Densho Digital Repository
Alameda Japanese American History Project Collection
Title: Judy Furuichi Interview
Narrator: Judy Furuichi
Interviewer: Virginia Yamada
Location: Emeryville, California
Date: April 7, 2022
Densho ID: ddr-ajah-1-8-1

<Begin Segment 1>

VY: Okay. Today is Thursday, April 7, 2022, and we're here in Emeryville, California, with Judy Furuichi. And on camera is Dana Hoshide, and my name is Virginia Yamada. So, Judy, thank you for joining us today.

JF: Oh, you're welcome, my pleasure.

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

JF: I was born in Topaz, Utah, on December 27, 1942, and my given name was Judy Ann Takeda.

VY: And what does it say on your birth certificate?

JF: Judy Ann Nobuko Takeda, that would be my given Japanese name.

VY: Okay, okay. And does it say you were born in Topaz?

JF: It does, it does say that.

VY: And were you, where in the birth order were you?

JF: I'm the eldest of six children.

VY: The eldest of six children. And how about your siblings? Do you want to list their names and their birth order?

JF: Sure. We came in two, twos and twos, pairs of twos. My sister below me is Jo, or Joanne, she was born in 1944, and then Kent, my brother Kent was born in 1945, my brother David was born in 1946, so the three of us were born in Topaz and then my mother was pregnant, actually, with my brother David when we were asked to leave. And then Susan, number five, was born in 1946. What did I say?

VY: Let's see, we have David, 1946.

JF: Oh, I'm sorry. So Susan in 1948, and Carol in 1949.

VY: That's a lot of dates to remember. [Laughs]

JF: It is. And then you're going to say, "How can six children be born in seven years?"

VY: It's a good question. It sounds like a lot for your mom.

JF: It was a lot for my mother, but she was a trouper.

VY: She must have been, and to have three children in camp.

JF: Right, right.

<End Segment 1> - Copyright © 2022 Densho. All Rights Reserved.