Her desire to help at-risk and dependent youth

Family’s Japanese roots and values The lack of discussion about family’s incarceration in Amache Her desire to help at-risk and dependent youth Her motto came from her mother Unique perspective that a judge can bring to community organizations How she transitioned from anthropology to law Mother founded Japanese language school in neighbors’ backyard

Transcripts available in the following languages:

As far as working, I’ve been on the bench since 1986. I have been happy being a judge, that’s why I am still on the bench. My experience on the bench has gone from starting in the municipal court, then going to Superior Court, working with dependents, juvenile dependency, they are the abused, neglected, molested, very sad cases in terms of being part of our system of dependency, foster care. Then I asked to do delinquency, because that’s one of the reasons I wanted to become a Superior Court judge, was in order to work with at-risk youth.

Date: July 27, 2018
Location: California, US
Interviewer: Kiya Matsuno
Contributed by: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum; Japanese American Bar Association

government judge Superior Court youth