Discover Nikkei

https://www.discovernikkei.org/en/interviews/clips/1501/

The Kids and Japanese Language (Japanese)

(Japanese) I had 4 children. Girl, boy, girl, boy in that perfect order. I was lucky. Two of them were born in Japan, and the other two were born in California.

I did want them to speak Japanese, so I wrote the Japanese phonetics and put it on the wall to teach them in the beginning. Eventually they forgot, or rather… There was a Japanese language school in Santa Maria. We took the kids there on Saturdays. But back then I was working at a tailor. The owner had moved to Los Angeles and I took over the store, which made it impossible for me to take my kids to Japanese school on Saturdays. My husband helped in the beginning, but they quit eventually. They kind of stopped speaking Japanese, so they can’t really speak.


children education Japanese languages

Date: February 6, 2015

Location: California, US

Interviewer: Izumi Tanaka

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

Interviewee Bio

Terumi Hisamatsu Calloway was born in 1937 in Yokohama as the 5th of 10 children and grew up in the suburb of Tokyo during the war. She met her husband, Edward E. Calloway, who was a civilian engineer working at American military base in Tokyo and married him. In 1960, after having 2 children, Terumi moved to the U.S. with her family and settled in the Bay Area and had two more children. Later they moved to the Lompoc area where all of her 4 children - 2 girls and 2 boys - grew up. In 1977, they moved to Inglewood where she resides now. Terumi was widowed in 2009, and she currently works as a caregiver. (April 2016)

Takagi,Kazuomi
en
ja
es
pt
Takagi,Kazuomi

Learning Spanish (Spanish)

(1925-2014) La Plata Hochi, Journalist

en
ja
es
pt
Nishimura,Shunji
en
ja
es
pt
Nishimura,Shunji

Delivering know-how to the next generation (Japanese)

(1911-2010) Founder of JACTO group

en
ja
es
pt
Kinoshita,Masao
en
ja
es
pt
Kinoshita,Masao

Life as a student in São Paulo (Japanese)

A central figure for the “Makegumi” (defeatists)

en
ja
es
pt
Shinki,Venancio
en
ja
es
pt
Shinki,Venancio

Prejudice in Japanese school (Spanish)

(b. 1932-2016) Peruvian painter

en
ja
es
pt
Shinki,Venancio
en
ja
es
pt
Shinki,Venancio

Closing the Japanese school and deportation (Spanish)

(b. 1932-2016) Peruvian painter

en
ja
es
pt
Futatsugui,Hideto
en
ja
es
pt
Futatsugui,Hideto

The Portuguese exam (Japanese)

(b.1911) Issei educator 

en
ja
es
pt
Futatsugui,Hideto
en
ja
es
pt
Futatsugui,Hideto

Japanese education in Brazil (Japanese)

(b.1911) Issei educator 

en
ja
es
pt
Morton,Johnnie
en
ja
es
pt
Morton,Johnnie

Attending Japanese school

(b.1971) Professional football player.

en
ja
es
pt
Irons,Peter
en
ja
es
pt
Irons,Peter

Learning About the Internment

(b. 1940) Attorney, Coram nobis cases.

en
ja
es
pt
Yoshida,George
en
ja
es
pt
Yoshida,George

Ways of Fitting In

(b. 1922) Musician

en
ja
es
pt
Uyeda,Clifford
en
ja
es
pt
Uyeda,Clifford

Japanese Language School

(1917 - 2004) Political activist

en
ja
es
pt
Inouye,Daniel K.
en
ja
es
pt
Inouye,Daniel K.

First election

(1924-2012) Senator of Hawaii

en
ja
es
pt
Shigekawa,Sakaye
en
ja
es
pt
Shigekawa, Sakaye

Parents were willing to send her to medical school

(1913-2013) Doctor specializing in obstetrics in Southern California

en
ja
es
pt
Shigekawa,Sakaye
en
ja
es
pt
Shigekawa, Sakaye

Getting good guidance

(1913-2013) Doctor specializing in obstetrics in Southern California

en
ja
es
pt
Suto,Henry
en
ja
es
pt
Suto,Henry

Being enlisted into the Japanese Army

(1928 - 2008) Drafted into both the Japanese Imperial Army and the U.S. Army.

en
ja
es
pt