Densho Digital Archive
Densho Visual History Collection
Title: Sumiko M. Yamamoto Interview
Narrator: Sumiko M. Yamamoto
Interviewers: Tom Ikeda (primary); Barbara Takei (secondary)
Location: Sacramento, California
Date: December 8, 2009
Densho ID: denshovh-ysumiko-01-0028

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TI: So at some point, you're in Japan, and you decide you want to come back to the United States. So talk about that. Why did you want to come back to the United States?

SY: Well, I think I was one of the last ones to leave Japan, except for my two brothers who are in Japan. The first one, well, I thought, "I'm not going to marry a Japanese." I don't think it'll, I'll be happy with that. Because our thinking was different. Well, I got married in Japan in '51, to Junichi's younger brother. He was working for the PX, too, in Beppu with my brothers.

TI: So this is Sam?

SY: Yes, yes.

BT: And was that the first time you met him in Japan or did you know...

SY: No, we were in the same block in Tule Lake.

BT: Okay, you knew each other.

SY: And my brother Katsumi was a good friend.

BT: Of Sam's.

SY: Uh-huh. And I didn't know him until in Tule. And when we went to Japan, we started working for the Post Exchange on base, and my brother called Sam. He was in Hiroshima working for the Australian forces there. So he called Sam, and then Sam came up to work for the Post Exchange, and that's how we knew.

TI: And so you married Sam in Japan?

SY: Yes, uh-huh.

TI: In 1951. And so Sam was working for the Australian...

SY: In the beginning, yes, uh-huh.

TI: And so how did he come to Japan? Was he, did he also repatriate?

SY: His family was the same.

TI: Same situation?

SY: Yes, same situation.

TI: And so he had renounced his citizenship also?

SY: Yes, yes.

TI: And so now you're married, both of you. At this point, how about your sister and younger brothers, or other brothers? Were they still in Japan or had they come back to the United States?

SY: My... let's see. My two younger brother were in the States already.

TI: Okay, so they had returned. And then how about your sister?

SY: My sister was there when I got married, was in Japan.

TI: So she was in Japan.

SY: Yeah.

TI: And then Richard, or Dick, where was he?

SY: He was in Japan.

TI: In Japan, okay.

SY: Yeah, he was married and then he had three kids.

TI: Okay, so it was just the two younger brothers had gone to United States.

<End Segment 28> - Copyright © 2009 Densho. All Rights Reserved.