hakujin: Caucasian(s); white(s).

Issei: First-generation Japanese immigrant in America.

kanji: Chinese characters used in Japanese writing.

-ken: A prefecture.

Nisei: American-born children of Japanese immigrants; second-generation Japanese Americans.

sakura: Cherry blossom.

Sansei: American-born grandchildren of Japanese immigrants; third-generation Japanese Americans.

shashin kekkon: Literally "picture marriage"; in this case refers to a marriage that involves a picture bride, an Issei woman who participated in a marriage arranged when photographs were exchanged between the woman or her family in Japan and her prospective husbands in America. After the Gentlemen's Agreement which made immigration unlawful for Japanese without relatives in the United States, this was the only way that Issei men could marry and have their wives immigrate.