Densho Digital Repository - Judy Furuichi Interview (Densho ID: ddr-ajah-1-8-6)

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VY: You know, maybe this is a good time to talk a little bit about the history of the churches in Alameda. Because currently there's, like, two main ones, from what I understand.

JF: Yes.

VY: So how did the church that you belonged to begin? Like a little bit of the early history.

JF: Oh...

VY: Just a little bit, like what you know, it's okay not to be too detailed.

JF: No, no, that's okay. We just... oh gosh, in 2018, we celebrated our 120th anniversary. So in 1890, is that right? 1898 the church was established, and it was established by two Caucasian missionary women who came to Alameda and discovered that the Japanese community needed something. And they said, okay, well, they really need to learn how to speak English. So they formed... they got together, they bought a little house or rented a house, and that was the beginning of the Methodist church in Alameda. And then the Buddhist temple, I'm not quite sure when that was established, but it was about the same time. And those two churches are just kind of like the hub of the community, it always has been the hub.

VY: And back when the church first started, who were the main people that made up the Japanese community? Was it mostly men, were there some women?

JF: Oh, I would say it had to be the men, it was mostly the men. We've heard stories about how some of the men would go out on the street corners, all dressed up, and start evangelizing, I guess. But then later on, the women became very important, because they were the ones that sort of provided the fellowship time and they provided the meals and things that brought the community together. So we used to call them the Fujinkai ladies who would be very, very instrumental in keeping the church social and active and all of that.

VY: Yeah, so it sounds like first the men came over to work, I suppose. Then at some point they, some women came to join them?

JF: Yes, yes. And my parents, my mother came to the Buena Vista church when she was, in 1918, when she was only four years old. So she's been there, she was there for many, many years. She was just a very central part for all those years, of that community.

VY: Yeah. Were your grandparents also part of the Buena Vista church?

JF: My grandfather came, I believe, I guess in Japan he practiced Shinto, the Shinto religion. Because I do remember in, growing up, I remember him always going to the kitchen pantry every morning, and he would open the cupboard and just look at his little altar that he had set up. He didn't become a Christian, but he did bring my mother, again, when she was four years old, because he felt it was important for her to have that community of young people.