Densho Digital Repository - Dotti Yasuko Tagawa Reisbord Interview (Densho ID: ddr-densho-1000-509-20)

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BY: Okay. So you've had a really interesting life. It sounds like you, a couple things that come through to me is that you're a very outgoing, social person, you make friends with all different kinds of people, you're not necessarily going to stick with any one group. And you lived in, a significant amount of time away from Seattle. So looking back on your life, do you have any words of advice that you would give to... do you have grandchildren?

DR: I have one grandson.

BY: Okay, so grandchildren, but you have nieces and nephews?

DR: Yes.

BY: And probably grandnieces and grandnephews, yeah. So looking back on your life, is there anything, piece of advice or words of wisdom that you would want to pass on to those people in the younger generation?

DR: Yes, there is. Probably too much. [Laughs]

BY: Well, how about a couple things that you think are important?

DR: Gosh, you know, it's hard. I want to say too much. Be yourself, be honest, be kind, be friendly, don't be afraid to be yourself. There's so much I want to see in other people. Just be the best person you can. Care about people, love people, love life, live life to the fullest.

BY: And are there any Japanese or Japanese American values that have been, you feel have been really important to you that you think are important to pass on to the next generation?

DR: Well, there are a lot of those, too, but I don't know quite how to articulate it. Be proud of your ancestry, be proud of who you are.

BY: So this is sort of unrelated, but as part of the "be part of your ancestry" thing, when you were in L.A. and people would ask you, like, oh, where are you from? And I don't know if people ever asked you, "Were you incarcerated," or, "What happened?" What's your answer to that?

DR: What's my ancestry? I always tell them, "I'm Japanese, of course." "Where are you from?" "I'm from here." [Laughs] "Oh, you're not from Japan?" "No, I was born here." And when they asked me about incarceration, I tell them I was a small kid, but I remember those years very dearly. I had a lot of fun, I was innocent, and I did not know what was going on, I had no animosity or bad feelings about it because I didn't know.

BY: Do you think that your life has been in any way shaped or influenced by the incarceration even though you were a small child?

DR: I don't think so. One thing that was interesting, when I was substituting at my school, a fifth grade teacher asked me to come in and (teach) her students about the incarceration. And so I did, and those kids, they were in awe and they thought, "Oh my god, that really happened?" Well, you know, nowadays, even nowadays, (many) people don't know, and they're shocked with that information. But those kids were so grateful to hear that story. So I don't know. Like I said, I did not have one Japanese student when I was teaching. So they were mostly Hispanic and African American.