to attend the picnics when they were kids and now they now bring their own kids to the picnics or have family reunions there.  It’s definitely my favorite event of the year – it’s outdoors and family-friendly, with the announcement of annual high school scholarship winners and the state’s only “all Okinawa-style Bon Dance” (traditional yeisaa/eisaa songs and dances but done in the Japanese style of communal Bon Dancing).

Can you share some experiences or challenges you've faced related to your cultural identity in your personal or professional life?

Joseph Yoshimasu Kamiya · I think many yonsei (fourth generation) living in Southern California have similar experiences of not being taught about cultural heritage due to our families facing discrimination during World War II.  My paternal grandfather was detained by the U.S. government after the 1941 Pearl Harbor bombing because he was a Japanese school principal in Hawai‘i. 

This experience changed him and he made it a priority to raise my father, aunts, and uncles as “American” (i.e., only speaking English and assimilating as much as possible).  For a lot of us, the culture and identity stopped with our grandparents because of what happened during WWII, and I think this is especially true for the many families forced into U.S. incarceration camps.

Personally and professionally, self-worth and imposter syndrome have always been significant hurdles.  My M.O. is to just do the work and not take up too much space, but any mistakes and should-haves continue to bother me for years after the fact.  When it comes to creative projects, my perfectionist mindset leads to “analysis paralysis”, which then leads to procrastination, and results with projects not getting started or rarely getting finished.

Tell me about your professional journey and any career achievements or goals you'd like to highlight.

Joseph Yoshimasu Kamiya · My earliest community film/video work was through volunteering at local nonprofits like the Go For Broke National Education Center, Visual Communications, and the Asian American Drug Abuse Program (AADAP), where I helped to produce short documentaries and other video segments.  I also volunteered at Visual Communications’ Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival (LAAPFF) for a few years, which led me to eventually apply for their Armed With A Camera Fellowship for Emerging Media Artists in 2010 (through which participants of Asian, Pacific Islander, or Hawaiian descent are mentored and given stipends to produce five-minute short films).

Since then, my community work has included collaborations with Ryūkyūan and Japanese diaspora artists and groups, a few of which have screened at the DisOrient Asian American Film Festival of Oregon, Hawai‘i International Film Festival, Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival, and Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival.

My proudest achievement is “Uyafaafuji’s Refusal: An Ode To The Yanbaru,” a short film I co-created with my friend and collaborator Shō Yamagushiku.  It’s an experimental piece developed from Shō’s and my live performances which incorporate spoken word poetry, uta-sanshin, and soundscapes.  This was the first time we had a narrative threading together his poetry and my songs; there was always an emotional or thematic thread in our performances, but this had an actual story.  It has screened at a few film festivals in Canada and the U.S., but the highlight was definitely the inaugural Cinema At Sea: Okinawa Pan-Pacific Film Festival in Naafa, Uchinaa (Naha City, Okinawa Island) – our “homecoming” screening.  It was part of a short films program that had two showings at Sakurazaka Theatre, so it really was an absolute dream come true!  (The original music was performed under a stage name, yana-imi.)

Are there any individuals or role models from your culture who have inspired you, either personally or professionally?

Joseph Yoshimasu Kamiya · I definitely owe a lot to Yuko Yamauchi (Executive Director of the Okinawa Association of America), Grant “Masanduu” Murata (President of Ryūkyū Koten Afuso Ryū Ongaku Kenkyū Chōichi Kai USA), Norman Kaneshiro and Eric Wada (Co-Founders of Ukwanshin Kabudan), and the works of Wesley Ueunten, Ph.D. (Asian American Studies Professor at San Francisco State University), who were all extremely helpful when I first started my roots journey.

The first time I visited Ryūkyū was through Ukwanshin Kabudan’s annual Gakumun Tour.  I always praise them for focusing on and emphasizing culturally, historically, and spiritually significant locations including (but not limited to) Chibichiri Gama (one of the WWII caves where civilians were coerced into killing themselves by the Japanese Imperial Army), the studios of master artisans such as Kuganizeeku Matayoshi (metalworker) and Toshiko Taira (basaa/bashoufu weaver), spiritual sites around Sui Gushiku (Shuri Castle), Ishigaki and Yonaguni islands, and the Henoko protest site (to name just a few).

I also owe so much to Miki Nakamine, a master sanshin luthier and the Executive Director of the Sanshin Kumiai (Sanshin Craftsmen Cooperative Association of Okinawa), who I studied under while living in Okinawa as a Kenpi/Kempi Scholarship recipient.  Although I was a terrible luthier student, I learned so much about the history and essence of sanshin as well as Uchinaaguchi (one of the native Ryūkyūan languages) and issues surrounding the U.S. military presence.

What advice would you give to someone interested in learning more about your culture or building cultural understanding?

Joseph Yoshimasu Kamiya · Don’t let imposter syndrome stop you from connecting with, learning about, and embracing your cultural heritage.  It’s up to us to preserve, promote, and perpetuate our own cultures and identities.  At the same time, be humble, be respectful of others’ journeys, and be aware of the line between protectiveness and gatekeeping.

Do you have any favorite books, movies, or art forms that you feel represent your culture well and that you'd recommend to others?

Joseph Yoshimasu Kamiya · I will always praise and promote Brandon Ufugusuku Ing, the creator of the “Let’s Sing Uchinaaguchi” series and composer of original Uchinaaguchi songs!