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MN: And then about a year later you were born.

TI: I was born.

MN: September 19, 1924.

TI: Yes.

MN: Now, most Nisei were delivered by a osamba-san, but you were not.

TI: No. My mother really shocked her peers by going to a male doctor, and she was delivered by a male doctor in a hospital.

MN: Well, not only a male, a hakujin doctor also.

TI: Yes, right. [Laughs] Uh-huh.

MN: And you know, my understanding at the time is there was a lot of discrimination, a lot of Japanese Americans could not go into a hospital, but your mother was able to go into the hospital. Do you think her connection with the Jane Couch Home allowed her to go?

TI: I don't know. I don't know, but I know that the insurance company doctor recommended the doctor that she should have. So maybe through the insurance company connection, she was able to go into the hospital.

MN: And this was the Clara Barton Hospital on Olive Street.

TI: Yes. Which is no longer there.

MN: And what is your birth name?

TI: My birth name is Toshiko Nagamori.

MN: Who are you named after?

TI: I'm named after my father's favorite aunt.

MN: Do you have siblings?

TI: No, I have no siblings. I'm an only child.

MN: Now, you were born Toshiko, but now you go as Toshi, and you dropped the "ko." Why did you drop the "ko"?

TI: Because it was harder for all the Caucasian people to pronounce my name correctly, and so when I dropped the "K-O," they could pronounce it much better than when I put the "K-O" on it. Also, when I went to junior high school, my mother let me adopt the name Joy. And so I was known as Joy through junior high school and high school. So some of my friends call me Joy, and some of my friends call me Toshiko.

MN: How did you pick the name Joy?

TI: Well, my mother picked it for me, actually.

MN: Do you know how she came to pick Joy?

TI: No. I said I wanted a short name, so... [laughs].

MN: Now, going back to your birth, now when you reached a hundred days old, your parents had a celebration. Can you share with us what this is?

TI: Yeah. The Japanese people, when a baby reaches a hundred days, it is quite a feat for them, they had so much infant mortality in those days. And so they had a Baptismal party for me, and Reverend Kawashima, the pastor that married my parents, came and Baptized me in our home. And I know that they had a party afterwards, my mother has told me.

<End Segment 4> - Copyright © 2010 Densho. All Rights Reserved.