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No use in having citizenship

My father was studying for it, but I said what’s the use, you won’t get any other privileges - any different privileges - than what you have now. So he quit. I saw no reason to, even citizens were treated just the same as non-citizens so what’s the use of having a citizenship?


citizenship

Date: March 31, 2005

Location: California, US

Interviewer: Gwenn M. Jensen

Contributed by: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum

Interviewee Bio

Dr. Sakaye Shigekawa was born January 6, 1913 in South Pasadena, California. When she was a child, her father was hospitalized from double pneumonia and while visiting him, she got acquainted with the doctors and nurses and decided then to become a doctor. After studying premed at USC, she was accepted to Stritch Loyola Medical School and was only 1 of 4 women in her class. She persevered through medical school despite sex discrimination from instructors and fellow students and began practicing medicine in the Los Angeles area.

She was one of the first to be incarcerated at the Santa Anita Race Track on March 1, 1942. She was invited to join Dr. Norman Kobayashi and Dr. Fred Fujikawa treating patients while there which helped her overcome the bitterness and depression she was in. At first she was only allowed to treat skin conditions, but after a while she asked to be able to do other things and began to do obstetrics and other parts of medicine.

After the war she continued to practice medicine and eventually opened up her own practice, which she continues. In her thirty-nine years of obstetrics practice, she calculates that she delivered over twenty thousand babies and never lost a mother. She passed away on October 18, 2013 at age 100.  (April 2020)

Peggie Nishimura Bain
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Peggie Nishimura Bain

Getting citizenship back

(b.1909) Nisei from Washington. Incarcerated at Tule Lake and Minidoka during WWII. Resettled in Chicago after WWII

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Peggie Nishimura Bain
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Peggie Nishimura Bain

Response to loyalty questionnaire

(b.1909) Nisei from Washington. Incarcerated at Tule Lake and Minidoka during WWII. Resettled in Chicago after WWII

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Enson Inoue
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Enson Inoue

Citizenship and identity

(b. 1967) Hawai`i-born professional fighter in Japan

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Yumi Matsubara
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Yumi Matsubara

Why I got my American citizenship (Japanese)

Shin-Issei from Gifu. Recently received U.S. citizenship

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Yumi Matsubara
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Yumi Matsubara

The reactions of others when I got my American citizenship (Japanese)

Shin-Issei from Gifu. Recently received U.S. citizenship

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Peter Mizuki
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Peter Mizuki

Japanese wife with American citizenship

Sansei Japanese American living in Japan and Kendo practioner

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Jean Hamako Schneider
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Jean Hamako Schneider

You can’t be loyal to two countries (Japanese)

(1925-2024) War bride

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Takeo Uesugi
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Takeo Uesugi

The first garden he visited in the US

(1940-2016) Issei Landscape Architect

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Paulo Issamu Hirano
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Paulo Issamu Hirano

On becoming a Japanese national (Japanese)

(b. 1979) Sansei Nikkei Brazilian who lives in Oizumi-machi in Gunma prefecture. He runs his own design studio.

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Sawako Ashizawa Uchimura
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Sawako Ashizawa Uchimura

Unique Identity from Having Multiple Backgrounds

(b. 1938) Philipines-born hikiagesha who later migrated to the United States.

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