Why this word is great
ISSEI — [Noun] A member of the first generation of Japanese immigrants to North America, South America, or Australia. Borrowed from Japanese 一世 (issei), literally "first generation" (一 "one" + 世 "generation"). Unlike "nisei" (born into assimilation, fluent in the language of their new home) or "kibei" (caught between two worlds, educated abroad but rooted in diaspora), the issei carried the full weight of displacement—uprooted entirely, yet planting seeds for those who would come after. It is the scent of miso broth simmered in a foreign kitchen, the stiff crease of a kimono folded for storage in a suitcase, the careful, accented handwriting of letters sent back to a homeland that would never again recognize them as its own. To be issei was to live in the hyphen between two lives, never fully belonging to either.