The incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II is widely known as a moment of infamy in American history. But what is often overlooked are the approximately 33,000 Japanese Americans who served in the U.S. Army as a means of proving their loyalty to a country that alienated them.
The story of the Nisei (second generation Japanese American) soldier has gone under the radar of most people, including David Ono. People might recognize him with his distinctively round glasses and smooth voice from ABC7 Eyewitness News, appearing every afternoon from 4pm to 6pm to report on the happenings in Los Angeles and beyond.
Ono, a Japanese American himself, was completely unaware of this piece of history, but would later become engrossed in telling it.
“I wanted to bring people to these battlefields where these guys fought in World War II, because they’re considered the greatest fighting unit in American military history for their size and length of service, yet nobody knows about them,” Ono said in an interview with Annenberg Media. “If they’re so celebrated and so accomplished, why don’t we see more about them when it comes to movies and shows, books, history books, etc.?”
This fascination took Ono across Europe and Asia for a project that transcends the journalistic medium. “Defining Courage” was born from Ono’s curiosity. It is a performance that combines different media for an experience that transports audiences into the shoes of the Nisei soldier.
Now, he will be bringing the show to a university for the first time. On Tuesday, April 30, “Defining Courage” will play at USC’s Bing Theatre as the closing event to the school’s celebration of AAPI Heritage Month.
The “deconstructed documentary,” as Ono describes it, mixes drone footage of former battlefields, from forests of France to the cliffs of Okinawa, with interviews with veterans alongside a live choir, original music, and Ono himself on-stage narrating. While Ono primarily works within the bounds of traditional journalism, this project allowed him to do something completely new.
“It is the melding of entertainment and journalism, which I love because I’m strictly a journalist,” said Ono. “However, I’ve learned a lot in the process when it comes to the entertainment side of it. We wrote our own music, every word I say, I’ve written, which is normal for my journalistic side… but the cadence is a little bit slower because the audience is live, and so you want them to absorb every word.”
In balancing the creative and journalistic voices, Ono was able to create something one-of-a-kind within the realm of nonfiction storytelling.
“It was really scary and fun at the same time,” said Ono. “We’re proud and also we’re excited to be able to do it because for once it is like two different realms simultaneously: telling a story accurately, steeped in deep, deep research, but also bringing the emotion of music and video and other elements to hold the audience’s attention.”
“Defining Courage” is ambitious and risky to say the least. Like with any piece of art, Ono was not sure what the reception would be until that first performance.
“The first obstacle is, ‘Am I out of my mind? Am I way off, because now it’s not just me that pays the price. I brought in musicians, editors, [videographers], I’ve flown all over the world to shoot these stories,” said Ono.
Another part of that challenge is finding an audience for the work. Ono was anxious that some people may be turned away simply because they see it as just “an Asian story.”
And although it is an “Asian story,” Ono believes that “Defining Courage” could resonate with anyone watching, not just members of the Asian American community.
“[Some audiences] feel like that’s not part of [their] story, and we don’t want them to think that,” said Ono. “We want them to see it and then understand that there are so many elements in the show that are universal when it comes to courage, when it comes to sacrifice, when it comes to overwhelming adversity and still fighting. Those are all elements that we can all learn from.”
By wandering into those uncharted waters, Ono’s efforts have paid off. “Defining Courage” has been performed 15 times now in venues ranging from the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. to the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco, to the Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Orange County. All of these shows were sold out, according to Ono.
He hopes that by performing it in a university like USC that students will be able to educate themselves on a side of history even he, a professional journalist, did not know about.
“Understand your ignorance, embrace your ignorance, fight your way out of ignorance, but don’t beat yourself up over being ignorant, your ignorance is largely not your fault,” said Ono. “Understand that we have many blind spots as Americans, we don’t talk about a lot of these chapters in our history that we need to talk about.”
For aspiring journalists, Ono encourages them to be willing to try something new and explore unique means of telling a powerful story while maintaining a sense of journalistic integrity.
“A pet peeve of mine is ‘that’s not the way we do things,’” said Ono. “You always will have to innovate… don’t be intimidated by the way the world is today. You will own the way it is tomorrow as long as you stay in front, keep your eyes open, be creative, be open minded, learn as much as possible, but then you want to have your own input on how it should be done in the future.”
“Defining Courage” serves as a first step for Ono, as he now looks to find other stories to tell utilizing this distinct journalistic format. But for now, the story of the Nisei soldier is kept alive through Ono’s voice one stage at a time.
“Defining Courage” will play at Bing Theatre on Tuesday, April 30 at 6pm. Audiences can RSVP for the event here. Afterwards, it will play at the Neuhaus Theatre in Houston, Texas on May 20.