<Begin Segment 15>

DG: And so it was no problem for you to marry an Issei.

FN: No.

DG: And did you know that you were going to lose your citizenship when you married an Issei?

FN: Well yeah. Yeah we all knew that we were gonna lose it.

DG: And that didn't matter?

FN: No that didn't, no. But we, we, everybody didn't worry about those kinds of things. Just so, just so you like the person. But.

DG: So when did you get your citizenship back?

FN: Well it was right at, well it was soon after the Cable Act and I don't recall what year that was, but it was around the early '30s. And I, I went right down to the immigration office and they can tell American born from a person that was born in Japan. So he said, "Well you won't have any trouble," he says. And so he asked me a few quick questions and I was able to pass, and so got my citizenship.

DG: So was it important to get it back?

FN: Well it was, I think it was, yeah.

DG: I mean at that time, did you?

FN: Yeah, at that time, I really felt that. It was something that really, you know. After, when you lose your citizenship after all. And then Cable Act too, the Issei were. He, he was able to get his citizenship too, see.

DG: I thought they couldn't get their citizenship till later?

FN: Was it later than that? Well whenever, well he, he got his citizenship as soon as it was open to the Issei, but I don't really recall.

DG: I think that was in the '50s.

FN: In the '50s?

DG: Yeah, that the Issei could get their citizenship. But maybe he had.

FN: It seemed like, it seemed like it was sooner than that. But of course I don't know. '50, of course that's forty-seven years ago, you know. [Laughs]

<End Segment 15> - Copyright © 1998 Densho. All Rights Reserved.