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BY: All right, and so then you were growing up, you were born during the war in Berwyn, Maryland. Did you stay there or did you move?

DY: We moved, after the war, we moved in 1948. We moved to Bethesda, Maryland.

BY: And what was the neighborhood like that you lived in, in Bethesda?

DY: Huntington Terrace.

BY: And who were your neighbors? Were they white or Japanese, or what kind of a neighborhood was it?

DY: White.

BY: Pretty much all white?

DY: Right.

BY: All right. So who were your friends?

DY: We were Japanese.

BY: So were you friends with white kids in your neighborhood?

DY: Yeah.

BY: And were there any other Japanese Americans around when you were growing up?

DY: No. There were, when we were teenagers, there was a  JACL youth group. We called them the Ching-a-ling group.

BY: What?

DY: Yeah, Ching-a-ling group.

BY: Oh, interesting. And so you got involved with the JACL youth group when you were a teenager?

DY: Right.

BY: Were your parents involved in the JACL?

DY: No.

BY: Okay, all right. And were there any other Japanese or Japanese American community activities that your family participated in?

DY: No.

BY: And so it sounds like you were definitely in the minority growing up.

DY: Yes.

BY: How was that for you?

DY: [Inaudible].

BY: Can you elaborate on that?

DY: Well, the white kids' fathers fought in the war with the Japanese, and so I was the token Japanese. So prejudice transferred over to me. So I got in some fights. The interesting thing is, later on in the church, the religious education director asked me to represent a minority, what it's like growing up. And there was a Black woman who was another token minority, and she was saying how it was during the integration, and the boys got in fights. And I said, "Wait a minute, I have something to say. I was there, I saw the fights, and all I can feel is envy." Envy, because all I saw is when they got in a fight, there was somebody watching their back.  And when I got in a fight, I had to have a wall between my back. And so they had the protection of having somebody on their side.

BY: And you didn't have that. So how did you feel about being Japanese American? Were you proud of it, did you wish you weren't Japanese American? What were your feelings about that?

DY: All I can say is they didn't like me. Not from what I did, but the fact that I couldn't change that I was Japanese.

BY: It sounds tough.

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