<Begin Segment 5>

HH: How would you compare or contrast your social relationships with the Japanese American group compared with that of the Caucasian groups?

AO: Okay. That's a very funny situation because unlike most people, I think I have a very, very dual personality. When I'm with the Japanese or Japanese American group, I act more Caucasian. I'm very more outgoing than they are, I'm outspoken and so forth However, when I'm with a hakujin group, Caucasian group, I am more Japanese. I am more reserved and I do not, I'm not boisterous in other words, not outspoken, and I wait until I'm spoken to usually.

HH: Which brings me to other, some miscellaneous questions that I have. Do you see yourself generally as one of the "Quiet Americans"?

AO: Depends on where I am.

HH: Depends on the group you're with.

AO: That's correct.

HH: [Laughs] All right. And I guess you more or less responded to this one already. At times you're going to find yourself conspicuous, whether you want to be or not, and I just want to ask you, how do you feel about your comfort level when you are thrust with this kind of conspicuousness or visibility?

AO: When I am with a Caucasian group, and they ask me about the Japanese, Japanese American aspects, I am not bashful at all. I am very comfortable talking about the Japanese Americans, their background, what they stand for and what they want. So in that particular case, I have no reservations at all. Now, when I'm with a Japanese group, I think more like a Caucasian than I do with Japanese Americans. And being not very conservative, I usually speak my mind.

HH: Have you ever been embarrassed by your parents because they were not as fluent in English as some of your, the parents of some of your friends?

AO: I was never embarrassed by my parents because of their lack of English. My mother and my dad... my dad was very well-spoken. My mother spoke very well, although at times, you could tell that she was, had no formal training. But I was never embarrassed by them at all.

HH: Did you ever experience disliking yourself for being a Japanese American?

AO: Never. I've never experienced disliking myself because I was a Japanese American.

HH: You've heard the expression the "model minority." And as one that embraces Asians, how do you, as a Japanese American, react to that label, "model minority"?

AO: Well, I guess I'm... again, I'm reverting back to my feelings about being, had a Caucasian feeling and a Japanese feeling. Lot of the things that bug the Japanese Americans do not bug me. And I have no feeling at all on something like this, because I guess I don't feel myself part of that group. [Laughs] Now, for instance, a lot of people do not like the word "Jap." That doesn't bother me at all. Whereas I know it's a big concern with a lot of Japanese Americans and Japanese American Citizens League, and I have no feeling that that should be a major problem. So that's one example of how I would feel in this particular case.

HH: To what extent do you identify with the plight of Latinos, Native Americans, African Americans?

AO: I do not relate myself to them at all, because I've always felt that the Japanese, Japanese Americans, had been brought up in a different background, like education is the thing. You must be good, you must not be against the law, you must obey your parents and people in authority. That's probably changing now more and more, even in a Japanese American group, but this is the way I was brought up. And I've always had that in the back of my mind.

<End Segment 5> - Copyright © 1994 JACL Philadelphia. All Rights Reserved.