<Begin Segment 1>

RP: This is an oral history for the Manzanar National Historic Site and this morning we're talking with Shig Sugiyama, and our interview is taking place at Rosie the Riveter National Historic Park in Richmond, California. The address is 2566 McDonald, and the date of our interview is April 16, 2010, the videographer is Kirk Peterson and our interviewer is Richard Potashin. We'll be interviewing Shig about his experiences at the Manzanar War Relocation Center as well as the Topaz camp later on. Our interview will be archived in the Parks Library and, Shig, do I have your permission to go ahead and record our interview?

SS: Yes.

RP: And can I refer to you as Shig?

SS: Well, I prefer either my full name Shigeki or Jim, professionally I'm known as Jim. James is my middle name given to me by one of my teachers at Topaz and I've been using it ever since.

RP: I'll refer to you as Jim.

SS: So when I hear myself addressed as Jim, I know it's through my professional contacts, and I'm only referred to as Shigeki with usually my Japanese American friends.

RP: Okay, thank you very much, Jim, for sharing some time with us this morning. And I'd like to start out the interview by having you give us your birthdate and where you were born?

SS: My birthday is December 19, 1927, and I was born in Alameda, California, just a few miles from here.

RP: And your given name at birth?

SS: Shigeki Sugiyama.

RP: And do you have any background on the meaning of your first and last names?

SS: Well, Sugiyama is... sugi is the cryptomeria tree, I think some people refer to it as a cypress but within that family. And yama is mountain and so it's "cryptomeria mountain." And Shigeru is "flourishing, bountiful" and ki is "tree" so it's this "bountiful vigorous tree on the cryptomeria mountain." My Shigeki in Chinese is moju, and one of my Chinese American classmates in grammar used to kiddingly call me moju but that's another reading of my name Shigeki.

RP: And your English name is Jim.

SS: Jim, James was... one of my teachers at the Topaz High School became a very good friend and when I left camp, he gave me I guess my Christian name, even though I'm a Buddhist. And so for my official records since, from the time I left camp is Shigeki James Sugiyama, and I also have a Buddhist name, Sojo, so my complete name would be Shigeki James Sojo Sugiyama. And considering that James is my Christian name and Sojo is my Buddhist it gets a little complicated. [Laughs]

RP: Did you have any other nicknames?

SS: Well, I grew up, well, actually I grew up with the nickname, Fat. And I was very rolly polly when I was a kid. And then after I... well, from the time I was in camp, I guess, people started calling me Shig. A lot of people still call me Shig but I prefer not to use Shig except among my intimate friends.

<End Segment 1> - Copyright © 2010 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.