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VY: Let's see. So we have sort of come full circle back to Alameda, haven't we?

JF: Yes, we have.

VY: And that's where you are today.

JF: Uh-huh.

VY: And so what's life like now? You're back at your church?

JF: Oh, yes, I never left, except for the three years that we were gone to Los Angeles. It's just something that draws me there and continues to. Growing up there, it's just part of your life, more or less. I love living in Alameda, and my life here now that our grandchildren or my daughter and her family are here, we've always been very close. I just have, we just have the one daughter, and so always been close, always been close to the grandchildren helping them out, raising them, being there to babysit, whatever. So it's been just more of the same, watching them grow, being available for them, but then back to the community. And two sisters now live in Alameda, they have moved to Alameda. So it's just coming back home, I love it, I love it.

VY: Yeah. You know, as I've been learning more and more about the rich history of your community and the Buena Vista United Methodist Church, I saw this quote from a church member, and they said that, "We're a community of former refugees called to offer refuge to others," and then they went on to say that, "Our past informs our present and our future." And I was just wondering if you have anything to add to that or reflections on that about how that has informed your life and living that way. Because it seems to me that that was a part of you even just being brought up in the family that you were brought up in.

JF: Yeah. It has, in your words, Virginia, it has informed my life tremendously. It's so true, looking back, that community, the church community, just has opened their doors, opened their hearts to everybody. Not just Japanese, not just Asians, but it's just a warm and welcoming place. And part of it is we are, we do learn from our past experiences, and because of what the Japanese community went through during the war, and then having, being able to come back with respect and dignity and still opening our own doors, our own hearts to others. It's so important, and you know, what's amazing, I'm working on this marker project going through the history of our church. And I see a pattern, the pattern is of really social justice. That term is used so much, but it's one of our core values. We have become a reconciling congregation which means that we welcome, we encourage LGBTQ community. We were one of the first Asian Japanese churches to become a reconciled community, which means we made a statement that said "all are welcome." We offer sanctuary as we were offered sanctuary during the war, during World War II. We offer sanctuary to other immigrants, not just Asian, but we have opened our doors to immigrants from Central America, Mexico, to live in the parsonage. And you know, it's just a wonderful place to raise children because they grow up with this knowledge and this feeling and this responsibility. But we are still, today, we are a very diverse community. But we hold to the richness and the legacy of our Japanese heritage. And people who come, those diverse people, all those people learn and understand and embrace those values that we still try to continue. So I'm really proud of our community. I think we've done a good job. I'm just very grateful that my family, my children and grandchildren, can see this, too. Because this informs their lives as well. So that makes me so happy.

VY: Well, that's all so beautifully put, I find myself with no more questions to ask, unless you have something else you would like to add before we conclude today?

JF: No. I think... I like to explain to my family, my kids, when I say kids, I mean we'll say the grandchildren. Because they didn't grow up to know my mother, but she, for our family, and for me, I can only speak for myself, but she was such a wonderful example of a value that I hope that they can figure out that this is a good thing. Of being generous... I'm sorry. Not just generous in giving things, but generous of heart, of one's humanity, of one's really... giving name to a purposeful life, and that is to be able to share what you have received. Not only just to share, but so much of it is based on what we, as our family has received from our friends and just others that we have come to know. I'm sorry, but I get emotional because I think it's something that sometimes you can't teach except through, by example. So I'm finding that I'm so happy that I was born into this family. I give thanks for that, because they are who I am, or I am who they are, put it that way. I'm sorry, you probably want to cut this part out.

VY: No, I do not. Thank you so much, Judy, thank you so much for joining us and sharing your story with us.

JF: Oh, you're welcome.

VY: We're so appreciative of that, thank you.

JF: Thank you, thank you.

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