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TI: So today's May 2, 2005, and today we have Julie Otsuka as our interviewee. And in the room we have Megan Asaka, who's the secondary interview, and on camera is Dana Hoshide. And Russell -- your last name, Russell -- Perreault is in the corner. So I was just mentioning as we were starting, to Julie, usually I'm, I interview people who are much older. I've done now close to forty interviews, and I tend to focus on, actually, the older Nisei men who were, tend to be vets and things like this, so is a departure for me.

JO: And why the men?

TI: Well, the men, because oftentimes when they talk about war stories, we find that they're more comfortable telling the stories to a, to a male rather than to a female. And so I tend to do more of those interviews, so we tend to get a little bit different result based on who's, who's interviewing. And so that's, that's just what we found. And the other reason is because I've done a lot more research on things like the 442 and the MIS, about their experiences, so I can ask more probing questions.

JO: Right.

TI: But what I thought we'd do is follow a similar format and do a, first, a life history with you, and just sort of ask questions that I would ask someone that I normally do, and then we'll just go from there and see how it goes.

JO: Okay, that sounds good.

TI: So the first question I usually ask people is when and where were you born?

JO: I was born in 1962 in Palo Alto, California.

TI: And what was the name given to you at birth?

JO: Julie Hideko Otsuka.

TI: That's interesting that your middle name is Japanese. We, in Seattle, we did this survey where we found that people born -- or Japanese Americans born after 1960 were generally given a Japanese middle name...

JO: Oh, it was too threatening before, to...

TI: Yeah, and right after the war up to about 1959, generally they were given sort of an Anglo middle name. So, for instance, I was born in 1956, so my middle name is Kevin.

JO: Oh, that's, I didn't know that.

TI: Yeah, it's really interesting.

JO: That's interesting.

TI: So, it's just interesting.

JO: Well, my mother went by Alice, by her American name after the war. She was Haruko before, I think, yeah.

TI: Yeah, so it's really interesting in terms of '62 and having a Japanese middle name. Now, did you have any siblings?

JO: I have two younger brothers.

TI: Okay, and their names?

JO: David and Michael.

TI: Uh-huh. And how much younger are they?

JO: Michael is two years younger than I am and David is six years younger.

TI: Okay, and they were also born in Palo Alto?

JO: Yes.

TI: Okay.

<End Segment 1> - Copyright © 2005 Densho. All Rights Reserved.