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MN: Now, your mother then ended up living at the YWCA. What happened?

YH: Well, she saw that her brothers were not doing anything at home, and so she didn't think that was fair so she moved to the YW. And she moved there because she had a friend who was on the board at the YW. Her name was Mrs. Minnick, and Mrs. Minnick got her into the YW. She really liked it there because the other women there taught her all kinds of things.

MN: Sounds like your mother was very independent.

YH: Oh yeah, she was very independent. Yeah.

MN: Now, when your mother was living at the YWCA she met your father, Noboru Tom Katayama, from Wakayama ken. What was their courtship like?

YH: Well, he would, they had to, all the women at the YW had to be in by nine o'clock every night, and so my father would go there in his motorcycle. He'd pick her up and get her back by nine p.m.

MN: So your father drove a motorcycle?

YH: Yes.

MN: Do you know how long they were courting before they got married?

YH: I don't think it was very long.

MN: And which church did your parents get married in?

YH: The Long Beach Presbyterian Church.

MN: Was your father Christian at this time?

YH: No.

MN: When your Nisei mother married your Issei father, did your mother lose her U.S. citizenship?

YH: Yes. It was just a very short period of time, but I think it was just a few months, not even six months' window. 'Cause she married him at that time, so that's why she lost her citizenship.

MN: How did she regain it back?

YH: When they lived in Chicago, Illinois, they went through the naturalization process.

MN: So this is back, this is way later in 1956? I think that's when the law went in --

YH: Yeah. I think it was about then.

MN: So your mother had to wait that long to regain her citizenship again.

YH: Yeah. She wasn't terribly interested in doing that, but she went with my father, because if you didn't have your citizenship you couldn't vote and he wanted to vote. Even after she got her citizenship, she never voted. She wasn't interested in politics. My father, my father would, he would tell everyone, "I'm voting for this guy." [Laughs] It's supposed to be secret ballot.

MN: Now, your mother is a Nisei. Your father's a Issei. How do you identify yourself?

YH: I identify myself as a Nisei, a young Nisei.

MN: Now, after your parents got married, were they able to honeymoon?

YH: Yeah, they went to Yosemite National Park. And my father bought a convertible, and there's a, the back tire had, was covered with a painting, said "Yosemite National Park."

<End Segment 2> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.