Incidentally, that is the only name that you will find on my birth certificate, there is no “Fred” on it. That was given to me later. To answer your question, Yaichio, is a concoction of my father’s first name, the character Yajuro, the “ya.” You put the “ya” first. Then my mother’s name Fusao, you put the “o” at the end, the character “o.” Then you put “ichi” in the middle, which is Japanese for “number one,” “first born,” and since I was first born it was ya-ichi-o. That’s my name.
Date: March 4, 2005
Location: California, US
Interviewer: Florence Ochi, Art Hansen, Yoko Nishimura
Contributed by: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum
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