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HH: How open are you today to talk to other people your experiences in California about internment, about being a Japanese American when you speak to non-Japanese Americans?

LI: Oh, I think I am free to talk about this. And a lot of my friends agree what went on was...

HH: Do they know a little bit about your life and things that you went through?

LI: Yes.

HH: To what extent have you kept up with your Japanese language?

LI: I still write. I could write and read, because I went to Japanese school while we were growing up in California. And when I was fifteen, I went to Japan, and we were there for six months, and we went to Japanese school there in Kyushu.

HH: So you learned to read and write?

LI: Yes.

HH: You still can do that today?

LI: Yes, I can. Because we were told to speak Japanese at home since my father and mother spoke Japanese. And I am very happy that I kept up speaking Japanese.

HH: To what extent would you describe your children as being Japanese? I know they're Japanese Americans, but to what extent are they Japanese?

LI: Well, don't think, they think nothing of... they realize that, well, none of them speak Japanese. They can understand some of the things, but I think as a whole, I think they feel they're American.

HH: To what extent do they understand Japanese culture?

LI: One of my son is kind of interested in Japanese culture, but the rest of them doesn't seem to think about it.

HH: Do they appreciate Japanese cooking?

LI: Oh, yes, they do, they do. They all do.

HH: And do they decorate their homes in ways that might reflect their Japanese-ness?

LI: Yes, they do.

HH: What kind of things would you find in their home?

LI: Well, they have the screens. Well, in fact, my youngest of the boys were, he was in Japan for three years. He was married there in Japan, married a Caucasian girl, also was in the army. And so he sent us quite a bit of Japanese articles from Japan. And so all my children have things from Japan.

HH: Today, as you think about your circle of friends, who are your closest friends in this area?

LI: Well...

HH: I say this, really I'm asking, are they Caucasians, are they Latino, are they African Americans, Japanese Americans, who are your closest friends in this area today?

LI: Caucasians, yes. The neighbors and church, I attend the church in Palmyra.

<End Segment 8> - Copyright © 1994 JACL Philadelphia. All Rights Reserved.