Discover Nikkei

https://www.discovernikkei.org/en/interviews/clips/1787/

Reason she didn't transition earlier

One of reasons I couldn't come out as early as I think I wanted to was having a death penalty case always weighed upon me I felt like I can't do transition, you know transgender transition is too in your face. It's not like coming out gay and actually go in front of that jury and look exactly the same as I did before. It doesn't work like that when you transition, so I was always paranoid about that. Just like you probably paranoid and I imagined that all LGBT people during my era were paranoid about being outed and identified and targeted.

It was something that was just going to happen once you came out whether voluntarily or involuntarily so you might as well do it voluntarily. If you have the opportunity, you might as well do it on your own terms. So doing death cases though kept me for many years from transitioning, I probably would’ve done it maybe 10 years earlier maybe 20 years of we’ll see there was a period of time in the 90s when I remember thinking I needed to transition. I can't live like this anymore, I can't be the phony that I've gotten good at being.


gender identity gender transition identity lawyers LGBTQ+ people transgender

Date: July 14, 2020

Location: California, US

Interviewer: Matthew Saito

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

Interviewee Bio

Mia Yamamoto is a Sansei transgender attorney and civil rights activist. She was born in the Poston concentration camp in Arizona in 1943 where her parents were incarcerated. She joined the Army and served in the Vietnam War. Inspired by her father's courage to speak out against the unconstitutional incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II, she attended the University of California Los Angeles's School of Law and has been a leader in the field of social justice, including working with the Japanese American Bar Association. (March 2021)

*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.

Kogiso,Mónica

Nihongo gakko - Preserving Japanese culture (Spanish)

(b. 1969) Former president of Centro Nikkei Argentino.

Mizuki,Peter

Not wanting to stand out as a foreigner

Sansei Japanese American living in Japan and Kendo practioner

Yamasaki,Frank

Have compassion for all of humanity

(b. 1923) Nisei from Washington. Resisted draft during WWII.

Kogiso,Mónica

Identity crisis (Spanish)

(b. 1969) Former president of Centro Nikkei Argentino.

(Jerome Charles White Jr.),Jero

Never sang Enka outside the family

(b. 1981) Enka Singer

Kansuma,Fujima

Both Japanese and American identities though Japanese dance

(1918-2023) Nisei Japanese kabuki dancer

Herzig,Aiko Yoshinaga

Results of being more American than Japanese

(1924-2018) Researcher, Activist

(Jerome Charles White Jr.),Jero

Trying to convey the meaning of the songs

(b. 1981) Enka Singer

Endo,Kenny

Internship on a Native American reservation in Arizona

(b.1952) Master drummer, artistic director of the Taiko Center of the Pacific

Ota,Vince

Different tension between East Coast and Los Angeles

Japanese American Creative designer living in Japan

Tanaka,Seiichi

Differences between American and Japanese taiko

(b.1943) Shin-issei grand master of taiko; founded San Francisco Taiko Dojo in 1968.

Sogi,Francis Y.

Meeting Japanese Americans from the mainland in MIS

(1923-2011) Lawyer, MIS veteran, founder of Francis and Sarah Sogi Foundation

Inoue,Enson

Sudden acceptance in Japanese society

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