(Mitsuye Yamada was interviewed together with her two surviving brothers, William Toshio Yasutake and Joseph Yasutake, in group sessions on October 8-9, 2002. She was interviewed individually on October 9-10, 2002.
Before being contacted by Densho, the Yasutake siblings had planned to conduct their own family history interviews. Individually and jointly, they and other family members had written and gathered material documenting their family history. They shared much of this with me to assist with research and preparation for the Densho interview. Mitsuye's daughter Jeni had coordinated much of the family history work. Jeni participated as a secondary interviewer during the group sessions, October 8-9, 2002.The group interview sessions were conducted in Seattle at the home of Tom Ikeda, executive director of Densho. The oldest Yasutake sibling, Reverend Seiichi Michael Yasutake, had passed away less than a year before the Densho interviewing, in December, 2001. The remaining siblings emphasized that his absence left a gap in their discussion of family history. In addition to Jeni Yamada and videographers Dana Hoshide and John Pai, also present during some portions of the group interview were Tom Ikeda, and Mitsuye Yamada's son Kai Yamada.)","extent":"04:29:53","links_children":"ddr-densho-1000-137","creators":[{"role":"narrator","oh_id":129,"namepart":"Mitsuye May Yamada"},{"role":"interviewer","namepart":"Alice Ito"},{"role":"videographer","namepart":"Dana Hoshide"}],"format":"vh","language":["eng"],"contributor":"Densho","rights":"cc","genre":"interview","location":"Seattle, Washington","creation":"October 9 & 10, 2002","status":"completed","search_hidden":"Mitsuye May Yamada narrator \nAlice Ito interviewer \nDana Hoshide videographer","download_large":"denshovh-ymitsuye-01-a.jpg"},{"id":"209","model":"narrator","index":"18 6693/{'value': 6865, 'relation': 'eq'}","links":{"html":"https://ddr.densho.org/narrators/209/","json":"https://ddr.densho.org/api/0.2/narrator/209/","img":"https://ddr.densho.org/media/narrators/hhideo.jpg","thumb":"https://ddr.densho.org/media/narrators/hhideo.jpg","interviews":"https://ddr.densho.org/api/0.2/narrator/209/interviews/"},"display_name":"Hideo Hoshide","bio":"Nisei male. Born September 25, 1917, in Tacoma, Washington. Grew up in Tacoma except for living in Japan for several years at age four. Attended the University of Washington in Seattle, majoring in Political Science, Far Eastern Studies, with a minor in journalism. Prior to World War II, worked as sports editor for community newspaper, The Japanese American Courier. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, was removed along with wife to Pinedale Assembly Center, California, and then Tule Lake concentration camp, California. Had a daughter in Tule Lake, and then moved to Minidoka concentration camp, Idaho. Recruited to work for the U.S. Army's Office of Strategic Services (OSS), was drafted, and trained in India. After the end of the war, was sent to Hiroshima, Japan, to conduct a U.S. government survey studying the effects of the atomic bomb on Japanese citizens. Returned to Seattle in 1946 and was the associate editor for another community newspaper, The Northwest Times. Worked for the Boeing Company postwar while raising a family. Was a founding member of the Seattle Nisei Veterans Committee, working on the group's newsletter for thirty years."},{"id":"162","model":"narrator","index":"19 6694/{'value': 6865, 'relation': 'eq'}","links":{"html":"https://ddr.densho.org/narrators/162/","json":"https://ddr.densho.org/api/0.2/narrator/162/","img":"https://ddr.densho.org/media/narrators/uclifford.jpg","thumb":"https://ddr.densho.org/media/narrators/uclifford.jpg","interviews":"https://ddr.densho.org/api/0.2/narrator/162/interviews/"},"display_name":"Clifford Uyeda","bio":"Nisei male. Born January 14, 1917, in Olympia, Washington. Raised in Washington before attending the University of Wisconsin, where he graduated in 1940. Earned medical degree from Tulane University School of Medicine in New Orleans, and completed his residency at Harvard Medical School in 1949. Served in the U.S. Air Force during the Korean War and worked as a pediatrician in San Francisco. While president of the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL), worked to support the redress movement of the 1980s."},{"id":"186","model":"narrator","index":"20 6695/{'value': 6865, 'relation': 'eq'}","links":{"html":"https://ddr.densho.org/narrators/186/","json":"https://ddr.densho.org/api/0.2/narrator/186/","img":"https://ddr.densho.org/media/narrators/sjames.jpg","thumb":"https://ddr.densho.org/media/narrators/sjames.jpg","interviews":"https://ddr.densho.org/api/0.2/narrator/186/interviews/"},"display_name":"James Sakamoto","bio":"Nisei male. Born April 18, 1924, in Mayfield, California. Spent prewar childhood years in Alviso, California. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941, moved with family to Stockton, California, in an attempt to avoid mass removal. Despite this, was removed to the Stockton Assembly Center, California, and the Rohwer concentration camp, Arkansas. Resettled in Colorado after the war, served in the military, and returned to San Jose, California. Established small business, Sakamoto Barbershop, in San Jose's Japantown in 1953."},{"id":"197","model":"narrator","index":"21 6696/{'value': 6865, 'relation': 'eq'}","links":{"html":"https://ddr.densho.org/narrators/197/","json":"https://ddr.densho.org/api/0.2/narrator/197/","img":"https://ddr.densho.org/media/narrators/imitsu.jpg","thumb":"https://ddr.densho.org/media/narrators/imitsu.jpg","interviews":"https://ddr.densho.org/api/0.2/narrator/197/interviews/"},"display_name":"Mitsu Ito","bio":"Nisei male. Born August 20, 1924, in Mission, British Columbia, Canada. Grew up in Mission, attending school and helping on family farm. Left home to work several jobs, including in a sawmill and on a sugar beet farm. After World War II, moved to Japan, worked as an interpreter for the British Army, and got married. Moved to Toronto, Canada, in the 1950s and raised two sons. In later life, active in Toronto's Japanese Canadian community, and was involved with charitable foundations."},{"id":"210","model":"narrator","index":"22 6697/{'value': 6865, 'relation': 'eq'}","links":{"html":"https://ddr.densho.org/narrators/210/","json":"https://ddr.densho.org/api/0.2/narrator/210/","img":"https://ddr.densho.org/media/narrators/tmii.jpg","thumb":"https://ddr.densho.org/media/narrators/tmii.jpg","interviews":"https://ddr.densho.org/api/0.2/narrator/210/interviews/"},"display_name":"Mii Tai","bio":"Nisei female. Born 1923 in Spokane, Washington. Spent childhood in downtown Spokane where parents ran the Oriental Laundry. Family was active with the Methodist Episcopal Church and mother taught at the Japanese Language School. Attended Lewis & Clark High School. Remembers changes in the Japanese American community brought about by World War II. Husband, Sumio Tai, came to Spokane from Minidoka concentration camp through a work sponsorship. Married in 1945 and spent postwar years running a hotel and raising six children."},{"id":"315","model":"narrator","index":"23 6698/{'value': 6865, 'relation': 'eq'}","links":{"html":"https://ddr.densho.org/narrators/315/","json":"https://ddr.densho.org/api/0.2/narrator/315/","img":"https://ddr.densho.org/media/narrators/kjun.jpg","thumb":"https://ddr.densho.org/media/narrators/kjun.jpg","interviews":"https://ddr.densho.org/api/0.2/narrator/315/interviews/"},"display_name":"Jun Kurumada","bio":"Nisei male. Born December 13, 1913, in Richfield, Utah. Grew up primarily in Ogden, Utah. Attended the University of Utah and then UC Berkeley for dental school. Established a dental practice in Salt Lake City, Utah, prior to World War II. During the war, was president of the Salt Lake City chapter of the Japanese American Citizens League. After World War II, Dr. Kurumada served in the U.S. military in Japan before returning to Salt Lake City and continuing dental practice."},{"id":"2","model":"narrator","index":"24 6699/{'value': 6865, 'relation': 'eq'}","links":{"html":"https://ddr.densho.org/narrators/2/","json":"https://ddr.densho.org/api/0.2/narrator/2/","img":"https://ddr.densho.org/media/narrators/ajim.jpg","thumb":"https://ddr.densho.org/media/narrators/ajim.jpg","interviews":"https://ddr.densho.org/api/0.2/narrator/2/interviews/"},"display_name":"Jim Akutsu","bio":"Nisei male. Born January 25, 1920, in Seattle, Washington. Incarcerated at the Puyallup Assembly Center, Washington, and Minidoka concentration camp, Idaho. Resisted the draft, with the rationale that the U.S. government had classified him 4-C, an enemy alien, and he was therefore under no obligation to serve. Imprisoned at McNeil Island Penitentiary, Washington. Vocal critic of the Japanese American Citizens League. Resettled in Seattle, Washington. Thought by some to be the model for the main character in John Okada's No-No Boy."}],"query":{"query":{"query_string":{"query":"Nisei","fields":["id","model","links_html","links_json","links_img","links_thumb","links_children","status","public","title","description","contributor","creators","creators.namepart","facility","format","genre","geography","label","language","creation","location","persons","rights","topics","image_url","display_name","bio","extent","search_hidden"],"analyze_wildcard":false,"allow_leading_wildcard":false,"default_operator":"AND"}},"aggs":{"facility":{"nested":{"path":"facility"},"aggs":{"facility_ids":{"terms":{"field":"facility.id","size":1000}}}},"format":{"terms":{"field":"format"}},"genre":{"terms":{"field":"genre"}},"rights":{"terms":{"field":"rights"}},"topics":{"nested":{"path":"topics"},"aggs":{"topics_ids":{"terms":{"field":"topics.id","size":1000}}}}},"_source":["id","model","links_html","links_json","links_img","links_thumb","links_children","status","public","title","description","contributor","creators","creators.namepart","facility","format","genre","geography","label","language","creation","location","persons","rights","topics","image_url","display_name","bio","extent","search_hidden"]}}