<Begin Segment 7>

[Translated from Japanese]

TY: By the way, I understand that they were not allowed to apply for citizenship yet. I mean the first generation people. The first generation people were unable to apply for citizenship during that time.

YI: That's right. You were not allowed in those days.

TY: That's part of the reason...

YI: Then, after the war, the Japanese were allowed to apply for citizenship. So many people took the test. Then those over fifty could take it in Japanese. People who knew those things well taught at night schools. But I was not fifty yet then, and so I could not take it in Japanese. But I didn't know that you could take it in Japanese when you reached fifty. So thinking that I could not understand English well, I postponed it. Then a Japanese woman who is working over there told Etsuko that you could probably use some Japanese. She also wrote down for me about twenty typical questions. So I studied those questions a little bit, and took the test.

TY: Then you've got your citizenship.

YI: I received a letter from the office saying that they wanted to grant me citizenship and asked me to come as soon as possible.

TY: You have been living here for as long as seventy years.

YI: Addressed to the Japanese.

TY: When did the letter come?

YI: Huh?

TY: When did the letter arrive?

YI: It also came to me.

TY: Recently?

YI: No. It was when I was living in Seattle.

TY: Way back then?

YI: Quite a while ago. It said, "We want to give citizenship to as many people as possible in your group, and so please come to take a test."

TY: Because you were not allowed to take it before...

YI: It was in my mind all this time but I didn't take it. Since all my children are American-born...

TY: Also your grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

YI: My health deteriorated and there is no chance that I would return to Japan to live. So I went. I think I had to tell the Japanese government office that I was naturalized and so I sent a letter.

TY: To a Japanese consulate?

YI: I asked to have it recorded that I became a naturalized citizen of the United States.

TY: Oh, did you send it to Japan?

YI: Yes, to Japan. My husband took the test in English a long time ago and became naturalized.

TY: Did he do it soon after the Japanese people were allowed to apply?

YI: [Inaudible]

TY: The Japanese people were not allowed to apply for a long time, weren't they? For citizenship.

YI: Uh-huh. We couldn't apply.

TY: Then, did he do as soon as you were allowed?

YI: Even young people did not have it. The second generation.

TY: The second generation people had it.

YI: Did they?

TY: Yes.

YI: The first generation, those who came from Japan, didn't have it.

TY: Yes. Then your husband took the test in English before he became fifty, didn't he?

YI: Yes, because he could understand English.

TY: Could he read and write also? Of course, he read and wrote, also, right? He also had reading and writing skills.

YI: Uh-huh. Conversation was difficult for him, but he could read and write in English.

<End Segment 7> - Copyright © 1999 Densho. All Rights Reserved.