Discover Nikkei

https://www.discovernikkei.org/en/interviews/clips/1426/

Meeting Harry for the first time (Japanese)

(Japanese) I had gone to Kamakura to undergo eye surgery. I had heard that there was a good eye doctor there, so I went. I have…what would you call it…inverse eyelashes? Normal eyelashes grow outward, right? Well, mine all grow inward. When I went that time, I met him. It was 1946.

We started talking about how there was a really great place in the area called Enoshima. Then, we started saying,“Hey, actually Enoshima’s right on the way from Kamakura to Fujisawa – that’s really close. Shall we go there?”

He remembers that time well. Eating shellfish cooked whole in its shell really left an impression on him. On my way back, I couldn’t believe what I had done. I’d spoken with a foreigner I’d never even met before and gone off somewhere together to have fun. I couldn’t believe it.


1940s Japan Kamakura Kanagawa Prefecture postwar World War II

Date: January 26, 2012

Location: California, US

Interviewer: John Esaki, Yoko Nishimura

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

Interviewee Bio

Jean Hamako Schneider (former name: Amano) was born in 1925 in Yokohama.  In 1933, she went with her father, who was to run a business in Latin America, to Panama where she stayed for two years.  Her father remained in Panama after her, but came back to Japan in 1942 on a prisoner of war exchange ship.  While working at a radio station after the war, Hamako met Harry Schneider, who was stationed in Japan with the U.S. Military Intelligence Service (MIS).  In 1948, the two married in Japan, and, in 1950, Hamako left for America as a war bride.  After that, she gave birth to a daughter and quickly acquired American citizenship.  Currently, she lives in Encinitas, California.  (September 2014)

Terry Janzen
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Janzen,Terry

Tomboy

(b. 1930) Half Japanese and grew up in both Japan and the United States.

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Terry Janzen
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Janzen,Terry

Postwar school-life

(b. 1930) Half Japanese and grew up in both Japan and the United States.

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Susumu “Sus” Ito
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Ito,Susumu “Sus”

Coming home to his mother after the war

(1919 - 2015) Nisei who served in World War II with the 442nd Regimental Combat Team

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Jimmy Ko Fukuhara
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Fukuhara,Jimmy Ko

After being discharged and returning to the nursery business

(b. 1921) Nisei veteran who served in the occupation of Japan

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Tom Yuki
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Yuki,Tom

Japanese were not welcomed back to Salinas

(b. 1935) Sansei businessman.

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Tom Yuki
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Yuki,Tom

Felt no hostility in Los Gatos, California after the war

(b. 1935) Sansei businessman.

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Tom Yuki
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Yuki,Tom

Able to settle easily in Los Gatos with foresight and luck

(b. 1935) Sansei businessman.

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Kay Sekimachi
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Sekimachi,Kay

Moving to Cincinnati after Topaz

(b. 1926) Artist

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Takayo Fischer
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Fischer,Takayo

Facing Prejudice as a Japanese American Teenager in Chicago after the War

(b. 1932) Nisei American stage, film, and TV actress

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Takayo Fischer
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Fischer,Takayo

Being Confused about Racial Identity in Postwar United States

(b. 1932) Nisei American stage, film, and TV actress

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Howard Kakita
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Kakita,Howard

Reuniting with parents in America

(b. 1938) Japanese American. Hiroshima atomic bomb survivor

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Howard Kakita
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Kakita,Howard

Adjustment to American life

(b. 1938) Japanese American. Hiroshima atomic bomb survivor

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Masato Ninomiya
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Ninomiya,Masato

What made your parents decide to move to Brazil?

Professor of Law, University of Sao Paulo, Lawyer, Translator (b. 1948)

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