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Title: Dotti Yasuko Tagawa Reisbord Interview
Narrator: Dotti Yasuko Tagawa Reisbord
Interviewers: Barbara Yasui (primary); Tom Ikeda (secondary)
Location: Seattle, Washington
Date: April 21, 2022
Densho ID: ddr-densho-1000-509-1

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BY: Okay, so we're here today with Dotti Yasuko Tagawa Reisbord to do an interview. It is April 21, 2022, at the Lakeshore retirement community. I'm Barbara Yasui, and Tom Ikeda will also be participating in the interview as well as Dana Hoshide on the camera. So we're going to just start with getting some background information from you. So can you tell us where and when you were born?

DR: I was born in Seattle, Washington, at the Swedish Hospital on May 9, 1941.

BY: Okay. And what was the name that was given to you when you born? What was your birth name?

DR: It was actually Yasuko Tagawa. Yasuko Dorothy Tagawa.

BY: So was Dorothy part of it or was that added later?

DR: No, it was part of it. But unlike my siblings, on my birth certificate, Yasuko is the first name, and then Dorothy is the middle name, so it was very strange.

BY: And what were you called as a child then?

DR: I was called, actually I was called both, depending... my family called me Yasuko or Yachan (and also Dorothy).

BY: And were you ever called Dorothy or was it always Dotti?

DR: In nursery school, I think it started in nursery school where they started calling me Dorothy.

BY: So when did "Dotti" happen?

DR: "Dotti" happened in, after high school, actually. Mostly everybody called me either Dot or Dorothy or all kinds of names. "Dodi," which was something that I really did not like.

BY: But Dotti is the name you like the best?

DR: Yes.

BY: Okay, that's great.

<End Segment 1> - Copyright © 2022 Densho. All Rights Reserved.