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VY: So you know, we're going to come back to Topaz a little bit later, but first I think it would be interesting to talk about your family history and what you know about your family and the early days of the Alameda community. So, can you tell me what your parents' names were and when and where they were born?

JF: My mother is Nellie Fumiko... well, her given name was Fumiko. I guess her English name, she was given an English name, Nellie Itahara, and she was born in Alameda on January 10, 1914. And my dad was Shuzo, S-H-U-Z-O Takeda. He was born in Japan in 1910.

VY: And when did your dad come to America?

JF: He came in, I want to say 1924. Yes, 1924, that's correct.

VY: So he was twelve... or fourteen?

JF: Fourteen.

VY: He was fourteen, okay. And so that's interesting, so your father was Issei and your mom was Nisei.

JF: Yes.

VY: So how do you identify yourself?

JF: I know I'm a Sansei, but... and I guess I would say I'm mostly Sansei, but I do have... I kind of sometimes think like a Nisei, a younger Nisei. Maybe because I was born with my dad being from Japan and growing up with so many Niseis. We came from a very small family, in other words, my mother was the only child born here in the United States. And then when my dad came, he came from a large family, however, he always identified as almost an only child as well. So growing up, we had a lot of extended family, and they were all Niseis, of course. So I began, I came to know them and their traditions and the way they think. So I guess being an only, or the eldest in the family, I took on a lot of the Nisei qualities, ways of thinking, traditions.

VY: What are some of those qualities? Because I've heard that before from people, and I'm just wondering how you perceive the differences between being a little more Nisei or a little more Sansei?

JF: Well, I think it's how I perceive being as part of a community. For me, community is just everything. Growing up, I watched my parents become very involved in the community in Alameda. They had lots of friends, and just following their traditions. One thing that comes to my mind which I continue to follow is, you know, when someone passes, we do certain things. We used to immediately go and visit or pay our respects to the family, that kind of thing. And then follow through with koden and just being there for the family. As a Sansei, there are, we as a Sansei, I still follow those traditions. However, there are some that don't. And I always wondered, why do I feel compelled? It's almost the first thing I think of. "Oh, I need to make a phone call," or, "I need to go," and all those traditional things that my parents did. So I guess I'm following their, a lot of their traditions and their way of thinking.

VY: Yeah, that makes sense.

<End Segment 2> - Copyright © 2022 Densho. All Rights Reserved.