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TI: Right. Which is something that I wanted to talk to you about. We talked a little bit about, at the beginning, before the interview, as far as how you are with one group might be different than another group? Like for instance, even at Lakeshore, we're here, walking through the hallways, I know some people know you as Victor and some people know you as Junks. And for me, I find myself saying, oh, if someone calls you Junks, I know they know you. I mean, they know you from the community or from the family. And if someone calls you Victor, then I say, oh, this person doesn't know you, or just met you.

VI: Well, that's the way I'm registered.

TI: Yeah, as Victor. But still, your friends here call you Junks. And for me, I know I do this like of little mental thing where if someone calls or refers to you as Junks, then I know they know you, so I'm maybe a little more comfortable or casual with them. Then if someone calls you Victor, then I think, oh, I have to be a little more formal with them. Do you have to do the same thing? Do you think about that in terms of, that when you use Victor you're a little different than when you're Junks?

VI: Well, what happens is, like, I joined the poker group. My friends call me Junks, so they called me Junks. And then some of the other people that know me called me that, so some of the Niseis that I don't know had picked it up.

TI: So like the gentleman you eat breakfast with, Susumu, what does he call you?

VI: He calls me Victor.

TI: So what's the difference? I mean, here's someone you have breakfast with. Why would he call you Victor and not Junks? How do you think about that?

VI: Because his background would not be the kind of background that would call me Junks.

TI: Okay, so maybe because he was born in Japan...

VI: Very educated, come from a very rich family.

TI: Little more formal.

VI: Has a tremendous record of achievement and stuff. So that's the one I want you to interview.

TI: Yeah, so we're going to do that. But let me ask this question. Do very many white people call you Junks, or any non-Japanese Americans, do they call you Junks?

VI: Not yet.

TI: Do you have some non-Japanese American friends who, in the past, have called you Junks?

VI: I think eventually they may be. A good example is when we first came here and we were being interviewed, and Roy...

TI: Beans.

VI: Yeah. He walked by and I said, "Oh, hi, Beans." And the people said, "Beans?"

TI: Right, Beans Kirita.

VI: So now, some of the staff here, they call him Beans because we called him Beans.

TI: Okay.

VI: And other ones has picked it up where they call him Mame, which is "beans."

TI: Oh, that's Japanese for "Beans," mame.

VI: That's when Joe and they used to call him Joe Fuji. So that's where nicknames come from.

TI: But how does that feel for you when, if someone calls you Junks rather than Victor, does that kind of change your...

VI: Because nobody called me Victor until I came here.

TI: [Laughs] I know. So that's why it's always interesting when people say Victor.

VI: Well, when I was at work, they all called me Vic. And my friends called me Junks. But now I'm Victor here.

TI: But it's kind of interesting with these nicknames, especially nicknames from the community, how it's almost like this different, almost hierarchy of friendship that I just kind of sense.

VI: When you have nicknames.

TI: When you have nicknames, yeah. That people who use nicknames, you reminded me when you told me the story about Rabbit and how your friend was, Bob was surprised. And probably I'm wondering, because you were really close with Bob in terms of work, if he felt maybe a little left out. Because it's almost like, oh, someone feels like, maybe a little closer to you?

VI: No, I don't think so.

<End Segment 13> - Copyright © 2022 Densho. All Rights Reserved.