<Begin Segment 2>

TI: Okay, so let's talk a little bit about your mother. What was your mother's name?

HN: Fukuda, Fumiko. Eldest daughter of the four families, four daughters, I mean. She was the eldest. The oldest one, as you well know, the oldest one has all the responsibilities. Greatest, heaviest responsibilities. Oh, my mother, oh, yes.

TI: And as the oldest and responsibility, what was she like?

HN: Very strict. I thought she was the strictest mother in the world.

TI: So when you compared her with the other Issei women, you thought she was --

HN: Well, the Issei women don't, I didn't live with them. But my mother, to this day, I thought she was the strictest mother in the world. I wanted to leave the house twice. I don't think many Nisei felt that way, but that was how I felt. She was so strict that I wanted to leave.

TI: Now, what would be an example of her being strict that you thought was unreasonable? HN: Very ethical, very moralistic, very disciplinary. It was so... mental strain. She was a restrainer, ethically, morally, culturally, very difficult.

TI: So would it come up, like, in terms of you want to maybe do something with friends or something, she wouldn't let you? Is that kind of the situation?

HN: Very, very ethical. She let me, yeah, she wasn't negative, she was too positive. "Be sure you do this, be sure this." It's not, "Don't do this." Of course, there was, "Don't do it," is a cultural trait of the Nikkei, isn't it? "Don't shame your family." Well, haji, that kind of thing. But my mother was so hundred percent strict, ethical.

TI: And so would that show up that she would always make sure that you did certain things?

HN: That's right.

TI: So it was more...

HN: That's right. "You do it right. Do it right so you don't embarrass the family," right? That was a cultural trait, that was not hers. But she was very strict, I think so.

TI: And so probably in things like school that she would make sure that you would study hard?

HN: It was everything, you might say. How you dress, how you talk, how you... that's why I thought, "Well, I want to leave, go out." But I can't survive.

TI: Well, about how old were you when you considered leaving?

HN: High school freshman. Yeah, twice I wanted to leave. Twice. Not just once. To add to this, to add argument to my point, my brother, who was living in Chicago -- this is after the war. This is after the war, we're not kids now, this is after the war. He comes to Seattle for two weeks' vacation. Every year he came for vacation. Two weeks became one week, and then after one week he says, "Hiro, gee, I feel sorry for you." She applies the same ethics to my brother, who was visiting just for a week or two weeks. "Did you do this, did you do that?" Issei come and bring gifts to my brother because he's here visiting. This is the Issei culture, isn't it? "Did you go thank them? Did you write a letter?" My brother finally said, "Hiro, I can't stand this. Mother is too strict." Very, very ethical.

TI: Now, when you look back and think back to your mother and some of the things she stressed, that she talked a lot about, what do you think about that? It sort of captures sort of that Issei mentality. What do you think in terms of, what was important about that?

HN: Of course, I wanted to leave home twice, so I didn't really accept all of this. It was very hard on me mentally. Very tough on me mentally. I think that's why I said I thought my mother was the strictest mother in the world.

TI: Okay, good.

HN: To the point I wanted to leave, but I thought that would be, from the frying pan, I'd be jumping into a fire because there was discrimination out there in the world. I can't survive. Today is different. I could leave anytime and I would survive. But with the discrimination, I won't survive. I won't get a job. No one will hire a Japanese, you know that.

<End Segment 2> - Copyright © 2009 Densho. All Rights Reserved.