Interviews

1. Family’s Japanese roots and values

2. The lack of discussion about family’s incarceration in Amache

3. Her desire to help at-risk and dependent youth

4. Her motto came from her mother

5. Unique perspective that a judge can bring to community organizations

6. How she transitioned from anthropology to law

7. Mother founded Japanese language school in neighbors’ backyard

Wasserman,Fumiko Hachiya

Sansei judge for the Superior Court of Los Angeles County in California

Her motto came from her mother

I do, because it’s from my mother again, “Do unto others as you would have them to unto you.” I think if you keep that in mind you will treat people with respect, with dignity, not judge them by how they look, not judge them by their education level, their socioeconomic standard, that’s not how you determine a person’s character.　Her other favorite was, “Do not judge a book by it’s cover,” so I think although I have very strong Japanese roots, it in no way affected how I approach people from different backgrounds, because of this overall broader view of the world and other people. It was not limited to only the people in the community where I lived, it was not limited only to the Japanese American community, of which we were active. Eventually I was part of the Japan America Society, so I’m – I have kept in touch with my roots.

aesthetics Japanese Americans judges metaphysics psychology respect theory of knowledge values

Date: July 27, 2018

Location: California, US

Interviewer: Kiya Matsuno

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

Interviewee Bio

Judge Fumiko Hachiya Wasserman is a Sansei judge for the Superior Court of Los Angeles County in California. She was born in Torrance, California and grew up in Harbor City, California. She was the first Asian American female hired by the US Attorney’s office in the Civil Division, the first minority elected official in the Torrance School Board, and the first judge to ever serve on the LA Biomedical Research Institute. She currently serves in the Los Padrinos Courthouse as the site judge. She grew up in a diverse and welcoming neighborhood and felt secure in being Japanese American. She is involved with the Japanese American community, works to promote diversity, and she mentors lawyers and judges. (June 2018)

*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.