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Discrimination for Nisei doctors

I'm not positive, now, I'm sure you could research this yourself. But back then, even though you graduated medical school, lot of hospitals would not take you on as an intern. And even if you were hired as an intern, they paid, like, fifty dollars a month. I used to hear these numbers and they'd be yucking it up, you know. "Who could get along?" They were at the bottom of the totem pole. And if you're a "Jap," that's the least amount of chance you had. But because I think a lot of these Nisei doctors graduated maybe in the top so many percentage, but they didn't have a chance of being hired or brought on board.


discrimination generations hospitals internships interpersonal relations Japanese hospitals medicine Nisei

Date: September 21, 2009

Location: California, US

Interviewer: Tom Ikeda, Martha Nakagawa

Contributed by: Denshō: The Japanese American Legacy Project.

Interviewee Bio

Nisei female. Born April 30, 1928, in Los Angeles, California. She grew up in Gardena and her father was a prominent medical physician in the Boyle Heights neighborhood. During World War II, removed to the Poston incarceration camp, Arizona. Left camp with family to work on a sugar beet farm in Colorado, and eventually returned to Los Angeles, where father reestablished medical practice. She passed away in November 2016 at the age of 88. (April 2020)

Sumiko Kozawa
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Kozawa,Sumiko

Her grandfather and Dr. Thompson

(1916-2016) Florist

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Doris Moromisato
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Moromisato, Doris

Necessary apologies (Spanish)

(b. 1962) Peruvian Poet, Okinawan descendant

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Cedrick Shimo
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Shimo,Cedrick

Starting to get angry

(1919-2020) Member of the 1800th Engineering Battalion. Promoted Japan-U.S. trade while working for Honda's export division.

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BJ Kobayashi
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Kobayashi,BJ

Never feeling discriminated against in Hawai‘i

Hawaiian businessman, developer.

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Roger Shimomura
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Shimomura,Roger

Grandfather's arrival in the U.S., experiencing discrimination

(b. 1939) Japanese American painter, printmaker & professor

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Terry Janzen
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Janzen,Terry

Moving to Upland Post-Camp

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

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Virgil Westdale
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Westdale,Virgil

Discrimination in Air Corps

(1918-2022) Hapa World War II veteran, pilot

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Ben Sakoguchi
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Sakoguchi,Ben

Allyship after camp

(b. 1938) Japanese American painter & printmaker

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Paul Terasaki
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Terasaki,Paul

Developing the micro test was the most important accomplishment

(b.1929) Pioneer medical researcher in tissue transfer and organ transplantation.

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Toshio Inahara
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Inahara,Toshio

Inahara shunt

(b. 1921) Vascular surgeon

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A. Wallace Tashima
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Tashima,A. Wallace

“I could never get a job offer from a private law firm”

(b. 1934) The First Japanese American Appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals. 

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Hikaru “Carl” Iwasaki
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Iwasaki,Hikaru “Carl”

Visiting Deep South

(1923 - 2016) WRA photographer

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Tamio Wakayama
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Wakayama,Tamio

Resettling in Chatham

(1941-2018) Japanese Canadian photojournalist and activist

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Mitsuru "Mits"  Kataoka
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Kataoka,Mitsuru "Mits"

Facing housing discrimination in Rhode Island

(1934–2018) Japanese American designer, educator, and pioneer of media technologies

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Mia Yamamoto
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Yamamoto,Mia

Influence of Mexican culture after returning from camp

(b. 1943) Japanese American transgender attorney

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