Discover Nikkei

https://www.discovernikkei.org/en/interviews/clips/1598/

Finding his mother's high school valedictorian speech

She graduated from high school in Jerome and was the class valedictorian and gave a speech. And how this showed up was not my mom telling this story but when I was doing research for this paper I had I came across her valedictory speech from a posting in the University of Arkansas archives and they had her speech– but there was tear across the bottom that basically wiped out two sentences. So anyway I had a copy of this and I go to dinner with my mother every week, every Sunday, and so I produced this for her. “Mom, here’s your speech.” And she was shocked it was even there. It was full of patriotism, it was an incredible speech. So I asked her, “Do you remember what these two missing lines were?” And she laughs at me and goes “Are you kidding?” She doesn’t remember it. At the end of dinner she tells me “I might be able to get something that will help.” Next week we go to dinner, no mention of anything, I drop her off at her house she says “Here, I did find something. You can have this.” And she handed me the 3x5 notecards, original, that she wrote from.


Date: April 25, 2018

Location: California, US

Interviewer: John Esaki

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

Interviewee Bio

Robert Fujioka was born in Honolulu, Hawaii in 1952. He attended the University of Michigan earning a BA degree and earned an MBA from the University of Hawai'i. He has been in the banking industry since 1974 and currently serves as Vice Chair, Japanese American National Museum Board of Trustees, a Trustee of the Clarence T.C. Ching Foundation, and the First Hawaiian Bank Foundation. (November 2018)

Morton,Johnnie

Making a speech in Japanese

(b.1971) Professional football player.

Fukuhara,Jimmy Ko

Meeting his wife, Eileen

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

Ito,Willie

Mother in Camp

(b. 1934) Award-winning Disney animation artist who was incarcerated at Topaz during WWII

Toyoshima,Toshiaki

Unforgettable words of my mother (Japanese)

(b. 1949) Sushi chef. Owner of Sushi Gen restaurant in Los Angeles’ Little Tokyo.