Interviews

1. Concentration camp from a Japanese mother’s point of view (Japanese)

2. Why I got my American citizenship (Japanese)

3. The reactions of others when I got my American citizenship (Japanese)

4. My changing identity depending on circumstances (Japanese)

5. Americanized values (Japanese)

6. Traditional Japanese events for Japanese Americans (Japanese)

7. Leaving for the States without telling my parents (Japanese)

Yumi Matsubara

Shin-Issei from Gifu. Recently received U.S. citizenship

Leaving for the States without telling my parents (Japanese)

(Japanese) It was 1992, so about 15 years ago I first came to this country. I think my father came from a very, very traditional Japanese household. So of course he doesn’t cook, and he’s the type of person who would tell my mother, “Hey, bring it over,” when he needed an ash tray. He wanted me to become happily married with a Japanese man through an arranged marriage, but I didn’t let it turn out that way, so I bet he was really, really angry with me. So mad that I couldn’t even talk to him. My mother used to teach at a junior high school. And even though my mother does have a strong personality, she’s not the type of person who would talk back to my father like I would. She just keeps quiet and bears through it. I see that as one of her strengths. Anyway, it’s funny when I think about it now, but I secretly prepared for my departure, not telling anybody until the very last minute; I sent a letter to my parents from the airport, telling them that I was leaving for America. Honestly, it was like I ran away from home. I’m sure my parents were shocked [laughs]. But I don’t think I would’ve been able to make it over here had I not done something drastic like that.

immigration migration

Date: March 1, 2007

Location: California, US

Interviewer: Yoko Nishimura

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

Interviewee Bio

Yumi Matsubara was born and grew up in Gifu prefecture in Japan. Growing up in a conservative family in Japan, she didn’t tell her parents that she was moving to Los Angeles, California, to improve her English. She first attended an English language school for a couple of months before studying fashion at the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising (FIDM) in Los Angeles. After she graduated from FIDM in 1994, she started working in the fashion industry.

Around this time, her desire to make a permanent home in the United States was growing. Her company agreed to support her green card (permanent residency), so she started the green card process. In 1999, however, the financial situation of her company deteriorated and she left the company before she received her U.S. permanent residency. She decided to marry an American citizen in November 1999 after just two weeks of dating. She received her green card in May 2001 and her American citizenship in December 2006. Currently, she works in the fashion industry in Los Angeles where she serves as a grader* and spec writer. (March 1, 2007)

* Grader: a person who produces scaled versions of an original pattern to produce clothes across a range of sizes and fits.