University Daily Kansan / Monday, December 10, 1990
9
Professor stretches stay in U.S.
One year turns to 20 to study languages of American Indians
Bv Tatsuva Shimizu
Kansan staff writer
Akira Yamamoto came to the United States to study English. He originally planned to stay one year, but his extensions extended for more than 20 years.
He decided to extend his stay to study more linguistics after he took an English class at the university.
Yamamoto first studied at California State University in Long Beach, Calif., in spring 1966.
Yamamoto, professor of anthropology and linguistics, taught English in a Japanese high school for three years before he came to the United States.
"That opened up my eyes to not just English, but more about the relationships between languages, cultures and societies." Yamamoto said.
He transferred to Indiana University in Bloomington and pursued his interest in languages and cultures. He went on to go back to Japan to teach English.
"It was a kind of beginning of getting into American Indian languages," Yamamoto said.
In his third year at Indiana, he took a linguistics course taught by an American Indian language specialist. The instructor used American Indian languages as examples in his class, and Yamamoto was attracted to the languages, in which he found similarities with his native Japanese language
Since then, his interest in American Indian languages has kept him in the United States for more than 20 years.
For about 10 years, Yamamoto has
Akira Yamamoto
Indian languages, she said.
Brown has been working with Yamatoo to develop teaching materials of Kickapoo, one of the many Indian languages common in Oklahoma.
"He is well-accepted among Indian people," she said. "Kickapoo Indians just loved him. They jokingly call him 'Mukhida' and feel like he is a part of their family."
Yamamoto has been active in trying to protect American Indian languages with legislation, she said. He was one of the trustees of the language institute who drafted the resolution that supported the legislation of the Native American Languages Act, which became law Oct. 30.
"I gives us rights for the first time in the history to use our own languages, to exercise rights to preserve right and to protect their use." Brown said.
Yamamoto said he would stay in the United States because of his interest in American Indian language.
expanded to include Japanese culture in general.
"Until I came to the United States, I didn't pay too much attention to who I was and what Japanese culture might be." "Yamamoto said. "When you leave home country, after a while you will have to have your own heppease."
Stephen Addiss, professor of art history, worked with Yamamoto to prepare exhibitions of Japanese art in 1980 and 1985. Next semester, he and Addiss will prepare for another Japanese art exhibition, "Humor in Japanese Arts," which they plan to display in 1993.
"He has a wide knowledge of different cultures around the world." Addiss said of Yamamoto. "He is able to combine the best parts of Japanese culture and the best parts of Western culture together."
Yamamoto has been observing Japanese economic success from the United States. He is glad about its progress in reducing its recent aggressiveness, he said.
"In general, Japanese people still work with concentrating energy toward one goal," he said. "I think they are too aggressive."
Yamatoa becomes uncomfortable when Japanese companies become too aggressive to do their business. Japan criticizes Japan too much, he said.
"We don't know each other very well." he said.
Yamamoto hopes that he can foster mutual understanding between the United States and Japan by teaching them how to know about both countries, he said.
Another thing that keeps Yamamoto in the United States is the atmosphere at U.S. universities, he said. Compared with Japanese university students, he said, professors and students in the United States, Yamamoto said.
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FALL FINALE
Movies may help students escape on study breaks
o you're looking for a way to put off studying for finals, or maybe you're just looking for a break from studying for them. One quick, inexpensive way to escape for a
while is going to the movies. With any luck, the next two weeks will compensate for the record-breaking number of unmemorable movies that have been released during the previous 11 months. Inexplicably, such movies have kept audiences more than happy, with "Ghost," "Pretty Woman" and "Teen-Age Mutant Ninja Turtles" grossing a total of $500 million. Now it's time for the "serious" movies usually saved for the end of the year. This holiday season promises to be an exciting one, so dig the money out of your pockets and get out to the movies.
ALREADY RELEASED:
"Misery" — James Caan is a romance writer held captive by psycho nurse-from-Hell, Kathy Bates. Bates has a thing for sledgehammers and shotguns in this wonderful comedy-thriller from director Rob Reiner.
"Three Men and a Little Lady" — Ted Danson, Steve Guttenberg and Tom Selleck are all back. The movie suffers from an overload of cute scenes, but it's relatively harmless fluff.
Also: "Home Alone," "Predator 2" and
"Dances with Wolves."
LOOK FOR:
"The Godfather, Part III" — By far the most anticipated film of the year, Francis Ford Coppola's Corleone saga concludes with Al Pacino, Diane Keaton and Andy Garcia. Sure to be a blockbuster.
“Mr. and Mrs. Bridge” — Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward star as a Kansas City couple in this drama based on the novels of Evan S. Connell and directed by James ivory, who made the exquisite “A Room with a View.”
by Bryce J. Tache
"The Grifters" — Anjelica Huston reportedly gives the performance of her career as a scheming mother who flimflams her con artist son, John Cusack. Stephen Frears directs after making last year's "Dangerous Liaisons."
"Edward Scissorhands" — In Tim Burton's first film since "Batman," Winona Ryder and Johnny Depp star in this beauty-and-the-beast flick that's sure to be bizarre.
"The Sheltering Sky" — Bernardo Bertolucei, who directed "The Last Emperor," brings to life Paul Bowle's cult novel about three lost souls in a North African desert. Stars Debra Winger and John Malkovich.
"Kindergarten Cop" — Arnold
Schwarzenegger goes undercover as a kindergarten
teacher. Will undoubtedly make gobs of money.
Ivan Reitman, the guy who made "Twins" directs
"The Bonfire of the Vanities" — Word is that Brian DePalma's big-screen treatment of Tom Wolfe's novel is going to flop. But with Tom Hanks, Bruce Willis and Melanie Griffith on DePalma's side, it has potential.
"Mermaidis" — Cher, in her first role since "Moonstruck," stars with Winona Ryder in this period piece directed by Richard Benjamin and costarring Bob Hoskins.
"Scenes from a Mall" — Woody Allen and Bette Midler play a married couple spending a day shopping with Paul Mazursky directing.
Also, "Look Who's Talking Too," which can't be any worse than its unbearable predecessor; "Awakenings," starring Robert De Niro as a modern-day Rip Winkle and Robin Williams as the doctor who wakes him up; and "The Russia House," with Sean Connery as a British publisher who gets tangled up with Michelle Pfeiffer.
And for those who would rather stay at home during the winter break, two of the year's best movies are already on video. "Longtime Companion" is a touching film about a group of gay men battling AIDS, and "Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer" is 10 times more frightening than any hack-and-slash horror film you're ever likely to see.
December 10, 1990 FALL FINALE