No-No Boy is a novel by John Okada about a Japanese American, Ichiro struggling to fit in after a two-year imprisonment for refusing to serve in the American Army. When Ichiro is released, he is more distant from his parents, and when told about their family’s plan to move back to Japan, he tries to tell his parents about America’s victory. Ichiro’s parents are immigrants from Japan, and Ichiro, as well as his brother, were born and raised in the U.S. Their immigrant parents don’t speak English fluently, and the Japanese American children struggle to communicate with elders in Japanese. Thus, exploring the themes of culture and family. Later in the book, Ichiro visits an old family friend with his mother, where he finally learns about the death of their son Bob, whose parents bought a house in America after their son passed away. Ichiro describes the situation of Japanese Americans in America as “they planned someday to return to Japan and still felt like transients even after thirty or forty years in America.” He also describes the many other families like his own by saying, “they rushed to America with the single purpose of making a fortune which would enable them to return to their own country and live adequately.” When Bob’s parents say they bought a home because they like being in America, Ichiro feels helpless and left out from the rest of the community due to his mother’s stubbornness  of “returning to Japan.” Bob died after joining the American Armyand was shot terribly in the head during the war. When Ichiro and many other Japanese Americans were in court, the Japanese testified, saying, “We’re not like the other Japanese whoa aren’t good Americans like us. We’re more like you and the other, regular Americans.” When they refuse to enlist in the military, like Ichiro, they get sent to jail. When they enter the army, like Bob, they either get injured or pass away. Ichiro later talks to his friend Freddie, who was also in jail after refusing to serve in the military. When Ichiro says he doesn’t know how he should continue living, Freddie tells him, “You and me, we picked the wrong side. So what? Doesn’t mean we gotta stop living.” After leaving Freddie with a heavy heart, Ichiro thinks about the racism expressed towards Japanese Americans and the unspoken words such as “This is America, which is for Americans. You have spent two years in prison to prove that you are Japanese - go to Japan!” Ichiro tries to forget since all his friends are continuing with their lives. He talks about how “people forgot, and in forgetting, forgave.” But Ichiro couldn’t forget the experiences he went through when he was in jail, and all the people around him eventually changed their minds about reality. Ichiro talks about him not wanting to join the army because he was in university in America, and “that, in itself, was worth defending from anyone and anything which dared to threaten it with change or extinction.” He finally realizes that “being American is a terribly incomplete thing if one’s face is not white and one’s parents are Japanese of the country Japan which attacked America.” Ichiro acknowledges the emptiness he feels for being in the middle of two cultures and visits his former university professor. After being encouraged to start his studies again, Ichiro meets a classmate from the past in the cafeteria. His friend Ken lost a leg from the war and has only recently started his schooling at the university again.

When he asks what Ichiro has been doing in the past two years, he confesses, “I wasn’t in the army, Ken. I was in jail. I’m a no-no boy.” In this book's context, we can infer the name ‘no-no boy’ is derogatory and refers to the people who refuse to enlist in the American Army. Ichiro then returns home and is greeted with the news that his younger brother will be enlisting in the military. Despite the disappointment and refusal of his parents, Ichiro’s brother insists on being part of the army so he could be finally considered a ‘good American,’ like the others who’ve turned to fight against their home country. The book explores the hardships of Japanese Americans living in America during the war, and the struggles they face to fit in despite being the same as other Americans. Ichiro is among  the many Japanese Americans struggling with their identities for being both Japanese and American. The emptiness he feels when the two countries are at war demonstrates their conflicted emotions.