When my second son was 4 years old, my wife took him to Boston and they were standing in line to have ice cream and this elderly white lady was looking at him and she was kind of puzzled to see what nationality he was. She said, “Little boy, what are you?” He said, “Oh…” She said, “Little boy, what’s your name?” He said, “Patrick.” She said, “Oh that’s a Irish name.” He said, “Yes.” She said, “Are you…what race are you?” And he didn’t understand that. “What are you?” He said, “I’m a boy.” “No, what are you?” “I’m Japanese Irish because I’m 4, but when I’m older, I’ll be a 100 percent Japanese.”
Date: June 1, 2006
Location: Hawai`i, US
Interviewer: Akemi Kikumura Yano
Contributed by: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum
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