By MATTHEW ASADA
On April 30, USC will host “Defining Courage,” the live-action, theatrical experience telling the story of the Nisei soldiers of World War II.
This will be the first university performance of “Defining Courage” and the finale of USC’s celebration of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. Since premiering in Honolulu in March 2023, more than 11,000 people have experienced this uniquely American story across 11 performances in Costa Mesa, Los Angeles, Torrance, San Jose, Washington, D.C., and San Francisco.
I saw “Defining Courage” with my father last July in Little Tokyo during the Japanese American Citizens League’s annual National Convention, which happened to take place in Los Angeles. As a Hapa Yonsei whose granduncle Kaz Taniguchi had fought in the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, and whose grandparents and great-grandparents were incarcerated in Poston, Ariz. during the war, the story personally resonated.
I was honored to be able to attend the Nisei Congressional Gold Medal ceremony in 2011, as at the time I was serving as an APSA (American Political Science Association) congressional fellow with Congressman Gary Peters of Michigan.
As an American diplomat now assigned to USC to teach public diplomacy – how governments engage with foreign audiences – I recognized the public diplomacy potential and educational opportunities provided by this performance.
I spoke soon thereafter with Anita Dashiell-Sparks, associate dean of DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) and vice chair of performance at USC School of Dramatic Arts, and Glenn Osaki, senior advisor to USC’s president, and so began our journey to bring this story to a broader USC audience.
USC has more than 22 schools, and I’m assigned to teach in the Master of Public Diplomacy program at the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. I also run a research program on global mega-events, such as the World’s Fair, World Cup, and Olympics, and have been looking at how the UAE and Qatar hosted the Middle East’s first World’s Fair (Expo 2020) and first men’s soccer World Cup (FIFA 2022) and what lessons there are for the U.S., Mexico and Canada as we look forward to hosting the 2026 men’s soccer World Cup and Los Angeles hosts the 2028 Summer Olympics.
At the university, I’m also researching the Department of State’s domestic presence (see April 2024Foreign Service Journal article) and the Japanese American pre-WWII experience in California. My great-grandfather Mosaku Asada was one of 5,000 enemy aliens detained by the FBI, who was paroled by the U.S. attorney general in response to the letters of my then 16-year-old grandfather, Mark Asada (see February 20 Midvalley Times article).
In the process, I uncovered a Dec. 20, 1977 Rafu Shimpoprofile of my great-grandmother Tamayo Asada written by Ayako “Ellen” Nakamura referencing a 20-acre farm in Dinuba that my grandfather, father and I had never known about! As I’ve dug into my family’s own Japanese American history, I’ve come to appreciate even more the story of the Nisei soldiers who fought for their country, as their country imprisoned their families.
Throughout the last year, our USC partners have come on board to bring this performance to life, and my Master of Public Diplomacy graduate student, Otto Lamsam, has helped deliver this public diplomacy in action. Otto is particularly interested in the use of the arts as a diplomatic tool and his time in the Royal Thai Army made him strongly connect with this story.
This show is part of the Center on Public Diplomacy’s Stroum Arts & Diplomacy series and supported by the Annenberg School and School of Dramatic Arts, along with the Asian Pacific Islander Faculty and Staff Association, Asian Pacific Alumni Association, and the Provost’s Office. “Defining Courage” is presented by Story Boldly, Japanese American National Museum, and Outside in Theatre.
Complementary tickets for this production are, as of this date, still available here: https://uscpublicdiplomacy.org/event/defining-courage
We look forward to welcoming you to USC’s performance of Defining Courage on April 30 at USC’s Bing Theatre.
Matthew Asada is a visiting senior fellow at the University of Southern California.