<Begin Segment 3>

AI: How was your family involved in the Japanese community, such as with social, religious, recreational kinds of things?

DT: Yeah, well, you see, we lived right in the heart of Japantown, on Buchanan Street, near Post Street. And so they're involved, I believe, in the Buddhist Church, and, but they were involved in Japantown activities mostly.

AI: Okay. Did your family shop or do business with white or non-Japanese Americans?

DT: Oh, yes, we did that all the time, of course, you know, because we lived -- although we lived in Japantown, the outside was all white, and so you'd shop with Caucasian people, too, although you had your own Japanese grocery stores and Japanese shops, but you still went outside the Japantown area to do some shopping and all that.

AI: Okay. Did your family experience any prejudice or discrimination?

DT: Well, I think all Japanese American families felt the sting of prejudice. I think... they call it haiseki in Japanese. Haiseki, discrimination. And I guess that happened to Japanese people, but it happened to other immigrant groups, too. So, you see, it wasn't only the Japanese, but because we're Japanese Americans and we looked different, we didn't speak the language well, they had race prejudice, prejudice against us. But as we grew up, you see, and adapted to the surrounding area, and we had Caucasian friends, my best friend was a German American youth in junior high school. And so through that, we gradually evolved, you see. But it took a long time, because we lived in such a closed Japanese community, that you didn't go out, but later you joined the YMCA and the Boy Scouts, and the churches, and you gradually branched out, but it took some time.

AI: You said that the Japanese Americans experienced this racial prejudice whether it was overt or pretty subtle. Can you give me an example of what kind of racism?

DT: It's difficult to pinpoint right now, but... it was subtle, it was very subtle. They didn't say, call you by names and all that, although I think, I hear that there were times when people were called names and all that. But it was very subtle. Race prejudice is a very subtle thing. They don't do it overtly, openly, so, but we felt it.

<End Segment 3> - Copyright © 2004 Densho and The Japanese American Museum of San Jose. All Rights Reserved.