<Begin Segment 24>

TI: I do have one more question I just thought of. So you grew up on the West Coast and then pretty much spent your life away from the West Coast.

YM: Yes.

TI: And I was just curious, your perceptions of people who perhaps were on the West Coast before the war, went to camp or school, and then returned to the West Coast. Differences in terms of Japanese who are more West Coast Japanese Americans and those who are like the Midwest or East. Anything that you noticed in terms of differences?

YM: No, I really haven't thought too much about that. I think the West Coast Niseis probably associate more with other Niseis than we do. I think we have a tendency to have more Caucasian friends. I was going to mention that those of us that went to, were able to go to college, we were helped by, I don't know whether you've heard of the Japanese American Student Relocation Council that was formed by the Quakers. They helped us to relocate to the universities. And in 1980, out in the East Coast, there were a group of those students who were benefited by this council. They decided that it's time to pay back. So they formed something called the Nisei Student Relocation Commemorative Fund. And so we all contribute to the fund, and every year at different cities, last year it was here, and 1980 also it was here, we give a scholarship to Southeast Asian students. And that's been going on for over twenty or twenty-five years now. There's a name, they have several name funds, there's a name fund for Alice, and I was able to award that to a Vietnamese, no, a Hmong girl last year.

TI: And I'm curious, why did the group decide to give scholarships to Southeast Asians?

YM: Well, I think what they said was that they wanted, they felt that they were removed from their homes. They were in similar situations as the Japanese Americans, they were uprooted, so they needed help, so they were selected to be the recipients of scholarships. One of our good friends, Alice's good friends from San Francisco was the one that started the thing, I believe, with a bunch of other East Coast Niseis. Anyway, it's been a very successful program, keeps getting bigger every year.

TI: I read about it, I think it was maybe in the Pacific Citizen or something, I keep reading about the program and what it's doing. It sounds like a great project. Well, good. Yo, thank you so much for taking the time doing this.

YM: Well, thank you.

<End Segment 24> - Copyright ©2009 Densho and the Twin Cities JACL. All Rights Reserved.