Interviews

1. Early Childhood

2. The meaning of his middle name Yaichio

3. Discrimination in San Francisco

4. Life in Yamato Colony

5. Social life in Livingston versus San Francisco

6. Becoming head of the family at age 8

7. Advice from his mother

8. Attending San Francisco City College

9. Celebrating his birthday on December 7, 1941

10. Starting a YMCA program in camp

11. Leaving Topaz

12. Leaving a camp to attend college

13. Getting a job in Honolulu

14. Feeling free and accepted in Hawaii

15. Getting fired from a job

16. Marriage and Family

17. Becoming involved at JANM

18. Volunteering at JANM

19. Defining “Nikkei”

Fred Y. Hoshiyama

(1914–2015) Nisei YMCA and Japanese American community leader

Discrimination in San Francisco

I did feel some discrimination in San Francisco, although, probably, it was much less than at the time the conflict took place back in early 1900’s. I was there 1929 to 1942. During that time we still had prejudice, jobs were hard to come by, and in fact I remember one time when there was a Dean Churnin, at the University of California. He was head of the graduate school for Social Work. I had applied and I got accepted. He calls me in and says, “Mr. Hoshiyama, why do you want a masters in social work, when there is no job for you out there. It’s much better that you take a job that will look better on your resume, than to have a masters which people won’t even accept, or even recognize for you.”

So, 1941, it indicates that even Dean Churnin was aware of the prejudice. The kind of job we used to get after getting college degree, 1941 Berkeley, was that all my co-graduates, unless they had a home or had a business of their own, worked for $50 a month at Grand Avenue as a clerk, or at a flower stand downtown, or at produce market, at $50 a month. That was not very open in terms of employment for the Japanese Americans at that time.

California discrimination interpersonal relations prewar San Francisco United States

Date: March 4, 2005

Location: California, US

Interviewer: Florence Ochi, Art Hansen, Yoko Nishimura

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

Interviewee Bio

Fred Yaichio Hoshiyama was the first of six children born to Issei immigrant farm workers who were members of the pioneering Yamato Colony of Livingston, California. His father died when he was only eight, and his family struggled to keep their farm, eventually losing it and moving to San Francisco in 1929. After earning a BA from the University of California, Berkeley in 1941, he was confined at the Tanforan Assembly Center in San Francisco and the Topaz “Relocation Center” in Utah in 1942 with thousands of other innocent Japanese Americans—victims of their racial similarity to the enemy that had attacked the U.S. Naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawai‘i.

Even in confinement, Fred continued his lifelong association with the YMCA (Young Men’s Christian Association), helping to establish much needed recreational, educational and social programs. After obtaining an early release from Topaz to earn his Masters Degree at Springfield College in Massachusetts, he served as a YMCA youth program director in Honolulu before returning to California where he continued to work in urban youth programs. From 1976 to 1983 he helped to form the National Association of Student YMCAs. In retirement, he contributed his expertise and knowledge of financial planning, development and management to several non-profit organizations. (February 2016)

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