Densho Digital Archive
Densho Visual History Collection
Title: Yuriko Yamamoto Interview
Narrator: Yuriko Yamamoto
Interviewer: Martha Nakagawa
Location: Los Angeles, California
Date: April 24, 2012
Densho ID: denshovh-yyuriko-01-0006

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MN: I want to ask a little bit about your two brothers now that were sent to Japan, Hideo and Tomio. Now how old were your two brothers when they were sent to Japan?

YY: Like three and four, or three and a half and four and a half. We were pretty close in age.

MN: So you were very young...

YY: I was two, I think. I don't really remember.

MN: So you didn't grow up with them.

YY: Oh, no.

MN: Now why were your brothers sent to Japan?

YY: Well, years ago it was, when you wanted to adopt a child, it's usually in the family. My mother comes from a family of eight, her younger brother couldn't have children, so (my father) said, "If the fourth one is a boy, you could adopt him." So that's what happened. So he thought he might as well send the other boy for education or whatever, so he sent (both). One was adopted by my uncle and his wife, and the other one was sent to another relative. But not treated too well because (he was) like (a stranger). And when I think about it, it was really a sad thing for them to be sent like that.

MN: After your two brothers were sent to Japan, when was the first time that you met them again?

YY: Fifty years later. That's when I had a mastectomy and I didn't know if I was going to live very long. So I needed to see them at least once, so I decided to go on tour with my sister-in-law and meet them.

MN: What was that like?

YY: Well, I was telling everybody, "I'm going to go hug them," and they said, "Oh, no, don't do that. They'll be very embarrassed." [Laughs] So I said, "I don't care, I'm just going to hug them." So I went there and hugged them, stiff as a board. [Laughs] I think they were embarrassed, but I hugged them anyway. So my brother, my older was still a Tanino, the other one was Takai, you know, name was changed. So I called them both Niisan. He says, "No, I'm your Niisan." I said, "No, you're both my Niisan." But that's the way it was. It was very interesting. The one looked more like me, the other one looked more like my other brothers.

MN: And Tomio's the one that said... Hideo's the one that said, "I'm your Niisan," right?

YY: Yeah.

MN: And Tomio's the one that didn't know he was adopted?

YY: No, 'til he was thirteen.

MN: Do you know how he found out?

YY: Well, I think he was going to high school or some kind of school and he saw his papers, adoption papers, where he was born and everything. So he was a little shocked. But I understand his (...) foster mother wanting a girl on her side. So I don't think he was treated as loving like he should have been. I really felt bad for both of them because they didn't have a normal, happy life to me.

MN: Did either brother have any interest in returning to the U.S.?

YY: Oh, no, I don't think so. But they had dual citizenship so they dropped the American because they can't have both.

MN: Did they drop it during the war?

YY: Either that or before, I don't remember.

<End Segment 6> - Copyright © 2012 Densho. All Rights Reserved.