<Begin Segment 39>

CC: The other thing, just recently I've been doing research into our family, and I have found records that your mom and dad, my grandparents, were renunciants and they lost their citizenship in...

MM: They lost their citizenship?

CC: Yeah, they lost their citizenship in 1945, and I believe, based off of an index card, that they may not have gotten it back until 1955.

MM: Oh, but they did get it back.

CC: They did get it back, but I was just curious. It seems like you don't remember them talking about that at all.

MM: Not at all. This comes as a total shock to me. They weren't citizens? So they didn't vote?

CC: In theory they could not vote between 1945 and 1955.

MM: Okay, when did Eisenhower become President?

CC: I don't know.

MM: Because they were adamant that Adlai Stevenson should become President, and they talked about it. I was in high school. Oh, so maybe by then they could vote.

CC: I don't know when Eisenhower was President.

MM: Because I was the minority. Everybody at Franklin in my class was going, "I like Ike, I like Ike," and I didn't join in, I just kind of sat there. Because I don't know anything about politics. So I was kind of with my mom and dad, they want Adlai Stevenson because they thought he was really smart.

CC: Well, I mean, this might have been why they continued to have you speak Japanese in the camp, because they thought they were going back to Japan.

MM: Well, that's it.

CC: Partially because at a certain point, they had renounced their citizenship. And I'm still researching it, so I'm trying to find the records, more records about that case and how it got resolved.

MM: Oh, okay.

CC: It's interesting to know that they did talk about other things but they never mentioned anything about renunciation that you can remember?

MM: Yeah, no, I never knew that. Yeah, that comes as a real shock to me, oh my goodness.

CC: So they weren't they only... well, so Toshifusa, your uncle, was a Japanese citizen. He was born in Japan, but I believe Nobuko also renounced.

MM: Was...

CC: She was also a renunciant. So the family decided to do it together.

MM: Oh, okay. So when you say that, it's not unbelievable because my dad being so close to his brother, he would have wanted to follow his brother if it has nothing to do with loyalty, I mean, loyalty to country. His is more loyalty to his brother and his closeness to his brother. So if his brother was going to be sent back, he would have wanted to be sent back with his brother. I mean, not just him, but the whole family.

CC: And then their dad was still alive at that point?

MM: Yes, right. I think the mother, too.

CC: And the mom, yeah, the mom didn't die until the '70s.

MM: Yeah, because I remember when I was in high school she died, I think. Because the only time I saw my dad cry was when he got the news that his mother had died in Japan. But yeah, so I kind of knew that my uncle was not a citizen as such, but I didn't know if he ever got it. Because you could still get it.

CC: Yeah, he may have become a naturalized citizen later, but I know he wasn't a citizen at the time.

MM: Oh, okay. Well, I know my mom and dad were both born here.

CC: So they were definitely citizens.

MM: Yeah. So if they had to renounce it, that's awful.

CC: So research is still happening.

MM: Okay.

CC: But it's good to know on record that you don't know anything about it.

MM: No, I don't. It comes as a complete shock to me.

CC: I'll keep you updated.

MM: Hmm?

CC: I'll keep you updated.

MM: Yeah, that would be nice. But it doesn't matter, it doesn't make me think differently of them. It just adds something to their story, right? That they kept that completely to themselves. If they got it back, how did they get it back? But they must have gotten it back because they did talk about, when election time would come, they would talk about the, my dad was very well-read on different things and he had definite ideas about... I mean, I would imaging, who should be President and who shouldn't. And my mom basically followed what he would say, because she knew that he read a lot.

CC: Well, and you would have only been like fourteen when they got it back, so you were young.

MM: Who, what?

CC: You would have only been like fourteen years old when they got it back?

MM: Oh, yeah, right. And we didn't talk about those things. They probably thought it was none of my business. [Laughs] And wouldn't want me to worry. Because that would be terrible if they had to be sent back to Japan.

<End Segment 39> - Copyright © 2024 Densho. All Rights Reserved.