Densho Digital Repository
Alameda Japanese American History Project Oral History Collection
Title: Rev. Michael Yoshii Interview
Narrator: Rev. Michael Yoshii
Interviewers: Patricia Wakida
Location: Alameda, California
Date: May 19, 2023
Densho ID: ddr-ajah-1-10-1

<Begin Segment 1>

PW: Good morning.

MY: Good morning.

PW: My name is Patricia Wakida. I'm here with Michael Yoshii today. Today is Friday, May 19, 2023, and we're at the studio of Shaun Daniels at 1151 Harbor Bay Parkway in Alameda, California. I'm interviewing former pastor Michael Yoshii to discuss his experience with the Buena Vista United Methodist church of Alameda. So I'm ready to start. I have this perception that there are a significant number of Japanese American United Methodist churches around the country. Is this true, and why is that?

MY: Yeah, we have a significant number of Methodist churches, mostly on the West Coast, though, I would say. Northern California, Southern California, Pacific Northwest and Colorado.

PW: Was there a specific mission that was driving that number of churches to be formed here?

MY: If you look at it, there are a number of Presbyterian Japanese American churches and there are a number of Methodist Japanese American churches. That was based on the denomination outreach that took place from the time the churches started.

PW: And was your family always a Methodist church-going family?

MY: No, my family was not.

PW: Can you tell me a little bit more about that?

MY: My mother's parents were part of the Christian Layman Church in Berkeley, and that's where I was introduced to Christian faith at that particular church. And my father's side was not connected to any churches, although they connected to the Christian Layman Church after the wartime.

<End Segment 1> - Copyright © 2023 Densho. All Rights Reserved.