<Begin Segment 30>

[Translated from Japanese]

TY: So, in about ten years, the Japanese American community was rebuilt...

YI: Yeah. By that time we were settled and could do many things.

TY: Also the Japanese people were allowed to apply for citizenship.

YI: Uh-huh. We could obtain the citizenship. Things improved.

TY: As you said earlier, people over fifty could do in Japanese...

YI: Uh-huh. People over fifty. Most first generation people got it at that time.

TY: Since they decided to stay in the U.S....

YI: Uh-huh. Now that they decided to stay. Otherwise, you feel unsettled.

TY: But you postponed because you were not fifty years old yet and therefore could not apply in Japanese.

YI: I wonder what happened. The other day, Etsuko said I should have applied when I passed fifty. But that thing escaped my mind completely. Just that, when I turned fifty, I still could not speak English very well. I never could speak English very well and so I was afraid to go.

TY: But did you want to all this time?

YI: Huh?

TY: Did you want to obtain citizenship all this time?

YI: What?

TY: When did you start wanting to become a U.S. citizen?

YI: I wanted it for a long time. My husband took it long ago. I was the only one without it. In my family.

TY: In your family. That's right.

YI: So I wanted it. But I could not speak the language. I couldn't answer in English. I was afraid to go. Once I signed a paper at the Immigration and Naturalization Service. Then they told me to come on a certain date for a test. But I didn't know anything about the government. So I asked them to postpone indefinitely. That was the end. It was such a hassle for people without citizenship up until a certain time. Every New Year's day, people without citizenship had to fill in a form. Even now you have to do it once every few years. It is much easier than before. It was every year in those days. You had to take the form to a post office or a bank. You had to sign the form there.

TY: But finally this year, in 1999...

YI: Yeah. I feel good that I got it now.

[Interruption]

YI: By the way, one of my daughters, Noriko, was born in Kobe. We brought her here when she was five months old.

TY: Oh, then Noriko, too?

YI: She was scheduled to go to Canada when she was in a junior high school. But because she was not a citizen, she couldn't go. So everybody cancelled the trip. Other students did. She got her citizenship when she turned eighteen.

TY: Can you repeat that? Noriko was born in Japan and so she didn't have citizenship.

YI: Because Noriko was born in Japan, she didn't have it.

TY: So as you told me, in junior high school...

YI: The school said so. I don't know exactly, but since she was not a citizen and there was too much trouble, everybody cancelled. They did.

TY: Cancelled a trip to Canada.

YI: In junior high school.

TY: Did they change the destination or cancel the trip all together?

YI: Uh-huh. You can't take a citizenship test until you become eighteen. You have to be eighteen.

TY: Then she did when she turned eighteen. So you were the only one left.

YI: Yes. She and I didn't have one. The rest of the children were born here.

TY: Yes. But on November 4th of this year...

YI: Uh-huh. I obtained it. I am so relieved. [Laughs]

TY: Congratulations.

YI: Thank you. There is a beautiful certificate over there. A big one. Of citizenship.

TY: Did you do it because you heard you could use Japanese?

YI: Uh-huh. I didn't understand all the questions in English. He told Etsuko that she could say those in Japanese. So Etsuko interpreted for me in Japanese. Giving answers was not difficult. How many states are there? There are fifty. You just give a number. Most answers were numbers. How many senators are there? How many years in a term? You say numbers in Japanese. I could do that. I could answer. I was asked six or seven questions.

TY: You said your husband took the citizenship test much earlier. Did he get it as soon as the Japanese were allowed to apply?

YI: Huh?

TY: You said your husband got it early.

YI: He had to take the test in English but he could understand English. You had to bring a person to take care of you. There was a young minister who already gotten his citizenship. So he took my husband there. He left his wife in Japan. Because he didn't have citizenship at that time, she couldn't come here. So Reverend Okuda got citizenship and then right away his wife could come. It is not so difficult any longer. There was another minister who left his wife in Japan. He said it would not be difficult to bring her over here. Because the minister was born here. Still now, in Shinya's family, a young woman from Sendai needs to go to the government office for papers or something. She has to go to the office in Tokyo. Otherwise she cannot come to the U.S.

<End Segment 30> - Copyright © 1999 Densho. All Rights Reserved.