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VY: Okay. Today is Tuesday, April 5, 2022, and we are here in Emeryville, California, with Jo Takata. And Dana Hoshide is our videographer, and my name is Virginia Yamada. So, Jo, thank you for joining us today for this interview.

JT: I'm happy to be here.

VY: Thank you. Let's begin by having you tell us when and where you were born, and what name you were given at birth.

JT: All right. I was born on January 16, 1944, in Topaz, Utah. And my name, I was not given a name at birth for over a week, because I was, I guess I came out crying, screaming, pulling my hair, and my skin was darker than my sister's, who was fair, and my parents, my mother especially couldn't believe that I could be hers, theirs. [Laughs] And it was a prelude to the rest of my life, I think, because I've always been outspoken and a little... I march to my own drummer, if you know what I mean. So they didn't name me for a whole week, and finally the nurses said, "This child needs a lot of love," so they named me Aiko, which, in Japanese, means "love." It's a beautiful, I think it's a beautiful idea that they gave. And my parents named me Joanne, which was not a common name, it still isn't really common. So I'm Joanne Aiko Takeda.

VY: That's a beautiful name.

JT: But the thing is, my sister Judy was born thirteen months before me, exactly. She was born in December, I was born in January, my brother was born in February the next year, and David, my other brother, was born in March. In other words, my mom and dad had six children, all thirteen months apart, it was like clockwork. But three of us in camp.

VY: That's right, three of you were born in camp. So let's back up a little bit. What were your parents' names?

JT: Daddy was William Shuso Takeda, but he was born in Hiroshima-ken in Japan. Let's see. He was the youngest of, I think, thirteen kids, and so he came here when he was sixteen. And you know, the thing about it is I think it's so meaningful to me that Daddy was on one of the last ships allowed into San Francisco in May of 1924. And his passport had expired twelve days before the Asian Exclusion Act. So he just kind of made it under the skin of his... really just snuck in.

VY: Wow, that was lucky.

JT: Yeah, I really feel that was very special, very special to me. So he was born in 1910 in Japan.

VY: 1910. Do you know why he decided to come to America?

JT: Yes. As the youngest, his brother, one of his brothers had come, Uncle Kei had come, and he came to see him, to meet him. And there was no opportunity for him in Japan for work, and he was only sixteen. And his mother wanted him to come to America with high hopes, you know. And Daddy's father had come -- and I found this out a lot later -- he had come also earlier. And so he must have come toward, at the end of the 19th century. Because he came, and like most people who came, they had heard about the gold hanging on the trees and the streets paved with gold, to make it rich, strike it rich and go home, and he did make money.

VY: He did?

JT: He did. That would be our grandfather. He did, but like most -- many, I should say, I don't know about most -- of the early immigrants to came to get rich, Papa, or would be my great grandfather, gambled and drank it all on the way home. That's a sad story that's common, but a lot of people don't talk about it. So when he got home, he had his pockets were full in the beginning, but when he got home, he had... it's a sad story.

VY: That is sad. So he came to America to make his money, and he did, but then he went back to Japan and lost his money?

JT: No, he lost it on the ship.

VY: On the ship, on the way back to Japan?

JT: Yes.

VY: That is a sad story.

JT: Very common, I'm finding. People don't talk about it, though, but it's one of those things that I think has made my... it's inside of me, in my core, that I have this... what should I call it? Sadness. I call it sadness or pain, because it must have been horrible for him to, first of all, to come with such high hopes, and then to go home with such shame. And you know, for Japanese, that's a big deal.

VY: Oh, that's so sad. Do you know what happened to him after he went home?

JT: No, I don't know. In fact, I don't even know what year that was. I should tell you that I probably at one time did, because I talked to my dad a lot about it, a lot about his coming, and a little bit about his family. But I thought I'd remember it and I've forgotten a lot.

VY: Do you have any idea of how old, was your dad born at that time? Like when your grandfather came from Japan to America, was that way before your father was born?

JT: Daddy came when he was sixteen. No, he was probably an infant. I've never thought about it, but now that you mention it, he probably was, he was the last, Daddy was the youngest. So that's probably why his father said, "Okay, now, I can go maybe spread my wings a little," I don't know.

VY: Oh, that's interesting. So he actually was married and had a family, and then he came to America?

JT: His father, my grandfather. Not Daddy, he was only sixteen when he came.

VY: How many siblings did your father have?

JT: Twelve that we know of.

VY: Wow.

JT: He was the youngest.

VY: I see. So that's why your grandmother wanted him to, she already had a lot of kids.

JT: Right, right. And we have pictures, and I saw it recently, and it's just so poignant because they both have such sad looks on their faces. Because it was their last picture together, he was leaving for America. They called in America in those days.

VY: They called it America?

JT: America instead of U.S.A., you know.

VY: I see, yeah.

JT: And being on the last ship allowed in San Francisco Bay before the Immigration Act closed it to all Japanese, really says something to me. It's about, it's a spiritual thing that it was meant to be, because he came, and here we are.

VY: Here you are, yeah. That's amazing, wow. What a great beginning, right?

JT: Uh-huh.

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