Interviews

1. Early Childhood

2. The meaning of his middle name Yaichio

3. Discrimination in San Francisco

4. Life in Yamato Colony

5. Social life in Livingston versus San Francisco

6. Becoming head of the family at age 8

7. Advice from his mother

8. Attending San Francisco City College

9. Celebrating his birthday on December 7, 1941

10. Starting a YMCA program in camp

11. Leaving Topaz

12. Leaving a camp to attend college

13. Getting a job in Honolulu

14. Feeling free and accepted in Hawaii

15. Getting fired from a job

16. Marriage and Family

17. Becoming involved at JANM

18. Volunteering at JANM

19. Defining “Nikkei”

Hoshiyama,Fred Y.

(1914–2015) Nisei YMCA and Japanese American community leader

Marriage and Family

I did get married late. I got married when I was 34 years of age. I did get a younger wife however, but I was lucky to find somebody who is willing to say, “yes.” It took me a long time. But I – so she said, “yes,” I think I met her and I got married within six months. I didn’t want to lose Irene, so we tied it down. It was tied good, because we have been 56 - 57 years now, and we are happy together. And she still tried to change me a little bit here and there, but she is succeeding pretty well.

Now, I – when I first got my daughter - the first child, in 1952, I became a father for the first time. That was a tremendously, wonderful experience for me. Because for the first time I realized that I’m now part of God’s world. That, I’m part of that many parents that help keep the world going, and part of that of process of continuation, of perpetuity. So I felt a distinct being part of that process, and God’s world. When Matthew came in 1957, a son, that was another good experience for me. I feel very good. I wanted to have more children, but my wife thought two was enough, and so...usually if you want a happy marriage life, you have to agree with your wife more often than disagree, I learned.

families marriages

Date: March 4, 2005

Location: California, US

Interviewer: Florence Ochi, Art Hansen, Yoko Nishimura

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

Interviewee Bio

Fred Yaichio Hoshiyama was the first of six children born to Issei immigrant farm workers who were members of the pioneering Yamato Colony of Livingston, California. His father died when he was only eight, and his family struggled to keep their farm, eventually losing it and moving to San Francisco in 1929. After earning a BA from the University of California, Berkeley in 1941, he was confined at the Tanforan Assembly Center in San Francisco and the Topaz “Relocation Center” in Utah in 1942 with thousands of other innocent Japanese Americans—victims of their racial similarity to the enemy that had attacked the U.S. Naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawai‘i.

Even in confinement, Fred continued his lifelong association with the YMCA (Young Men’s Christian Association), helping to establish much needed recreational, educational and social programs. After obtaining an early release from Topaz to earn his Masters Degree at Springfield College in Massachusetts, he served as a YMCA youth program director in Honolulu before returning to California where he continued to work in urban youth programs. From 1976 to 1983 he helped to form the National Association of Student YMCAs. In retirement, he contributed his expertise and knowledge of financial planning, development and management to several non-profit organizations. (February 2016)