<Begin Segment 19>

PW: But I'm also realizing in the mid-'50s is right when the McCarran, Walter-McCarran Act was passed which allowed Issei who were formerly from prevented from becoming U.S. citizens to become naturalized citizens of the United States. Did your father ever...

RO: Yeah, was that in...

PW: It was the '50s.

RO: '56, or I can't remember. Yes, because after my mother had then re-immigrated back to Japan, she lost her citizenship. And so then after they realized that this was something they had to do when the opened the restaurant, the second restaurant and so on, then to become a citizen of the United States. I remember they had to go and pass this exam to get their citizenship back. And one of the main reasons why I think they did that was because my father needed to buy a fishing license, and he couldn't do that, so he passed the test so that he could get a fishing license, because that's one of the things that he just absolutely loved to do, and he and his friends would go out and fish.

PW: I actually missed this. So your mother, when your mother married your father, there was an act at that time called the Cable Act that would remove the citizenship if you married, if a Japanese person...

RO: Married an alien, yes.

PW: Did that happen to your mother? Do you know if she lost her American citizenship?

RO: I think she did, I think that was a yes.

PW: But then you also said that she also when back to Japan for a period?

RO: Yes, and I think she was then... so I don't know exactly which caused her to lose her citizenship, I don't know.

PW: But she got it back when she did this test?

RO: Right.

PW: That's fascinating.

<End Segment 19> - Copyright © 2023 Densho. All Rights Reserved.