Issei: First-generation Japanese immigrant in America.

koden: A monetary offering to a departed spirit, a condolence gift, money given in honor of the memory of one who has died.

Nikkei: A person of Japanese ancestry.

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

shoji: A translucent sliding panel of rice paper on a wooden frame, used in Japanese homes as a partition or door.

tokonoma: Alcove where art or flowers are displayed.