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On Being a New Judge and a New Mother

My daughter was born in 1975, so she was very young at the time. I think my biggest challenge when I look back was being a mother and a new judge at the same time. That’s quite a big challenge, so…work is a challenge, but doing everything is tough, I think. There’s a new book out about this—or an article in the Atlantic Monthly—about the difficulties of…for a woman professional, as a mother, wife, and professional—it’s tough.


families law

Date: July 10, 2012

Location: California, US

Interviewer: Lawrence Lan

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

Interviewee Bio

Justice Kathryn Doi Todd was born on January 14, 1942, one month before President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, after which she and her family were interned at the Heart Mountain concentration camp in Wyoming and the Tule Lake concentration camp in northern California.

After World War II, her family returned to Los Angeles, where she grew up. Todd graduated from Los Angeles High School in 1959, and she went on to Stanford University, where she received a degree in history in 1963. She eventually went on to Loyola Law School, where she received her law degree in 1970.

Todd's legal career began when she opened up her own civil practice in Los Angeles' Little Tokyo, at a time when there were only three Japanese American women lawyers working in Los Angeles. In the mid-1970s, Todd and several other Japanese American jurists came together to found the Japanese American Bar Association (JABA), whose primary objective at its inception was to increase Japanese American representation on the bench.

In 1978, Governor Jerry Brown appointed Todd to the Los Angeles County Municipal Court bench, giving her the distinction of being the first Asian American woman judge. Three years later, in 1981, Brown elevated her to the Los Angeles County Superior Court bench. In 2000, Governor Gray Davis appointed Todd to the California Second District Court of Appeal, Division Two, where she currently serves as an Associate Justice. (July 2012)

*This is one of the main projects completed by The Nikkei Community Internship (NCI) Program intern each summer, which the Japanese American Bar Association and the Japanese American National Museum have co-hosted.

Wally Kaname Yonamine
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Wally Kaname Yonamine

His parents' experience with Japanese resistance toward intermarriage with Okinawans

(b.1925) Nisei of Okinawan descent. Had a 38-year career in Japan as a baseball player, coach, scout, and manager.

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Wally Kaname Yonamine
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Wally Kaname Yonamine

Working in cane fields as teenager to supplement family income

(b.1925) Nisei of Okinawan descent. Had a 38-year career in Japan as a baseball player, coach, scout, and manager.

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Pat Adachi
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Pat Adachi

Relationship with my father

(b. 1920) Incarcerated during World War II. Active member of the Japanese Canadian community

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Kimi Wakabayashi
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Kimi Wakabayashi

Arranged marriage

(b.1912) Japanese Canadian Issei. Immigrated with husband to Canada in 1931

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Shizuko Kadoguchi
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Shizuko Kadoguchi

Marrying Bob against family’s wishes

(b.1920) Japanese Canadian Nisei. Established the Ikenobo Ikebana Society of Toronto

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Enson Inoue
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Enson Inoue

Growing up in a Japanese American family

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

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Enson Inoue
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Enson Inoue

Tracing my family crest

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

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Toshio Inahara
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Toshio Inahara

Family background

(b. 1921) Vascular surgeon

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Toshio Inahara
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Toshio Inahara

Driving 1930 Ford at age 12

(b. 1921) Vascular surgeon

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George Katsumi Yuzawa
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George Katsumi Yuzawa

Death of sister in October 1942

(1915 - 2011) Nisei florist who resettled in New York City after WW II. Active in Japanese American civil rights movement

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Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston
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Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston

Impact of Pearl Harbor on her family

(b. 1934) Writer

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Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston
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Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston

Initial impact on life at camp

(b. 1934) Writer

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Roy Hirabayashi
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Roy Hirabayashi

Celebrating traditional Japanese New Years with family

(b.1951) Co-founder and managing director of San Jose Taiko.

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Roy Hirabayashi
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Roy Hirabayashi

Learning Japanese at school and at home with family

(b.1951) Co-founder and managing director of San Jose Taiko.

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Aiko Yoshinaga Herzig
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Aiko Yoshinaga Herzig

Results of being more American than Japanese

(1924-2018) Researcher, Activist

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