UPDATE
Issei to Gosei Interview Project
2018-2019
Special Collections Research Center
Fresno State Library
California State University, Fresno
AN UPDATE
In November 2018, a flyer and a letter was sent out that described this oral history project conducted under the sponsorship of the Special Collections Research Center in the Library at Fresno State. The focus of this Project was to unravel the stories of individuals from the five generations of Japanese Americans who have grown up or have lived in the San Joaquin Valley. Many of them were in internment camps, but the younger ones haven’t. These young people, however, do have vivid stories to tell as well; some may remember the experiences of their great grandparents, grandparents and parents which further embellish their own.
In December 2018, Carlene Tinker interviewed 5 Japanese Americans who are from Fresno, California.
Diane Honda, former high school English and journalism teacher who grew up in the Yamato Colony, which was an agricultural cooperative for Japanese starting in the early 1900s. In 1995, Mrs. Honda received a grant to reproduce her father-in-law’s 1943 Manzanar yearbook. Most interestingly, Mrs. Honda located many of the yearbook staff who were still living to interview. Their stories make up the final chapter of the yearbook.
Paul Saito, formerly from Southern California, where he grew up and started his first landscape architect business. He moved to Fresno in 1981 where he became the owner of a landscape architecture firm. He is most recognized for his designs at the two WWII assembly centers in Fresno, Pinedale and Fresno Fairgrounds, as well as for his services at the Shinzen Gardens.
Dr. Tetsuo Shigyo, retired emergency room doctor whose family answered “no-no” to the infamous Questions #27 and #28 on the Loyalty Questionnaire during WWII. His family chose to move to Japan and lived there for 15 years, returning to their original home in Parlier, CA. Dr. Shigyo reports the return to the U.S. was without incident as he successfully attended local schools and colleges/universities.
Yutaka Yamamoto is a retired postal service employee who was born and raised in Chinatown/Japantown in west Fresno, CA. His family also answered “no-no” to the loyalty questions #27 and #28, but didn’t expatriate as his relatives in Japan warned them that they would face rationing and bombed out conditions. After the war, his father was able to return to his original laundry business as a neighbor, Mr. Lamoure kept his equipment during the war.
Kerry Yo Nakagawa, a former actor who is currently a multi-media expert. Mr. Nakagawa is most noted for his documentation of the history of Japanese American baseball players. Throughout his history, he has been able to tell the story of Japanese in the early 20th century. He has produced movies (“American Pastime”), DVDs and books on Japanese baseball players, and curricula for high school and college social science classes. Mr. Nakagawa continues to lecture throughout California and the United States.
In Spring 2019, Carlene Tinker interviewed a further four individuals.
Robert Ogata is a retired high school art teacher who continues his profession in a downtown Fresno Studio. After visiting Gila River Relocation Center in the early 1990s with a daughter, he produced 23 chalk drawings entitled “Experience, Memory, and Legacy” which express his deeply felt memories and emotions, capturing the sadness and regrets of being there as a boy. Mr. Ogata frequently lectures to various groups to remind us that this period of history should not be repeated.
Deborah Ikeda is a retired President of Clovis Community College and past President and current member of the Board of Trustees for State Center Community College District. Her Parents met in Manzanar, but chose to relocate to Chicago, Illinois, during WWII, where Mrs. Ikeda was born and raised. Mrs. Ikeda became a resident of Fresno when she took a job at Fresno City College, in 1981, as Associate Dean of Students, Counseling, and Guidance. She is well-recognized for her service to the Japanese American community as she has served as a President of the JACL
Ralph Kumano was a science teacher at high schools in Fresno and Southern California as well as a biology teacher at community colleges in Reedley and Fresno. He was one of the first Japanese American wilderness/backcountry rangers for Kings Canyon-Sequoia National Parks in the 1970s and early 1980s. Currently, he is President of the Sanger JACL and a board member of both the Shinzen Japanese Friendship Garden and the Sanger Historical Society. After Executive Order 9066, being in Military Zone 2, Ralph’s family did not have to report to an assembly center but rather, went straight to the permanent Gila River Relocation Center. Ralph’s father drove his own truck, loaded with belongings, his parents, wife, and two young daughters from California to Arizona. They also drove themselves home to Sanger after the war.
Ken Taniguchi, retired Fresno County Public Defender, is currently affiliated with JACL and is the chair of the Fresno-Kochi Sister City Committee. His grandparents, aunts and uncles were in Amache, a relocation camp in Southeastern Colorado, while his parents were stranded in Japan (as kibeis) during WWII. He experienced a lot of bullying, harassment and outright racism in the mid to late ‘50s as a grammar school child since he grew up speaking no English. Later this dissipated as he went on to junior and senior high schools.
Tinker’s goal for the Issei to Gosei Interview Project was to interview 9 or 10 individuals who are Japanese Americans who have lived in the San Joaquin Valley during all or part of their lives. Specifically, to know if they’d experienced any racism and/or discrimination living in the Valley. As you might expect, she got varied replies. (She heard about the Yamato Colony and the “no-nos,” but had no idea she’d have the opportunity to interview people from these backgrounds.) All of these individuals’ stories are amazing; when you read/watch them, you’ll enjoy them as much as she did recording them. They are available online as part of the Library’s Japanese American digital collection.
FLYER
Issei to Gosei Interview Project
2018-2019
Special Collections Research Center
California State University, Fresno
Tell Us Your Story!
The Special Collections Research Center has long had a commitment to documenting the history of Japanese Americans in the San Joaquin Valley. Building on that strength, the Center launches a new project to collect the memories of Japanese Americans who were born in the Valley or who live here now.
Led by volunteer Carlene Tanigoshi Tinker, this new project seeks to memorialize the life stories of those who lived through World War II and their descendants who keep the memories alive so that we do not forget.
Starting in Winter 2018, the following will be interviewed by Carlene. She will be interviewing Dr. Tetsuo “Ted” Shigyo, Diane Honda, Kerry Yo Nakagawa, Paul Saito, and Yutaka Yamamoto. Their stories will be videotaped and made available digitally through the website of the Special Collections Research Center along with full captioning and a transcript of each interview.
In an earlier project, Naomi Tagawa, Rumiko Arakawa, Gary Tsudama, Frankie Wilkinson and Betty Yamagiwa were interviewed. Their stories are now available online at: https://omeka.library.fresnostate.edu/s/japanese-americans/page/i2g
Naomi Tagawa
1942-1944, Jerome, AK
1944-1945, Washington DC
1945, Jerome & Rohwer
Rumiko Arakawa
1942-1945, Poston 3, AZ
Gary Tsudama
1942-1944, Gila 2, AZ
If you would like to suggest a potential interviewee or volunteer to be interviewed yourself, please contact
Carlene Tanigoshi Tinker by email at carlenetinker39@gmail.com, by text at 559-301-5957 or call 559-
278-2595.
Carlene Tanigoshi Tinker
1942-1945, Amache, CO