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AI: Well, and then it was a few years later in 1954 that your first child was born, Wanda?

TI: Yeah.

AI: And then you had three other daughters as well...

TI: Yeah.

AI: ...Helen, Julie, and Patricia. And I wanted to ask you about their names because in, with other Nisei I've talked to, some of them consciously decided not to give their children Japanese names. I was wondering if you and Sumi ever discussed this or how you decided on the girls' names.

TI: Yeah. Well, we wanted to have a Japanese name that was easy, especially in defense of my name. It was extremely difficult for people to remember, and that's why I ended up with the nickname, Ike. So we ended up as an example, Kiyo is simple and then some others' name. And then, or Amy, Wanda Amy Ikeda, which a close friend of ours is Amy Kobayashi. So we chose names that were easy to say and write.

AI: Now, as the girls were growing up, did you ever talk to them about your experience during World War II and about the camps?

TI: No, I never did. And even to this day they haven't asked for or asked me what was it like. And so like many Niseis we never communicate. I know one sociologist, a Nisei, who said that the Niseis have a difficult time in communicating, 'cause we did very little communicating with our parents other than saying, "Hai," that's it. And even that, you have to say it in a polite hai. [Laughs]

AI: And for those who don't understand what that means...

TI: "Yes." You know, you always obey your parents and others who are older than you. So we really didn't get to know our parents as persons. At least I didn't and felt I missed out. But at the time the cultural values were such that we were, we were, it was impolite to ask personal questions of our parents, so we didn't. And...

AI: And then when your own children came along, you didn't have any tradition of having that kind of conversation in the family?

TI: Yeah. So my skills in communicating certain levels like our family, is, wasn't that great. I just kept my mouth shut. Because of my work, I used to work a lot, a lot of nights, go to conferences all over the place. So I felt guilty. And so I asked the girls about my guilt feeling. They said, "No." They understood what I was doing. So that was reassuring to me that, that they supported me for being away so much.

<End Segment 7> - Copyright © 2000 Densho. All Rights Reserved.