Densho Digital Repository - Emlei "Emi" Kuboyama Interview (Densho ID: ddr-densho-1020-12-1)

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TH: This is Todd Holmes from the Oral History Center at UC Berkeley. Today is September 26, 2020. I have the pleasure of actually sitting in the interview chair, or interviewer chair, I guess, for the first time on this project, and sitting down with Emi Kuboyama from Stanford University for this project on the Office of Redress Administration. And this will be her interview discussing her career and experience there with the office. Emi, thank you so much, A, for starting this project and giving me the opportunity to sit in this chair and interview you today.

EK: My pleasure. Thanks for working with me.

TH: Well, let's start with getting some of the official information down. Can you go and state your full name and what your role and title was with the Office of Redress Administration?

EK: Sure. So my full name is actually Emlei Kuboyama, I don't know if you knew that, but I go by Emi. I was an attorney with the Office of Redress Administration in the Department of Justice.

TH: And what were your years of service?

EK: I was there from 1994 to '98 when the program sunset.

TH: And where were you born and raised?

EK: Born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii.

TH: And why don't you tell us a little bit about your educational background and experience prior to joining the Office of Redress Administration.

EK: Sure. So I did my undergraduate degree at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and then I went to law school at Vanderbilt School of Law. Working for the Office of Redress Administration as an attorney, was my first job out of law school.

TH: And so why did you want to start this oral history project?

EK: Sure. So given the historic nature of what the office did, which was provide reparations to Japanese Americans who were incarcerated during World War II, I really wanted to be able to capture the individual stories and history of the office and what it did, as well as the people. And being a proud DOJ employee, I felt like it was also a great example of a government program that worked well, that really tried to work with the community and the people it was intended to serve.