Diane Honda interview

              >> Carlene Tinker: Good morning, Diane.
>> Diane Honda: Good morning.
>> Carlene Tinker: Welcome to Special Collections. We're located in the Henry Madden Library at Fresno State. Special Collections has an extensive collection of stories given by different groups. OK. And we're going to be giving your story as part of a new project which we call the Issei to Gosei Project. Basically our focus is to find out what it's been like for you to live in the valley and also at the same time, to experience-- to find out what your experience has been like to be a Japanese-American. OK. Now, before we proceed, I'd like to explain to the readers, to the visitors of this interview what some of the terms are that we're using today. The title of our project, Issei to Gosei, actually is a kind of a condensed version of five different generations that are going to be interviewed for this project. So let me define some of those terms. Issei is those individuals-- are those individuals who came from Japan way back maybe in the 1800s, early 1900s. Nisei are the first generation born here, children of the Isseis, OK, but the second generation of Japanese-Americans. The third generation are the Sansei, third because they are the grandchildren of the Isseis but the second born here in United States. Then our children, you and I happen to be Sanseis, our children are called Yonsei, the fourth generation, the third born here in the United States. And finally, our project is extending to the fifth generation because we know there are some individuals who would be willing to experience this interview project. And so they’re the fifth generation. And so, if the project continues beyond that, we'll be going to the sixth generation, et cetera. So, Diane, if I may call you that, or what-- if you will please give me your full name and including your maiden name.
>> Diane Honda: OK. My name is Diane Sadaye, that's my middle name and Yotsuya is my maiden name and Honda is my married name. Although I pronounce it Honda because the Honda car is very popular and advertised a lot in the United States. So it's Diane Honda.
>> Carlene Tinker: Yes. But the correct pronunciation would be Honda.
>> Diane Honda: Correct.
>> Carlene Tinker: Right. OK. As I've said, your interview will become part of the many collections that we have in a digital form. And these are open to the public to view. Anybody online can access these. And so your interview will become a permanent record in this collection, not only for researchers but also for your family. And I think that in itself is a very significant contribution. Today is December 5th, Wednesday, December 5th, 2018. And the time is 10:10 a.m. To make your story complete, I want to start with your family, your grandparents, if I may. So let's start with your grandparents. And tell me briefly where your grandparents came from on both sides.
>> Diane Honda: OK. So my father's name is Yukihiro Yotsuya. He went by Yuki Yotsuya. And his parents came from Fukui-ken in Japan. They-- From what I understand, they first came to Watsonville. And then Tomezo and [Masa] were married. But they came to Watsonville and actually, I think, had a couple of children there in Watsonville in what's known now as Freedom Hill. And--but those two passed away. And so then they had four children after-- or actually six children after that. And they all survived, sorry. My mother's family has four, but anyway. So they went in-- Somewhere along the line, they met up with a guy named Kyutaro Abiko or at least a representative of him. And his dream was to establish Japanese Christian colonies in the United States. So-- and they were the Yamato Colonies. And so, the three in California that I know of are in Turlock, and then the area I grew up in Cortez and Livingston. And--
>> Carlene Tinker: OK. Now, I understand there was also another part of the community called Cressey, is that right?
>> Diane Honda: Yes.
>> Carlene Tinker: OK. Was that close to--
>> Diane Honda: Livingston.
>> Carlene Tinker: I'm sorry?
>> Diane Honda: It's close to Yamato Colony in Livingston.
>> Carlene Tinker: Oh, in Livingston.
>> Diane Honda: Yeah.
>> Carlene Tinker: So each of these areas were separate Yamato Colonies?
>> Diane Honda: Yes.
>> Carlene Tinker: Oh.
>> Diane Honda: Yes, they were separate. And they were formed in different ways like the Livingston-Cressey one had people in it that were maybe brought a little bit of wealth from Japan. The Turlock one which didn't survive, I'm not sure what their background was. But the Cortez one was really immigrants. It was really immigrant-based. They came not with wealth. And they came as farmers and definitely as a Christian colony because I have read stories that they-- that the first thing they did was establish a church. And the-- Kyutaro Abiko or his representative, because I'm not really sure that they met him and that he was the one or if he had family representatives that helped establish these. But he gave two plots of land to the community. And they were to be for churches and for community purposes. So the church I attended, the Cortez Presbyterian Church was on one of those plots of land, which included an orchard, so that the church could be supported by the orchard. And the church members supported that. So that was, you know, that's very unusual--
>> Carlene Tinker: Oh, yeah.
>> Diane Honda: -- I think. And then it's Presbyterian because the early Christian, not the early Christian churches but the churches of the 1900s, they established mission churches. And they still do of immigrant populations. And so, the Cortez was a mission church. And Livingston was a Methodist Mission Church. But ours is a Presbyterian Methodist Church, I mean mission church. And I don't really think that they were necessarily particular that they wanted to follow, you know, John Wesley or whoever, you know, the founders of these churches were as much as they got support from these larger congregations. And so--
>> Carlene Tinker: So this was probably, as I remember, the Yamato Colony established by Abiko started in maybe the early 1900s, is that correct?
>> Diane Honda: That's correct.
>> Carlene Tinker: Yeah. I think he purchased the land around 1904, is that about right?
>> Diane Honda: OK. It could be. Yeah. Because I-- my father was born there and that-- oh, no, my father wasn't born there, I think my parents who are a part of the-- my grandparents who are part of the 13 original families--
>> Carlene Tinker: Is that right?
>> Diane Honda: -- what came there. I want to say probably in the early 1920s or late 1919.
>> Carlene Tinker: OK. And this is the Yotsuya side.
>> Diane Honda: This is the Yotsuya, the Tomezo Yotsuya.>> Carlene Tinker: Wow. That is fascinating. Is the-- Are the colonies-- Well, you said one didn't survive. That was the Turlock one.
>> Diane Honda: Right.
>> Carlene Tinker: But the Cortez one, is it still in existence?
>> Diane Honda: Yes. Definitely it is still in existence. The church is just now being taken back by the Presbyterian Church. And to be following a new immigrant population that would like to occupy it.
>> Carlene Tinker: OK. So, you do-- do you continue to sponsor immigrants?
>> Diane Honda: OK. So what happened with that church, OK, what happened with Cortez was after the war, some of the Cortez people wanted to have, OK, more than just the original 13 came to Cortez, it attracted more families. And I'm not sure how many families there are. But my guess would be somewhere between 30 and 40 families.
>> Carlene Tinker: That are still there?
>> Diane Honda: That came, I would say--
>> Carlene Tinker: Oh, that came.
>> Diane Honda: -- in the 1950s. And they established the Buddhist church in what was community neighborhood. And that Buddhist church actually is still surviving with a minister and with a congregation. Whereas the Presbyterian Church definitely died out like its members died out.
>> Carlene Tinker: I'll be darned.
>> Diane Honda: So, there might be a few left. But I'm really talking about a couple--
>> Carlene Tinker: Wow.
>> Diane Honda: -- and so.
>> Carlene Tinker: So during World War II, what happened to these people, did they-- did the-- Obviously they weren't allowed to stay there.
>> Diane Honda: Right.
>> Carlene Tinker: So what happened to those people during the war?>> Diane Honda: So what I'm understanding of that, my understanding of that is that the-- so they were interned but when they were interned there was a man, Mr. [Cavianni] who-- or [Cavianni] or—anyway, he helped watch over olive farms. Possessions were taken care of by this man, Mr. Smith, who own the Smith Chevrolet. And although they might not have gotten revenue from their farms, they didn't lose their farms. I don't know any-- I mean, I know some people who didn't return. And when they got back, they ended up selling their farms because my father bought one of those sold farms. But, you know, I recently read a book by New York Times, I think, author published in this late-- in the 2000 teens that said that, you know, there were 120,000 Japanese that were emigrated from the West Coast. OK. Or not emigrated, relocated from the West Coast.
>> Carlene Tinker: OK.
>> Diane Honda: And he said only about 60,000 came back.
>> Carlene Tinker: Oh, is that right?
>> Diane Honda: So if that's the case, then that's why a lot of people didn't come back. But they did have the ability to sell their property because I know my dad bought one of those farms--
>> Carlene Tinker: Right, right
>> Diane Honda: -- that my brother still currently farms.
>> Carlene Tinker: Do you have any brothers or sisters?
>> Diane Honda: Yes, my brother Dennis. And he definitely still farms. He-- My brother Dennis is six years older than me. So he was born right like around 1947 or something like that. And he went to, I guess I'll say this forever. He went to Berkeley, UC Berkeley during a very tumultuous time. But a very unawareness time of how important Japanese-American history is. So although he set out to be an architect, he actually was very interested in pursuing kind of traditional industries that Japanese were in. So he started, after he became an architect and was an architect in San Francisco for a while, he decided to become a fisherman.
>> Carlene Tinker: Oh.
>> Diane Honda: So he fished in the bay area. But he actually felt like there was such a strong Italian and other ethnic groups that kind of had a lock on it that he felt like he didn't have any advantage in that. So he asked my dad if he could come home and be a farmer. And my father who didn't have the choice to be a farmer, my father wanted to be an accountant. But he was in his early 20s when the war happened and, you know, was of course interned, didn't have the opportunity really to go to college and didn't-- and actually wanted to join the army right as World War II started but wasn't allowed to and was actually, he tells us-- told us a lot what's classified as an enemy alien.
>> Carlene Tinker: Yeah.
>> Diane Honda: And that really stuck with him and he was very angry. So even though he had brothers that were younger that served in United States army, he did not. And so that also didn't give him the advantage of having the GI Bill to come home. And besides that, he was already married by the time the end of the war came in. And he had, you know, he didn't-- had my brother Dennis. So it was time to start the farm.
>> Carlene Tinker: Right. So there are only two of you?
>> Diane Honda: Yes.
>> Carlene Tinker: OK.
>> Diane Honda: Yeah.
>> Carlene Tinker: Now, getting back to-- let me back track a little bit to the Yamato Colony and its early inception. Did the people who lived in this community pool their money? Did they share the money and share the revenue? To what extent was the community aspect fostered?
>> Diane Honda: Well, one of the things about the Cortez community is they also had another parcel that was allotted to the Cortez Growers Association and this growers association did. Yes, they pooled everything so they could market their things together. And that Cortez Growers Association to this day still exists. And it still-- it has that same focus as they did before. My brother, who then took over the farm, is part of that association. And they sell almonds, for example, and instead of being a single farmer selling to Blue Diamond they sell as that Cortez Growers Association.
>> Carlene Tinker: Is that right?
>> Diane Honda: Yeah.
>> Carlene Tinker: Now, is the community now still religious-based? Would you say they've gotten away from that?
>> Diane Honda: Well, yeah, they've definitely-- There are-- Well, first of all, the community is integrated so that it's not all Japanese and some of the Japanese farms particularly, I want to say, in the '80s and '90s when the Nisei were retiring sold their property predominantly to Caucasian people.
>> Carlene Tinker: Oh, OK.
>> Diane Honda: So it's-- And those Caucasian people, many of them belonged to that Cortez Growers Association. But-- And because of that, their need for an ethnic church was not the same. I mean, my feelings about an ethnic church is, at the beginning, Reverend Sab Masada told me that when he grew up in Bowles that the-- after the war, they went to a Caucasian church and they weren't welcomed.
>> Carlene Tinker: I see.
>> Diane Honda: They said go back to your own church. So the first church was needed because nobody wanted, I mean, they wanted them to be on their own. And the Niseis, it was needed because I think it gave them a place to heal or at least to be together after World War II.
>> Carlene Tinker: Well, right.
>> Diane Honda: Then as the third generation came along, the need to stay in an ethnic-based church wasn't as great.
>> Carlene Tinker: Right, right.
>> Diane Honda: And, although, I still attend an ethnic-based church myself, I don't think that's-- in fact, I know that's not-- I mean there's a lot of my friends that do not.
>> Carlene Tinker: Yeah.
>> Diane Honda: So--
>> Carlene Tinker: Yeah. I can see your logic there and-- but at first when these people were first coming to the United States, they needed some people to help them, OK. So forming that group, Abiko was very--forethoughtful in doing that. And as I understand, he did not actually come to the valley. He just stayed in San Francisco.
>> Diane Honda: Yeah. See, that's why I'm saying I don't know that they ever met him just, you know, people that helped him or worked for him or did something of that sort. Yeah.
>> Carlene Tinker: Right. I think I told you recently that I didn't-- when I was doing my little research on Yamato colonies, I found one in Fred-- in Florida.
>> Diane Honda: Yeah.>> Carlene Tinker: OK.
>> Carlene Tinker: And I think the name Yamato means Japan or was that the ancient name for Japan?
>> Diane Honda: I don't know.
>> Carlene Tinker: But anyway, it’s coincidental but they were-- that particular colony was started by a railroad man and his name was Flagler, and he wanted to develop the land along his railroad. And so the first people who bit on buying the land happened to be a Japanese man who had studied in the East Coast University. So totally coincidental but--
>> Diane Honda: Yes.
>> Carlene Tinker: -- what a find I thought, oh gosh, I have to ask Diane about this. OK. So anyway, your parent-- your grandparents were of the Issei generation?
>> Diane Honda: Right.
>> Carlene Tinker: OK. And they came, I imagined, seeking a better life, would that be true or am I--
>> Diane Honda: Yeah. I’m certain that they were seeking a better life, that they weren't the eldest in the families that-- because I actually don't really know a lot about my grandfather Shamley [assumed spelling], whether he was the eldest, how many were in that family. But I do know that, you know he-- I'm sure he came. And I also know that he was very, somehow, became very Christian and very God-fearing and, you know, my parents will say, "Oh yes, grandpa's favorite hymn was Rock of Ages" and, you know, they-- you know, it struck with them, so--
>> Carlene Tinker: Yeah.
>> Diane Honda: And I'm actually very proud of that Christian history.
>> Carlene Tinker: Your mother-- your grandmother rather, she came from Kumamoto?
>> Diane Honda: Yes. My mother's parents came from Kumamoto. So my grandfather-- they came under very different circumstances. My grandfather arrived on-- after or a day after the San Francisco earthquake.
>> Carlene Tinker: Oh, OK.
>> Diane Honda: So his ship could see the sea burning. So it moved on to Seattle and-- But eventually he did move his way back to San Francisco. I guess he wanted to be in that San Francisco but they unboarded in Seattle. And he didn't have a wife. He came with his-- he came with a son but not a wife. He came with a son who was a grown son like 20 years old and himself. And because I've seen pictures and I said, "Who is this?" and they said, "Oh, that's uncle Goto [assumed spelling]." Whatever happened to him, we don't know. And we don't know whatever happened to him because my grandmother then was a picture bride and she came and she was 19 years younger than him.
>> Carlene Tinker: OK. So she was about 20 years younger something [inaudible].
>> Diane Honda: Yeah, yeah. And, you know, she had reasonably tragic story about being married and then the husband didn't like her so he kicked her out and she had to leave a son behind and-- So there-- Yeah, there was a lot of heartbreak. So, her leaving to come to America was out of that. So it was a very different story.
>> Carlene Tinker: Yeah.
>> Diane Honda: That they came from the Kumamoto.
>> Carlene Tinker: Right. So your grandfather was at the Yamato Colony at this point when he sent for her? Is that--
>> Diane Honda: No, no, no. This is my mother side.
>> Carlene Tinker: OK.
>> Diane Honda: So they weren't in the part of the Yamato Colony at all.
>> Carlene Tinker: Oh, OK.
>> Diane Honda: My mother side was not. My grandfather became a laborer in the San Francisco, Santa Rosa area.
>> Carlene Tinker: OK.
>> Diane Honda: Yeah. And eventually had a chicken farm but he, mostly, when he was young and the family was young. Well, he probably wasn't that young, he was probably in his 40s. But when the family was young, he worked in apple orchards as a laborer.
>> Carlene Tinker: Got it, OK.
>> Diane Honda: Yeah.>> Carlene Tinker: Now, I'm getting this right now. OK, your parents, your parents, what was your-- They would be the Nisei?
>> Diane Honda: Right.
>> Carlene Tinker: OK, second generation but first born here in United States.
>> Diane Honda: Right.
>> Carlene Tinker: OK. On your dad side, he was in the Yamato Colony.
>> Diane Honda: He was part of the Yamato Colony.
>> Carlene Tinker: OK. All right. So I got that straight. What was your father's full name?
>> Diane Honda: Yukihiro Yotsuya and, yeah, he was named by this guy named Mr. Yamaguchi who was-- when I met him was a hundred years old. And that's just why I remember my dad saying, "This is the guy that marry-- that named me." But he was born in Freedom, as I said before and came. And when they were two years old, for some reason, when he was two years old, the grandfather was able to take the whole family back to Japan to see the grandmother's mother.
>> Carlene Tinker: OK.
>> Diane Honda: Which I felt is a pretty amazing thing to be able to do. I don't know how we got the money or-- but they stayed long enough to have a son there. But since the son was so young, they decided to leave him in Japan and come back. And so, he was probably born in the 1920s and wasn't able to come to the United States until the 1950s, because, you know, the Exclusion Act came in and--
>> Carlene Tinker: Right.
>> Diane Honda: And I get the Exclusion Act must have excluded family members.
>> Carlene Tinker: Right.
>> Diane Honda: He fought for Japan. He fought in the army for Japan. And, you know, when he-- he did eventually come to the United States and live in the United States but he-- Then after about 20-- 25 years in the United States went back to Japan.
>> Carlene Tinker: I'll be darned.
>> Diane Honda: Yeah.>> Carlene Tinker: I'll be darned.
>> Diane Honda: So--
>> Carlene Tinker: So your dad was born when-- what was his birthday?
>> Diane Honda: July 23rd, 1917.
>> Carlene Tinker: 1917, OK. So, then your mother-- OK. Where did she come from?
>> Diane Honda: My mother was born in Santa Rosa.
>> Carlene Tinker: OK.
>> Diane Honda: So-- And she was the third child but she is the oldest. She was the only that survived past young childhood. I mean, my mother will tell stories about how my grandmother would be working in the field and then she would have the baby come in and have the baby and then she would serve lunch for the field workers.
>> Carlene Tinker: Oh my god.
>> Diane Honda: So, I'm not sure if that's legend or that's true. But that's the story of how hard a worker. And that's why babies didn't survive too because, you know, they had a really hard life.
>> Carlene Tinker: OK.
>> Diane Honda: Working for apple growers and crushing apples. And I guess it was dangerous too because the apple crushing machines and--
>> Carlene Tinker: OK. What was your mother's maiden name?
>> Diane Honda: Her maiden name was Murakami.
>> Carlene Tinker: Murakami.
>> Diane Honda: So she-- her-- yeah. Her name was Sadame Murakami and she gave herself the name Mae as she started school.
>> Carlene Tinker: OK. OK. So when was she born? Your--
>> Diane Honda: She was born in October 15th, 1919.
>> Carlene Tinker: OK. OK. Now, when the war broke out, let's say, how many children did they have?>> Diane Honda: So they had four children. So my aunt Fuji who became a fashion designer in Los Angeles, which she has herself a very interesting story. My uncle James Murakami who was the national JACL president during the rigorous time, which was quite a tumultuous time actually--
>> Carlene Tinker: Oh yeah.
>> Diane Honda: -- in the JACL history. And then my uncle George Murakami who is an architect.
>> Carlene Tinker: OK. So, are any of those children alive?
>> Diane Honda: No, none of them.
>> Carlene Tinker: All of them have passed.
>> Diane Honda: All of them have passed.
>> Carlene Tinker: OK. Now-- OK. When the war broke out, February, I mean, December 7th, 1941 which is coming-- the celebration is coming up, where were your parents at the time?
>> Diane Honda: So my mother-- They had both graduated high school already. And I'm not exactly-- neither one of them have told me stories about I remember when this happened. Almost all the stories that I've read had to do with I've read them. But I do know my mother would say things to me like, you know, it wasn't that bad, we didn't experience that but then they did go to camp. And then I found letters after she passed away, from her friends that were Caucasian outside of camp, that would say things like, you know, my friends told me I shouldn't write to you because you're, you know, in a camp. And, you know, that you are the enemy but I never thought of you as the enemy. And so then I realized that a lot of it was just probably blocked out. And again, I had already relate my father's story about how his anger. I think that's an anger that lived with him his whole life, that the United States army wouldn't take him. So, had he gone in before he would have been taken to--
>> Carlene Tinker: Yeah, he would have been able to participate.
>> Diane Honda: Yes, right.
>> Carlene Tinker: Yeah, yeah.
>> Diane Honda: But since he volunteered in that 1942 time, he wasn't able. And then to add injury on that, his family and he were also put in relocation camp. I mean not relocation, the assembly center in Merced, so the Merced County Fairgrounds Assembly Center. And they were-- both of the families were put into the Amache camp, which is where they met.
>> Carlene Tinker: Oh, is that-- oh, I was going to say did-- so your mother was in Santa Rosa at the time--
>> Diane Honda: Right.
>> Carlene Tinker: -- when the war broke out, I mean the Executive Order 9066 and we had to be evacuated. OK. So she came to the Merced--
>> Diane Honda: Right. Her family did.
>> Carlene Tinker: -- Assembly Center and your dad was there but they didn't meet there?
>> Diane Honda: No. They apparently met at the carpool where the bathrooms are actually at the Amache camp. And so--
>> Carlene Tinker: Well, coincidentally, I'm the interviewer and my name-- by the way, I didn't introduce myself. I just thought of that. My family went to Amache as well. So I know what you're talking about, the carpool area and so forth. So how old were your parents at that time when they were in Camp Amache?
>> Diane Honda: Well, they must have been about 20, in the early 20s at this point.
>> Carlene Tinker: Mm-hmm, OK.
>> Diane Honda: You know, it hit them in a time where, you know, they normally would have been in junior college or progressing their life after high school. And I think it was a kind of pretty crucial time of their lives.
>> Carlene Tinker: Definitely.
>> Diane Honda: Yeah. And so, my mother worked as a dispatcher at camp and my father drove a truck from out of camp--
>> Carlene Tinker: Yeah.
>> Diane Honda: -- whenever delivering vegetables or whatever they did.
>> Carlene Tinker: Yeah. So, did they-- do you know if they met right away when we got evacuated?
>> Diane Honda: I think they met pretty close right away because my father would-- said-- always told the story that he saw my mother and he said, "Oh, that is the girl I'm going to marry." And then my mother was, actually, had a boyfriend that was in the army. So-- or was going to go to the army or something to do. So, I mean, if-- actually used that story and you think about what you know, that actually wasn't at the beginning because those boys weren't allowed to go to the army right away. They--
>> Carlene Tinker: No. It was later or--
>> Diane Honda: Yeah.
>> Carlene Tinker: -- probably '43, '44-- probably closer to '44.
>> Diane Honda: You know what, I think that story is not clear thinking because she then with her brother James, went to Pennsylvania and took advantage of the Quakers who allowed people to come out of camp to either go to school or work. And so, I would think that she did that by '43 or '44. So I don't know that her story was accurate.
>> Carlene Tinker: Now, that's an interesting aside. Let's take a second and talk about what she did in Pennsylvania. What-- did she go to school at that point?
>> Diane Honda: OK. So, my uncle, the one who became the JACL president, he went to high school. He finished high school outside of camp. And then she worked in an office and-- as a house girl. They were both house boy and girl for a family in Pennsylvania.
>> Carlene Tinker: OK. OK. And then, how long did they stay there before they came back to California?
>> Diane Honda: They stayed there until the end of the war.
>> Carlene Tinker: OK.
>> Diane Honda: Because they didn't come back to camp ever.
>> Carlene Tinker: OK. OK.
>> Diane Honda: They came back to San Francisco.
>> Carlene Tinker: OK. And also I may interject here, during World War II, when World War II was declared, this Executive Order 9066 was signed by Franklin Delano Roosevelt, our president. And that declared the West Coast as a military zone. And that's why we got sent--They said, OK, by military a necessity, never mentioning Japanese, but intending Japanese that we had to be moved from the West Coast because we were a threat, a potential threat. And so, just like Diane here and myself, we were moved to assembly centers. She went to Merced. I went to Santa Anita.
>> Diane Honda: Well, my parents did.
>> Carlene Tinker: Your parents did.
>> Diane Honda: Yeah.
>> Carlene Tinker: And-- I'm sorry. And then I got sent to Amache, which is one of the 10 relocation camps and that's in South Eastern Colorado. And her parents met in Amache, same camp that I just referred to. So, I just wanted to clarify that. I didn't specify that earlier. Now, your dad was very bitter I think from what you're saying. OK. Now, do you know anything about the loyalty questions number 27 and 28?
>> Diane Honda: Yes, yes.
>> Carlene Tinker: Do you remember what they are?
>> Diane Honda: One was, are you loyal to the emperor of Japan or do you foreswear loyalty? And then the second one was about, would you be willing to serve in the army with-- or in the military to-- against the Japanese, which is kind of an odd question for all but boys in their 20s I think, yes.
>> Carlene Tinker: Right.
>> Diane Honda: But.
>> Carlene Tinker: Yeah, especially, when they were forbidden at the beginning of the war.
>> Diane Honda: Right, right.
>> Carlene Tinker: To be--
>> Diane Honda: Right.
>> Carlene Tinker: -- and that's-- and to serve--
>> Diane Honda: Which I think angered my father more but it didn't anger him to say no. He did answer yes to all the questions. And my parents, my parent-- my-- all my relatives answered yes to all those questions.
>> Carlene Tinker: Is that right?
>> Diane Honda: Yes.
>> Carlene Tinker: Is that right? Yeah, I-- you know, come to think of it. I don't know what my parents, you know. We never talked about it and, unfortunately, both of them are deceased, you know. So I haven't a chance to--
>> Diane Honda: Yeah. We talked about it because there our neighboring father-- neighboring farmer. Mr. Kubo, he had answered no, no. And so, she never explained to me really what that was about. But as a child, I kind of felt like--
>> Carlene Tinker: Yeah.
>> Diane Honda: -- maybe that isn't a good thing. But, I mean, the farmer was always-- Mr. Kubo was always very nice to me and always spent time after I get off the bus telling me stories and talking to me as he was irrigating his land. And so, I never really understood the animosity of that.
>> Carlene Tinker: Right.
>> Diane Honda: Yeah.
>> Carlene Tinker: Yeah. Now, so your mom and dad, I mean, your mom didn't move to the Valley. She moved to Santa Rosa when she came back, right?
>> Diane Honda: Mm-hmm.
>> Carlene Tinker: She and her brother. And then your dad did come back to--
>> Diane Honda: Yes,
>> Carlene Tinker: -- the Yamato Colony and--
>> Diane Honda: Right.
>> Carlene Tinker: -- and Cortez.
>> Diane Honda: Yes.
>> Carlene Tinker: OK.
>> Diane Honda: And he purchased his own farm which was next door to his father's farm.
>> Carlene Tinker: OK.
>> Diane Honda: And then he asked to marry my mother. And so, my mother said OK.
>> Carlene Tinker: How did he do that? Did he write to her for a while?
>> Diane Honda: No, he would go to visit her in Santa Rosa and developed-- Well, he had friends because, you know, from camp that went to-- and that had gone back to Santa Rosa too. And so-- and we, as children, we go visit those friends on our way to Santa Rosa.
>> Carlen Tinker: OK.
>> Diane Honda: And we're always told that that's where he stayed and he would visit. And, you know, this is-- or in the 1940s. So, my grandfather determined that this was a nice enough boy, so she should just marry him. His mother-- his-- her younger sister had married a young man that lived in Los Angeles.
>> Carlene Tinker: OK.
>> Diane Honda: And so, my mother did told me that she felt like she's-- it's time that she should be married, so.
>> Carlene Tinker: So, how old were they when they got married?
>> Diane Honda: I think--
>> Carlene Tinker: What year was that?
>> Diane Honda: OK. That's a challenging question. OK. She must have gotten married in 194-- OK, '54, '48. They must have got married 1947.
>> Carlene Tinker: Forty seven to--
>> Diane Honda: So, that would make my dad near 30 and my mom 28.
>> Carlene Tinker: Oh, 20?
>> Diane Honda: Twenty-eight.
>> Carlene Tinker: Oh, 28.
>> Diane Honda: Yeah.
>> Carlene Tinker: OK, OK.
>> Diane Honda: Yeah.
>> Carlene Tinker: Yeah. So-- and then they had-- your brother, when did he get born?
>> Diane Honda: He was born in '48, the next year.
>> Carlene Tinker: Oh, the next year.
>> Diane Honda: Yeah.>> Carlene Tinker: And then when is your birthday?
>> Diane Honda: In 1954.
>> Carlene Tinker: Nineteen fifty four.
>> Diane Honda: Yeah.
>> Carlene Tinker: And at that point, the Exclusion Act was rescinded and then you're-- one of the relative, somebody, the former son-- first son was able to come over.
>> Diane Honda: Came back. I think in 1951 was the McCarran Act?
>> Carlene Tinker: Yeah.
>> Diane Honda: And that's when the Issei could become citizens and the Exclusion Act was lifted and so my uncle came back and I was there. I would-- I don't remember that. Actually, what happened in 1954, the year I was born, is my father-- my father's mother died before the war. So she didn't go to camp. He was a teenager when she passed. Complications of diabetes, I don't know. I really don't know how she-- but she died pretty young. And her youngest child was only probably seven or eight years old.
>> Carlene Tinker: Wow.
>> Diane Honda: And then her-- my grandfather died the year I was born. And they said that my uncle Eiji came back to see him. And he had diabetes, I know. And so this-- the only reason I know about that story too is my uncle Asaji who is my father's, one of the younger brothers, and my auntie Fuji. My auntie Fuji was carrying me and she was from LA and a fashion designer. She's wearing very probably high stilettos at the funeral. And she was carrying me and I guess stumbled and almost fell into the grave but my uncle grabbed this-- grabbed her and pushed her off to the ground to the side. So the story, for me, is obviously I was a baby, was that my uncle Asaji saved my life and my auntie Fuji risked my life. So it's a funny story.
>> Carlene Tinker: That's a cute story.
>> Diane Honda: Yeah, but that's also how I know that my grandfather passed away at that time.
>> Carlene Tinker: Yeah. So, you basically grew up in Cortez. Is that correct?
>> Diane Honda: Yes, I did.
>> Carlene Tinker: OK.>> Diane Honda: I grew up in Cortez.
>> Carlene Tinker: So what was life like for you, did you help in the fields? Did you do any of that kind of stuff or were you not a-- did you just stay at home and help mom or what was life like then?
>> Diane Honda: You know, I think life there was pretty sheltered and pretty cool. First of all, we grew up, you know, when Hillary Clinton talks about it takes a village, you know. And when I look back, it really was a village of people because those Yamato people that had come back, the farmers that-- I told you already about Mr. Kubo who would tell me stories. There was a Mr. Sugiura who would just come by and take me for rides on his little moped thing that-- around the farms. And so my mom worked at a fabric store. She really only worked there four days a week for a probably about five hours a day but, you know, Monday, Tuesday, and then when-- Thursday, Friday but we felt like she worked all the time. You know, when you think about, it's not all the time. But-- anyway, so she-- because she worked, you know, I would come home from school and I would help like-- I called it pick up sticks but I don't know. It was somehow picking up these twigs that are pruned and then they burn them or they do something with them. I mean, I did stuff but I don't know what they were for. So a lot-- at lot of times they would throw me on the tractor. Really literally I was about six or seven and throw me on the tractor and they just say just steer it. And then-- and it would go real slow and then by the time they finished whatever row, they would jump back on and they would stop it for me. So, you know, it doesn't seem very safe. But anyway--
>> Carlene Tinker: And you were only six years old?
>> Diane Honda: Yeah, I was only six years old and-- But, you know, my mom-- dad I remember-- I remember this one very vividly because he put me on the tractor and he said drive it to your uncle's farm which was-- I was probably old, I was like eight. But I really, you know, I had to-- and I was driving to the farm. So I didn't drive on any roads. So I was driving through the farms and I kind of knew how to get there. But the thing was, is once I got there, I don't really know how to stop the tractor. And so, I thought, hmm, what should I do? Should I just keep driving around or should I and I-- and so I saw this tree and I thought, "Well, if I hit that tree, I wonder if it'll just stop." You know, and it was a pretty big tree and it did. And I was going really slow so it did. And then my father got there he goes, "What are you doing? Just turn off the key." Well, I didn't even know where the key was. And then to stop it, you know, there was this bar on the left side that I don't even know what. I don't think it was a brake but it did slow it down. I would have to actually literally get off the seat and then stand with two feet on it to even get it to kind of close to stopping.
>> Carlene Tinker: Wow.
>> Diane Honda: So, you know, it is amazing that I didn't die or something.
>> Carlene Tinker: Well, what was the crop that your dad was growing at that point?
>> Diane Honda: He grew peaches and walnuts--
>> Carlene Tinker: OK.
>> Diane Honda: -- as I grew up and then he eventually pulled out the peaches and put almonds in that.
>> Carlene Tinker: Yeah, that became the cash crop.
>> Diane Honda: Yeah, yeah. And so for the peaches I helped, they put up props, you know, when the-- it's too much. So I would help drive so that they put-- my brother and my cousin would put the props out. I would help-- oh, I would help in the walnuts by picking up the ones that didn't make it into the rows. I had to pick it up and throw them into the rows. My brother will tell you if he ever sees is that I never did hard labor. I mean, you know, like he was doing props and he was, you know, raking and stuff but my job was to, you know, obviously you can tell and to pick up things, to throw sticks in places and-- But, I mean, it was-- oh, and then to sort peaches in the summer time.
>> Carlene Tinker: Right. Oh, sure.
>> Diane Honda: So--
>> Carlene Tinker: Now did you go to school in Cortez or where was school?
>> Diane Honda: OK. So there were two schools. One was called this Vincent School, just two of them, schoolhouse. So first, second, and third grade I went to Vincent School.
>> Carlene Tinker: OK.
>> Diane Honda: And there were grades one through four in the one class and then five through eight in the other class. And it was, you know, it was a small country school and then my parents felt like they wanted me to go to a big school where they had like one grade per class. And that was Ballico which was just-- it was kind of adjacent. It was a little bit further. For Vincent, I had to walk, I mean, I had to ride a bike to school. So I was, again, six years old riding this bike to school. And my cousins were there but they were all seven and eighth graders. And so I was the only one in my age group and I just remember pedaling, being really far behind and they were way in front of me. But then I always felt like I had a smaller bike. But I also wasn't like super athletic. So maybe if I was this super athletic person, I would just try and go really fast and catch up with them but, anyway. And then once they graduated also I think my parents wanted me somewhere else. And so the school bus for Ballico, for some reason, came to the end of my road. So I could just walk to the end of the road, get on the school bus and go. And also for me, it was a change because Ballico had a music program. So I could play in the band and, you know, and that became an important, actually, to me because I was musically oriented. So--
>> Carlene Tinker: Right, right. Where did you go to high school?
>> Diane Honda: So we went to Livingston High School.
>> Carlene Tinker: Livingston.
>> Diane Honda: And technically, where my brother lives and where my father's farm was, was in the Turlock High School District. But Livingston High School had more Japanese-Americans in it, a lot. I mean, like my class was probably only about 200 kid-- no, I-- less, 150 kids and there were about 20 of us that were Japanese-Americans.
>> Carlene Tinker: OK.
>> Diane Honda: So that's why in many ways I felt like I kind of had an ideal-- because I was very sheltered and I kind of-- I think I grew up with too much self-confidence since that. I thought that Japanese kids were the smartest. And I thought we were, you know, did the best in various things and, you know, and so I just thought that's the group I belonged to.
>> Carlene Tinker: Right.
>> Diane Honda: Yeah.
>> Carlene Tinker: Well, just the opposite, I was always like one or two of a huge class and so I had a different interpretation. So in Cortez, how many people lived in Cortez at that time? And how many live there now?>> Diane Honda: That's a very good question. I mean, if you figure in my class alone in Cortez because that 20 combines Livingston and Cortez. There were eight of-- one to five. Yeah, there were eight of us that were just my age in Cortez. So, you know, and they all had brothers and sisters and the Cortez area was really thriving at that time. So I'm going to guess a couple hundred people, I mean people, maybe 30 families, or something of that sort.
>> Carlene Tinker: Yeah. OK. So now how many you think are there?
>> Diane Honda: Well, it all depends if you consider just Japanese-Americans. Yeah.
>> Carlene Tinker: Everybody, everybody.
>> Diane Honda: Mm-hmm, I'm not really sure.
>> Carlene Tinker: Is it larger?
>> Diane Honda: No, it's not larger because what happened is like, for example, my brother, he farms what was my uncle's ranch and his ranch. And then, you know, so people are not where there was one family per ranch, that one family will have two or three of those ranches.
>> Carlene Tinker: I see. I see.
>> Diane Honda: So there has a--
>> Carlene Tinker: And then he also lives in Livingston, right?
>> Diane Honda: No. My brother lives on my father's farm.
>> Carlene Tinker: Oh he does. OK.
>> Diane Honda: Yeah, yeah.
>> Carlene Tinker: OK.
>> Diane Honda: So-- But-- and he is still involved to the Cortez, of course. And then some of the people there in Cortez have bought three or four or five farms.
>> Carlene Tinker: OK.
>> Diane Honda: So--
>> Carlene Tinker: So, yeah, I could see--
>> Diane Honda: Yeah.>> Carlene Tinker: -- the ratio of people to the number of farms.
>> Diane Honda: Yeah, yeah, a nice place.
>> Carlene Tinker: I see. Getting back to this feeling that you were kind of superior, that's kind of-- that's fascinating. That was sort of insulating and also--
>> Diane Honda: Yes.
>> Carlene Tinker: -- as far as the reaction of other people to you, you didn't really feel any prejudice.
>> Diane Honda: Yeah. Yeah.
>> Carlene Tinker: I'm assuming.
>> Diane Honda: Yeah. Right. The only--
>> Carlene Tinker: Is that true?
>> Diane Honda: Yeah. The only time I remember, our neighbor's uncle would come from San Francisco and he would take us to the local pool. And when we went to the local pool which was in Turlock, I remember we were all-- and there were three-- there were probably seven or eight of us there. But I remember a boy, you know, doing the chin chin China man and, you know, doing his eyes and stuff. And I just thought, why is-- I mean I knew it felt bad. It made me feel bad but I didn't go to school with a majority white population. In fact, the-- where I went to school with a lot of those kids, their parents worked for our parents. Or they were, you know, they were not necessarily-- they were-- if they were farmers, they weren't-- they were equal economically. Whereas in Turlock that was-- I mean it is still a city. I mean, still a kind, you know, a town but I think that there were people that were maybe sons of dentists or doctors or, you know, other kinds of occupations that maybe perhaps felt that they were superior to the farmers.
>> Carlene Tinker: OK, OK.
>> Diane Honda: So that could be an economic superiority as well.
>> Carlene Tinker: Right.
>> Diane Honda: But-- yeah. And that was the only time is when-- you're right, when I left my little insulated area. And by the time I got to high school, like I remember going to honor bands because I play Clarinet but at the same time too, at that point in time, you hold your own place. You know, I am the first clarinet or whatever, right?
>> Carlene Tinker: Yeah, yeah.
>> Diane Honda: And you interact with everybody in that economy so to speak.
>> Carlene Tinker: Right, right.
>> Diane Honda: So--
>> Carlene Tinker: Yeah. I'm thinking right away when you talked about your own kind athletes, you know, black American--
>> Diane Honda: That's right.
>> Carlene Tinker: African-Americans maybe when they're on a team with other blacks, OK. They feel very comfortable but then if they're out in a society where they have to compete in other ways, maybe it's not as comfortable and they experience a lot more racism and so forth. So anyway, getting back to Cortez, when did you--
>> Diane Honda: Yeah, OK. Yeah, that's fine though.
>> Carlene Tinker: All right. OK. We were asking you about your-- leaving Cortez and you went to school. You went to college, OK. Where did you go to school?
>> Diane Honda: I went to UCLA.
>> Carlene Tinker: OK. Why did you go there instead of Berkeley? I remember your brother went to Berkeley.
>> Diane Honda: My brother went to Berkeley. My uncles went to Berkeley. Everybody went to Berkeley. I do have one cousin that went to UCLA for a couple of years and then went to Berkeley. So-- But, you know my aunt had lived in Los Angeles. I felt like I liked the weather there. I felt-- I don't know, I just felt like I'd like the atmosphere there and I am really-- that was a good choice.
>> Carlene Tinker: Yeah.
>> Diane Honda: It was a good choice in one way in that-- it was a good choice in that LA was a place I liked being but as you know that I grew up in a very small insulated place. And when I went to UCLA, it was very, very large. And many times thought to myself, why did I come to this place to be a little fish in this huge pond and where could I make a difference? And my education, at the time I didn't realize it but when I think back to it was really woefully underdone compared to. So my good friend went to a school, suburban school in San Diego. And then I went to Livingston High School and although, you know, it wasn't that it was inferior but, you know, even the things we read were not anywhere close to what the other kids had already been exposed to. So then when they're in college and they're analyzing whatever, I was a sociology major, analyzing whatever they read, they had already read a lot of things that I hardly even knew, so-- And I remember being in discussion groups and as you can tell, I talk a lot. And people are saying, well, you don't talk because you're holding back and don't want to share what your knowledge is, you know, like I was doing something bad. But I literally was not talking because I had nothing to say.
>> Carlene Tinker: All right.
>> Diane Honda: Because I had never been around people that analyzed and talked in that manner because that's not the way the education I had in Livingston was like.
>> Carlene Tinker: Right. So that was a big, big step for you.
>> Diane Honda: Yeah. It was a big step for me although I will say my predecessors like other people from Livingston, they went to Harvard and Yale and Stanford and all kinds of places. So, I mean, it's not like, you know, I was the-- you know, it wasn't that great. But anyway, I'm just saying that it was really quite a shock and--
>> Carlene Tinker: Right.
>> Diane Honda: When I think back, maybe had I gone to a junior college first and then gone on to UCLA. I mean, I was successful there. I finished in four years and I got a teaching grant which also-- You know, it wasn't like I fell out or anything of that sort. But it was just very different. But again, at UCLA, I was insulated with a huge Sansei population.
>> Carlene Tinker: Oh, is that right?
>> Diane Honda: Yes.
>> Carlene Tinker: How was that, Diane?
>> Diane Honda: Well, there was-- well, first of all, there is-- I don't know what it's called. It's a different acronym for UCLA with the University of Caucasians Lost amongst Asians. So there were a lot of Asian people at UCLA. And there was a huge-- well, I thought it was. There was a considerable Japanese-American Sansei population-->> Carlene Tinker: Oh, OK.
>> Diane Honda: To the point where, and this kind of sounds bad now. But in Powell Library, which was their undergrad library, there was a room they called it the Yellow Room. And that's where all the Jap-- specifically Japanese-Americans not Asian. Japanese-Americans would go to study. We had our own bowling league. We had our own bible studies. We had our own, you know, that were just predominantly Japanese-American Sanseis.
>> Carlene Tinker: I'll be darned. Yeah.
>> Diane Honda: So again, I was kind of insulated in that way.
>> Carlene Tinker: Well, how did you find this group? Did you have-- how did you-- did you have friends at UCLA so that they introduced you to these groups or did you just sort of wander in to this Yellow Room or?
>> Diane Honda: That's a good question.
>> Carlene Tinker: How did that happen?
>> Diane Honda: I-- That's a good question. I did not have friends that went to UCLA. I went to UCLA really on my own. There was one Jewish gal from Livingston that was there but I really didn't associate much with her. She was older. I think-- OK. So I became friends with this gal, Janet [Sakai] in-- from Gilroy area. In fact, she lived in a house that was the Japanese exhibit hall for the 1930 World Fair, something like that.
>> Carlene Tinker: Oh my gosh.
>> Diane Honda: And that was her house. And that still exist there in Gilroy and-- But she was very active in YBA and so she had a lot of friends in that YBA and then from that grew other. I mean, there were actually Japanese-American sorority and fraternities also. But it was during the '70s and that was kind of like not cool to be like-- at least in my mind, cool to be part of a fraternity and sorority, you know. My mother's vision of me going to college is wearing dresses and, you know, not high heel shoes but, you know, fancy shoes. But my vision was wearing corduroy pants and t-shirts and a corduroy jacket or some sort of, you know, very-- And my brother had gone to Berkeley and when my brother was at Berkeley you know, he really led the way for the formation of Asian-American classes. And so, by the time I got there, the unrest on campuses was done. It was 197- fall of '72. And so, those classes were established. So I could take the history of Japanese-American internment or the history of, you know, the Filipinos or any. There was a-- not thriving but beginning to thrive Japanese-American.
>> Carlene Tinker: OK.
>> Diane Honda: I mean-- excuse me, Asian-American studies program.
>> Carlene Tinker: Right.
>> Diane Honda: So, I am sure I met people through those--
>> Carlene Tinker: Right.
>> Diane Honda: -- venues as well. And maybe didn't consciously seek out but really gravitated for whatever reason. And I don't feel like I gravitated to that community because I was rejected by another. You know, I just felt-- I guess I just gravitated to that community because when you go back into my history and my daughter will say well, how many people that were not of your ethnicity were you friends with in college? Not a lot. Yeah.
>> Carlene Tinker: Well, you mentioned YBA. What was-- what's that stand for?
>> Diane Honda: The Young Buddhist Association.
>> Carlene Tinker: OK.
>> Diane Honda: It was a--
>> Carlene Tinker: OK, OK.
>> Diane Honda: -- social. I mean, it was part of the Buddhist church but it was also a social group. Also, I had gone to camps, Japanese-American Christian camps as well. So I knew some people actually from those places.
>> Carlene Tinker: OK. OK. So, when you went to UCLA, it doesn't sound like you had any problems dealing with non-Japanese people. And you-- obviously, you have them in your classes.
>> Diane Honda: Yes, yes.
>> Carlene Tinker: And so, you didn't have any feelings of rejection or--
>> Diane Honda: No.
>> Carlene Tinker: -- people or men.
>> Diane Honda: Yeah.
>> Carlene Tinker: So, it was-->> Diane Honda: Yeah. And even when I say that so [inaudible], I mean, I should have been really felt-- I was very humbled in those classes where I didn't feel like I was prepared. But I didn't feel bad or I didn't feel like I was less then. Of course, I don't know if that was humbled means. But anyway, I felt-- I didn't feel like I didn't belong. How is that? I didn't feel like I didn't belong.
>> Carlene Tinker: Right. OK. Yeah.
>> Diane Honda: Because I felt like well, they accepted me, so--
>> Carlene Tinker: Yeah.
>> Diane Honda: I must belong here. And I saw a lot of people from the peripheral but I didn't expect to be part of their-- you know, UCLA is such a big place. I remember my roommate who was Japanese-American from Gardena. So, that's another place where I'd meet a lot of people. We would go before our music class and see Mark Harmon who is a movie star now and/or a TV star now. And he would be-- he was the UCLA quarterback. And he would be really be living and telling his friends about the game and we would watch him and he was so good looking, you know. We just sat and watched him. He was also older. I mean he was-- now that you think back about three years older but I mean, you know, but seemed older. So when I watched them, I didn't think, gosh, I wish I was part of that social set. I just watched him enjoying the fact that he goes to my school and-- But I didn't feel like I couldn't belong. I just felt comfortable. I think that's actually-- I felt comfortable with the social set I was in.
>> Carlene Tinker: Well, that's-- that's fine. Yeah. You answered my question. Now, when did you actually move back to the valley and how did you happen to come back? Why did you-- did you go back to Cortez or did you come to Fresno?
>> Diane Honda: So, one thing when I was an undergraduate at UCLA, I was getting my laundry out of my dryer and a car pulled up. It was a subterranean garage and a man with a ski mask came out with a knife and, you know, tried to pull me into the car and-- But luckily I was born with really loud voice. And I just start screaming. I just-- I remember cowering and just screaming and screaming and screaming. And then he went away. And that experience actually made me want to-- after I graduated from UCLA to go back to Turlock for a little while.
>> Carlene Tinker: Wow.>> Diane Honda: So, I did get my teaching credential at UCLA so that when I went back to Turlock I could-- or to live with my parents in Cortez-- I could get a job pretty easily because the people coming out of schools were graduating from [Stanislaus] State or, you know, I mean, I was a curiosity. Well, she graduated from UCLA. And then there was this gal, Madeline Hunter, who was real big in education at the time and she was a UCLA professor. And although she was never my UCLA professor, it opened the door. So, I got a job in Modesto at a junior high school there. And I moved back home for three years.
>> Carlene Tinker: OK.
>> Diane Honda: And then, after three years of living at home, my father, I think got tired of me or something. He said, I think you need to go back to LA and start your life. So, I mean, when I think back now that I have children-- a child that's older than that, you know, when you graduate at 21 or 2, you are pretty young and I did. It was kind of scary what had happened to me. So I did kind of want to just go back to my little cocoon for a little while. And then my dad at the age of 25, I guess, I was at that point says, you know, go away again. He's not really go away. So, I went back to LA and started teaching in Los Angeles.
>> Carlene Tinker: OK. And then, is that when you married and found your husband?
>> Diane Honda: Yes. I met my husband. He was-- he had also come to Los Angeles. He came from by way of Monterey to Fresno State as his college of choice and then to LA where he had a jazz band. But he-- and eventually, he what-- he wanted to get his master's degree so he could teach college at USC.
>> Carlene Tinker: OK.
>> Diane Honda: So, I met him when he was substitute teaching. And so-- So I guess it's good thing he sent me off because I met him fairly quickly after I got sent off. And then, and we established a life there for probably about 12 years or so before we came to Fresno. And coming to Fresno, going back to the valley really did have to do with wanting to be closer to my parents. I had a child by that point. And I felt like we both did not grow up in LA and we have this feeling that bringing up a child in LA meant that that child was going to have to be street smart very early. And we wanted her to be a little bit not that way because we weren't that way. And so-- and our friend of Larry's that he went to college with here said, you know, I have a great position. Buchanan High School is just opening up. So that junior high director is moving to the high school, come interview at Alta Sierra. And, you know, we had taught in Los Angeles. And in Los Angeles, you know, the schools really ran on bare minimums, I mean, bare minimums. And when I came here to Fresno, he accepted the job at Alta Sierra and then I went to Bullard and my-- and where I met you. And-- but my first day at Bullard or actually maybe school hadn't even started yet. But I realized that they had shop classes and clubs. And I just started to cry because I said, you know, those kids I taught in LA, they deserve to go to a school like this. But they didn't get that.
>> Carlene Tinker: Yeah.
>> Diane Honda: And, anyway, so-- and then I taught at Bullard for 22 years or so.
>> Carlene Tinker: Yeah. So, I understand you recently retired, is that correct?
>> Diane Honda: Mm-hmm.
>> Carlene Tinker: Yeah, yeah. Well, that's a good transition. I mean, what do you do now?
>> Diane Honda: OK. So, well, I do want to double back and say that it was a good thing to raise our child here in Fresno. She went to Clovis West High School and Clovis West High School is a very integrated school. I mean, not necessarily economically but it is a little economically, but more racially.
>> Carlene Tinker: Right.
>> Diane Honda: There's a lot. It's so-- She, in some ways, didn't grow up exactly the way I did. But she grew up in that kind of atmosphere.
>> Carlene Tinker: Right.
>> Diane Honda: And a little bit naïve to the world but not as much as me.
>> Carlene Tinker: Right.
>> Diane Honda: And I think had a pretty good education going into college.
>> Carlene Tinker: Right.
>> Diane Honda: So-->> Carlene Tinker: Now, so she would be the fourth generation, Yonsei. Now, did she have much interaction with your parents when they were alive?
>> Diane Honda: You know what, she really didn't because they died. She was six when my mom died and eight when my dad passed away. And so, by the time my mom passed away, my dad was kind of sickly and so, there wasn't a lot of interactions. So, no, she really didn't have a whole lot of interaction with older people.
>> Carlene Tinker: Yeah. So, your story is going to be very important to her when she sees this, right, this interview?
>> Diane Honda: We'll see. And, by the way, she-- my husband is a-- Yonsei because her-- his father is a Sansei and his grandmother is a Nisei.
>> Carlene Tinker: I'll be darned.
>> Diane Honda: So, she's kind of sort of a little bit Gosei.
>> Carlene Tinker: Yeah. Oh, she's half and half.
>> Diane Honda: A little bit Gosei. Yeah.
>> Carlene Tinker: So what I'm understanding, Diane, you grew up in a very small community. Didn't really experience any racism because you were insulated, you were the dominant group to say this-- to say the least. And then, when you got to college, you were protected in another way because you joined organizations that were principally of your own group. OK. So, it sounds like you've been kind of I think protected?
>> Diane Honda: Mm-hmm. In many ways all the way--
>> Carlene Tinker: Yeah.
>> Diane Honda: All the way through and even in LA Unified.
>> Carlene Tinker: Yeah.
>> Diane Honda: There was quite a strong Japanese-American. And actually, when it wasn't was once I got to Bullard.
>> Carlene Tinker: Yeah, yeah.
>> Diane Honda: You know.
>> Carlene Tinker: Well. And when you were at Bullard, I didn't see any problems with, you know, dealing with the dominant group if you want to call the Caucasians the dominant.>> Diane Honda: Yeah, right. Well. And I was 40 by then too. So, I mean, you know, you kind of have an established life that you bring with, you know. And I have been a teacher for a long time. I do know that when I first-- what I felt at Bullard actually was that they treated me like I was a young teacher. So, you know, they knew I was newly hired but I was actually almost 40, I'd actually started teaching since I was 22 since I had almost 20 years. But I remember being in a conference and them saying something like well, you know, I knew you're a young teacher. I felt-- I'm going--
>> Carlene Tinker: Well, thanks for the compliment.
>> Diane Honda: I haven't-- and the other thing is because I found in Fresno, many women raise children and then came back to teaching. So, they might be 40 but they might have just started teaching five years previously.
>> Carlene Tinker: Right. Absolutely.
>> Diane Honda: So, as opposed to my career, it wasn't like that, so.
>> Carlene Tinker: Right. Now, in-- looking at your own background and your own history, are you really concerned or not concerned? But are you interested in finding out about your background, about your grandparents? Do you ever go back to Japan? Do you go to Amache, the relocation camp where your mom and dad met?
>> Diane Honda: OK. So, you know, my brother is awakening of this is what our history of us about. It was actually pretty important to me in the sense that I was about 12 or 13 when that happened. And as much as I probably-- you know, I mean, I really do look up to my big brother probably since birth. And everything he did and even though he-- my parents weren't necessarily really happy with him when he suddenly grew his hair long and went protesting and those kinds of things. And I didn't necessarily say, oh, my gosh, I want to do that myself because I saw the grief that it brought into the family. But I did glean the importance of what he was doing. So, that made me actually very interested and aware. So, throughout college, I did do papers regarding Japanese-Americans and then this woman Helen [Yuge] who was a friend from church who was probably in her 60s but I really thought she was very old when I was in my 20s. She had cancer. She had terminal cancer. And when she was, you know, among the last times I visited her, she said, you know, Diane, don't let anyone forget our story. Don't let anyone forget the story of how we struggled to make it in America, how we got put in camps, how we struggled and, you know, what happened to us. And so, that-- those words have always rung through. So, there's a couple of things that I did in my earlier year. So, when I was in-- when I was teaching at-- in LA, I was the yearbook teacher. And so, while I was the yearbook teacher, one of my-- one good who-- person who became my good friend, [Konnie] Chrislock she said, I showed her this yearbook when my father-in-law had passed away that was from Manzanar. And but the thing about this Manzanar yearbook, not only was it a yearbook of an internment camp but it was also the pictures were done by Ansel Adams. He's the famous black-and-white photographer.
>> Carlene Tinker: Right.
>> Diane Honda: So, she saw that and then she got bigger picture and said, you know, Diane, you should work on reproducing this. If you can get the money to reproduce this or put kind of some seed money, she goes, I can get Herff Jones, the yearbook company, to buy in and maybe get us to reproduce this and distribute this in some way. So I said, OK. And it happened to be that that was right after redress had-- they have all the checks had been issued and it was about five or six years later and the Civil Liberties grants for teachers were coming out. So, I applied for a grant for I think, it was almost $40,000.
>> Carlene Tinker: Wow.
>> Diane Honda: And to reproduce these yearbooks and I got it.
>> Carlene Tinker: Wow.
>> Diane Honda: And so--
>> Carlene Tinker: Yeah, you have it--
>> Diane Honda: I brought it.
>> Carlene Tinker: -- with you?
>> Diane Honda: Yeah.
>> Carlene Tinker: Yeah.
>> Diane Honda: So this is the reproduced copy which my friend and I worked on. And so, the original copy was cardboard. So, one really odd thing is that this font is called ribbon. And we had-- and this was put together in 1990s. And I had hired my yearbook editor from Bullard to come help me to put this together. It was the year that Princess Diana passed away. So, whatever year that was. And we were looking a computer to find a font that looked like this font. And nowadays, you can just go on internet, you can find anything. But in those old days, all I had was my computer and then he was working upstairs in what was our office at the time. And he said, "Ms. Honda, come up here, come here." And he found the exact font. The exact font that was on the original book was on my computer and that's weird. But anyway, so this is recreated. We took a picture. And again-- and we didn't have the idea of using a computer where you can use your phone and take the picture. I mean, it was the process of doing this was taking a picture, digitalizing the picture, keep putting it into-- And then that's what they did even with each of the pages in here were all-- there were done with real photographs.
>> Carlene Tinker: Right.
>> Diane Honda: So, Toyo Miyatake's son, Archie, was still young at the-- younger at the time. And he had a lot of these pictures in a file.
>> Carlene Tinker: Wow.
>> Diane Honda: So, he printed these pictures out for me and we were able to reproduce--
>> Carlene Tinker: Oh, my god.
>> Diane Honda: -- the book from original pictures and then Herff Jones actually took-- I mean, if we were to do this now, it would be so much easier because you could even just PDF the pages, enhance them. But the way this was done was really in an old fashioned manner. And so, all-- we recreated all the type, all of the type we reprinted it and retyped it all and-- But it all looks authentic to the original because we found this font.
>> Carlene Tinker: Isn't that amazing?
>> Diane Honda: So--
>> Carlene Tinker: That's so impressive.
>> Diane Honda: Yeah. So, it was very amazing. And then what I did too with the grant money was I-- OK. We're on. So, then the section here, I was able-- I had a meeting and was able to meet with all of the editors that were originally from this book. And they had all tested out of real English or whatever and so got to work on this book. And, you know, they talked about yearbook the way kids talk about yearbook, it was their club. They would stay late. They would, you know, and so I-- I had the picture of when they were in high school and then this is their picture at that point in time, was current. And this particular man, Reggie Shikami is the father of Debbie Ikeda who was the president of the Clovis Community College. So--
>> Carlene Tinker: Oh, my goodness.
>> Diane Honda: So, there's a valley tie in. Yeah. And then the other thing is of all of these, I think there were 14 editors or 14 people. There was only one person who had passed away, at this point, even though it was a lot later. And then, there's a great story about Ralph Lazo who went to camp just because his friends did. But he was actually Mexican and-- Mexican and Irish. And they didn't really discover he wasn't-- he wasn't Asian until he volunteered to go to the army. And so, anyway. And then like I said in here, there are many-- this Helen Bannai, she was the wife of an assemblyman, I mean.
>> Carlene Tinker: Wow.
>> Diane Honda: They became very, very successful kinds of people.
>> Carlene Tinker: Yeah.
>>Diane Honda: And then I did an article on Toyo Miyatake, a background about the camp itself. And then this is the redress letter that made it all possible that was signed by--
>> Carlene Tinker: Awesome.
>> Diane Honda: -- George Bush actually.
>> Carlene Tinker: Oh, my goodness.
>> Diane Honda: This was signed by George Bush which, by the way, today is his funeral.
>> Carlene Tinker: How timely, huh.
>> Diane Honda: Yeah. Today is his funeral.
>> Carlene Tinker: Yeah, coincidentally.
>> Diane Honda: And then I just told a little story about how I came to do this here.
>> Carlene Tinker: Yeah.
>> Diane Honda: And so, it's now been 20 years ago since I published this book.
>> Carlene Tinker: Right.>> Diane Honda: Herff Jones did make good on their offer and they distributed this around the nation, as well as I myself sold probably about 5000 copies just to people who-- I mean, for a while these boxes were my living room furniture. I just stacked them up like a sofa and put a blanket over it.
>> Carlene Tinker: Yeah.
>> Diane Honda: Anyway. And so, I know that these books are out. They're out of publication now but if anybody wants to see it, they can get a PDF of it on, you know. In fact, they have PDFs of all the high school yearbooks. And, it's either in Densho or one of those.
>> Carlene Tinker: Oh, OK.
>> Diane Honda: Yeah.
>> Carlene Tinker: The Densho is the organization up in Seattle, right?
>> Diane Honda: Oh, OK. Yeah.
>> Carlene Tinker: Is the collection of these materials--
>> Diane Honda: Yeah, online.
>> Carlene Tinker: Yeah, online, yeah.
>> Diane Honda: Yeah.
>> Carlene Tinker: How about that other one? What is the other album that you're on?
>> Diane Honda: OK. This is a personal book because actually you were the one that told me about going to Amache and participating in a dig. And so, you lived there for a week and then you-- you know, you get to experience. I mean, for me, I just want to experience, well, what would it be like to live there for a week? What was the weather like? What was-- I mean and-- and then my nephew-- Well, actually it's my cousin's son. I didn't know I come from a big family. There were six. And, all those six people that survived, they all had multiple amounts of children and grandchildren. And this is the grand-- great grandson.
>> Diane Honda: Great grandson…Yeah, the great grandson of my father's oldest sister. And he was the only one that would go with me. I asked this big family party and he just said, oh, I'll go with you Auntie Diane, well, OK. So he was 17 at the time. He’s a Boy Scout. And so, he had-- you know, there was the Boy Scout thing that they have there and he participated in that. He's young so when they needed to whack bushes apart, you know, he could whack bushes apart. I mean, you know, right because there were things I did not do. And he used the GPS monitor, you know, to find things that were underneath or actually GPS was to locate things and then put it back there. And then, so, if they wanted to find it again they'll get GPS and then find it. And then that underground, whatever--
>> Carlene Tinker: The ground penetration radar.
>> Diane Honda: Ground penetration radar that they could use to-- so, anyway, so I took pictures of the surveying it. I think this is the ground penetration radar. And it was just really a great experience. And then this was the people-- I think what the greatest experience and part of this is, is when you look at these people, these are-- yeah. There we go. We're on.
>> Carlene Tinker: What happens when I do that?
>> Diane Honda: It just blinks red.
>> Carlene Tinker: OK.
>> Diane Honda: So I know we're on.
>> Carlene Tinker: OK. All right. Diane, I have really enjoyed talking to you and hearing your story. So, let's talk about-- let's summarize your experiences in your story about being a resident of the San Joaquin Valley and also as a Japanese-American. Has it been a good one? Would you have liked to do things differently? Just what have you-- what do you feel?
>> Diane Honda: Well, I always thought the San Joaquin Valley was a place, especially Cortez where I grew up, was a place where they said only jackrabbits, you know. And it was dusty. And that the Japanese actually came to make it better. I guess it kind of goes along with how we make things better, but anyway. So I felt like the San Joaquin Valley was my home and that my grandparents were the ones that helped to make the San Joaquin Valley as, you know, what it is and the agriculture. So, I've always owned the San Joaquin Valley as my home. My father would grow things and enter it in the county-- Merced County and in state fairs. And again, I didn't feel like he was boxed out of that because he was not Caucasian, you know, I felt. So, I actually really-- and very honestly and not to be political, but I've never really felt boxed out of the American society until now with the current president we have. So, that's just my feeling about that.
>> Carlene Tinker: Yeah.>> Diane Honda: But it's-- I think for me in the San Joaquin Valley is what's definitely the place that-- I mean, now my--
>> Carlene Tinker: Diane, I-- let me backtrack a little bit. Let me get a little bit of your occupation-- description of your occupation. How you were trained for becoming a teacher and how you met your husband.
>> Diane Honda: Oh, OK. So, I went to UCLA from-- I grew up, of course, in Cortez in Livingston High school. And then from there, I went to UCLA. And at UCLA, that was a really wonderful experience as-- in that UCLA was probably twice the size of the hometown of Turlock. And just being a little fish in the big pond was really a good experience for me as opposed to being a daunting experience. I mean, there were things and I did realize a few things too which is my rural education was much different than the kids that grew up in the suburbs, even the kinds of books they read and the things they did. We had a much more humble or a less rigorous, I guess, education. But-- So, I went to UCLA and while I was at UCLA, they had a program where you could get your teaching credential with your bachelors.
>> Carlene Tinker: OK.
>> Diane Honda: So, I was--
>> Carlene Tinker: What kind of credential did you get?
>> Diane Honda: So, I was a sociology major and because I did it my senior year, I was able to get a standard secondary and a standard elementary.
>> Carlene Tinker: OK.
>> Diane Honda: Whereas, the people that did it the year appropriately that I should do it the year after I graduate, got Ryan single subjects. And so, the standard credentials allowed me to, actually, after five years get life credentials without any kind of special classes to take renewal. So, that ended being a really good decision from the very beginning.
>> Carlene Tinker: Right. What year was that?
>> Diane Honda: That was in 1976.
>> Carlene Tinker: Nineteen seventy-six. Well, just to give you an idea of how old I am, I have a general secondary--
>> Diane Honda: Which is the better.
>> Carlene Tinker: Well. It's really funny because when I was working in Fresno Unified, they gave a list of people who had general secondaries and I got this in 1961, I think. There were like about 15 of us in the whole district. And theoretically, that allowed us to if we had to teach calculus.
>> Diane Honda: Yeah. You could teach anything you want. Yeah. So, the general was even better than the standard. But the standard is better than the Ryan. And so--
>> Carlene Tinker: Oh, OK. I didn't realize that.
>> Diane Honda: Yeah. And then of course, I don't know what they have now. But, now I know they have to get their credentials renewed a lot.
>> Carlene Tinker: Oh, do they?
>> Diane Honda: Yeah. And they have to take classes--
>> Carlene Tinker: Wow.
>> Diane Honda: -- and all the way through.
>> Carlene Tinker: Wow.
>> Diane Honda: Yeah. So I got-- So, I-- after I graduated from UCLA, I decided-- I was about 22 at the time to move back to Turlock.
>> Carlene Tinker: OK.
>> Diane Honda: So I moved back, because I thought my parents were really old but they probably were only like 60 or something like that. Anyway, so I moved back to Turlock and taught in Modesto for three years. And which was actually a really good thing and my UCLA credential opened a lot of doors for me in that area because most of the people had gone to San Jose State or maybe a random Fresno State or Sacramento State but no one had gone to UCLA. And UCLA had this guru Madeline Hunter at the time that was kind of like the name in education, so everyone wanted to interview me. So I got a number of interviews and I was actually hired in a district in Modesto. Then actually traditionally when I look back at it, it is a pretty-- -- non-desegregated or pretty-- most of the kids were white.
>> Carlene Tinker: OK.
>> Diane Honda: And they were-- And-- But they were white and they were the lower economic status.
>> Carlene Tinker: OK.>> Diane Honda: And most all the teachers were not necessary. But then most of the teachers were white as well with a few Hispanics [inaudible]. I was the only Asian teacher--
>> Carlene Tinker: Uh-huh. Did that present a--
>> Diane Honda: -- in the whole district.
>> Carlene Tinker: Did that present any problems?
>> Diane Honda: You know, I don't think it presented-- Yeah, I don't think it presented any problems because it was not just being Asian but I was also a little progressive left because I went to UCLA. And that probably presented more problems than being Asian, so--
>> Carlene Tinker: In what way? I'm not sure I understand.
>> Diane Honda: Well, because I think they were very conservative right, meaning--
>> Carlene Tinker: Oh, I see what you're saying.
>> Diane Honda: -- area.
>> Carlene Tinker: Right.
>> Diane Honda: And so my ideas of-- well, I remember specifically there was a library bulletin board that featured children all around the nation and, you know, so the Asian one had very slant eyes and you know, and I found that offensive. So I said I found that offensive and they took it down. But I'm not really sure that they understood.
>> Carlene Tinker: Right. Was this a really rural school?
>> Diane Honda: Its pretty rural. In fact--
>> Carlene Tinker: Yeah.
>> Diane Honda: -- it's no longer even. When I-- When my husband told me about it about two, three years ago and it's boarded up, so it's not used anymore even though it was a fairly new school when--
>> Carlene Tinker: At the time.
>> Diane Honda: -- when I got there but I don't know if the population shifts or what happened because I didn't follow that.
>> Carlene Tinker: What was the name of the high school?>> Diane Honda: It was called-- It's a middle school. It was called Empire Senior Elementary. So anyway-- So-- But from there, my dad told me that I can't just follow them around to the bazaars and not go anywhere. Because teaching really was all encompassing, the first three years I went nowhere, except the classroom and home and I just prepared and worked and that's all I did. And so he said, "You need to go back to Los Angeles and like have a life." But-- So I just said, "OK."
>> Carlene Tinker: Yeah.
>> Diane Honda: I mean, it was-- and in those days in LA Unified, all you needed to do was apply to LA Unified. You took their test and then they hired you and-- But they didn't hire you for any specific school, they just hired you. And at that time when they hired me, it was during the time when they were trying to desegregate the teachers. So most of the minority teachers who live say in the LA Basin, so Asian, black and Hispanic, they placed them in the San Fernando Valley.
>> Carlene Tinker: Is that so?
>> Diane Honda: And most of the San Fernando Valley teachers who were Caucasian or white, they had them going into the basin.
>> Carlene Tinker: Oh.
>> Diane Honda: And as well as they had forced busing at that time too for the students. So I felt like it-- that when school started, the teachers clogged the freeways both ways going to where they don't live near. And that was actually one of the first times that I really experienced that this is what happens because you're this race.
>> Carlene Tinker: Right.
>> Diane Honda: So, you're this race, so you can't teach in West LA or, you know, Marina Del Rey which is the area I lived in, an area my-- that was traditionally actually Japanese-American and so was West LA. I actually wanted to teach in that area but they wanted white teachers to teach there, so.
>> Carlene Tinker: Well, was that sort of the undertone or?
>> Diane Honda: No, it was blatant.
>> Carlene Tinker: Was it wasn't?
>> Diane Honda: Yes, it wasn't--
>> Carlene Tinker: I'll be darned.>> Diane Honda: Yeah, it was blatant. So, it was so blatant that when I was hired in the San Fernando Valley, so originally, so you're just placed. So I was placed in the San Fernando Valley deep in Chatsworth at a school. But they actually didn't have an opening. They just had nowhere to put us. So I was placed there and I was with another teacher who was a veteran teacher probably easily within 10 years of retirement who was placed there too. And we just cleaned rooms for about two weeks. And she said, "You know, Diane, you should really enjoy this because this is really easy compared to being in the classroom." And I thought "Oh, I want to teach, what is she talking about?" But anyway, so then I finally got hired at a magnet school. And the magnet schools also were created so that parents would have a choice but it was really created for integration. So it was really created for the kids that were a minority to in the valley to come out to-- I mean, excuse me, in the basin to come out to the valley.
>> Carlene Tinker: OK. What year was that?
>> Diane Honda: So-- And that was in 19-- I mean 1979 or 1980.
>> Carlene Tinker: Yeah, OK. Was that happening here in Fresno? I think that maybe now that's a little bit before what happened here--
>> Diane Honda: Yeah.
>> Carlene Tinker: -- in Fresno. What school were you at? What was the name of the school?
>> Diane Honda: So I was at Sherman Oaks Center for Enriched Studies.
>> Carlene Tinker: What was that?
>> Diane Honda: Sherman Oaks Center for Enriched Studies and--
>> Carlene Tinker: OK.
>> Diane Honda: -- it was a magnet.
>> Carlene Tinker: OK.
>> Diane Honda: And the-- when I just talked about extreme prejudice when I walked in the classroom and to the office, my name at the time was Yotsuya and the principal who was kind of cantankerous and actually infamous for being a bit cantankerous. He just looked at me, he says, "OK, so I can't pronounce your name and you're obviously not white so you're hired."
>> Carlene Tinker: Oh, my goodness.>> Diane Honda: So that was the most--
>> Carlene Tinker: Oh my--
>> Diane Honda: But, you know, I have to be honest, I didn't feel bad because I wanted to be placed in an-- in a school and my friend taught at the school and she was the one that recommended me to interview at the school or recommended me to the principal and she had just been hired as well. And eventually there was me, Ms. Yotsuya, and then there was my friend Janet, Ms. Yasuda. So that was a little bit difficult for the kids too, but--
>> Carlene Tinker: Well, it sounds like you made out well.
>> Diane Honda: Yeah, yeah. No, I enjoyed being in that school. He also-- I was just-- He was actually a pragmatic guy in the sense that he said, "OK, so I need you here to be an art teacher for the fourth, fifth and sixth graders." And I said, "Well, first of all, I wasn't really very good in art. I never got anything on the bulletin board and I teach music and I can teach English and social science." And so then he said, "OK, listen, you can sub, you know, as a legitimate teacher, you can still sub as--" because I was already hired, right? "So you can sub all over the LA Basin which covers a 250-mile radius or diameter." He goes, "Or you could work here and I'll give you this folder and you could figure out how to teach art."
>> Carlene Tinker: So what did you do?
>> Diane Honda: So then I said, "OK, I'll figure it out." I mean, I was like 25, you know, and so I said, "Yeah, I'll figure it out." So I started out teaching art and then it be-- it was an art and then-- and they decided, you know what, since you do music, why don't you do art and music? And it was an enrichment kind of class for fourth, fifth and sixth graders. And so that's where I started out but then I ended up actually teaching English and then I did the choirs. I've got four, or five choirs. And I actually did yearbook there too and started the school newspaper.
>> Carlene Tinker: Now, had-- Your musical background, is it in choir or do you play an instrument?
>> Diane Honda: OK. So, I-- yeah, I started out at UCLA as a piano, in-- well, actually I got into UCLA as an undeclared major.
>> Carlene Tinker: OK.>> Diane Honda: Because I didn't meet the music theory requirements to be a music major because they didn't have those kinds of classes in my school. So I went there but then to be-- and then that was another, a little fish-- big pond is. You know, I was a really good pianist in Livingston. But compared to the people that were trained in Los Angeles, you know, I was not good at all. And so that coupled with deciding whether I wanted to spend these hours and whether I really love this or if I wanted to explore something else. And what I really want to explore was journalism because I did like journalism. I was exposed to it a little in high school not necessarily a great program. But I wanted to see what it was like at UCLA. And at UCLA, I was not behind. My stuff was published by-- You know, I had a lot of success in journalism, so I left the music behind but I did take while I was there enough piano classes, voice classes and choral education classes to be able to qualify to have a credential in music and social science and English.
>> Carlene Tinker: My gosh.
>> Diane Honda: So that worked out very good.
>> Carlene Tinker: Yeah. You've got them all-- all the basics.
>> Diane Honda: Yeah, because at UCLA they were very interested in us being employable. So they said, "You're not going to be employable if you just put music on there or social-- I was a sociology major so, you know, they don't even teach sociology in--
>> Carlene Tinker: Yeah.
>> Diane Honda: -- high schools, right? So they said you need to make sure that you have this-- you know, certain history classes and certain English classes so that you can teach all of those things and then they-- with the English-- with the single-- not single subject but with the standard credential. The requirements to get expertise in that were less. So that was also good that I got a single subject.
>> Carlene Tinker: Wow. Wow.
>> Diane Honda: So, yeah. So I ended up-- Yeah. So mainly at Sherman Oaks Center for Enriched Studies which I stayed there for about 15 years and that's when I met Larry, he was a--
>> Carlene Tinker: OK. And Larry is your husband?
>> Diane Honda: Yeah. And he was a substitute teacher.
>> Carlene Tinker: He was.>> Diane Honda: Yeah. And he came from Fresno State. He grew up in Seaside but he came here to Fresno State because he likes hot weather.
>> Carlene Tinker: Oh my gosh.
>> Diane Honda: Right. Seaside is my Monterey, right?
>> Carlene Tinker: Yeah, right.
>> Diane Honda: So he said, in Monterey you have to wear jackets all year round and he just didn't like that and he really liked the fact that in Fresno you can wear shorts and you could go swimming.
>> Carlene Tinker: I need to talk to him about that.
>> Diane Honda: And how-- Yeah. And so he moved to Fresno and he was in the music department here. And then from here went to Los Angeles with a jazz group and eventually got his master's degree at USC.
>> Carlene Tinker: OK.
>> Diane Honda: So-- But when he was just first moved in order to make money, he also had a teaching credential. And so he substitute taught. And my girlfriend, she really wanted to get married. I mean she really wanted to get married. So every Japanese-American guy that walked in the doors practically, even if she sees this she'll laugh. She was wanting to know who he was. And so when she met Larry she said, "You know, this guy’s into music and he, you know, so he's more your type." So she introduced me to him and I just said, "Oh, my gosh, Jen, you're just crazy." But anyway, in the long run about three years later, we were married--to him.
>> Carlene Tinker: Yeah. And so then, how long did you guys live in LA and when did you move to Fresno?
>> Diane Honda: So we lived in LA for about, I’d say about 12 years. So we got married and he went to USC and so we've been in the Marina Del Rey area. Then his parents gave us money to put a deposit on a condo in West LA.
>> Carlene Tinker: Oh wow.
>> Diane Honda: And so we purchased that and then he got a job in the San Fernando Valley. So we not only integrated it, we moved to the San Fernando Valley and Woodland Hills.
>> Carlene Tinker: OK.>> Diane Honda: So, because of the West LA real estate, we were able to take that, sell it and buy a nice house in Woodland Hills.
>> Carlene Tinker: Right, so--
>> Diane Honda: So anyway, so we were in Woodland Hills. And then it came to a point where we needed to decide with-- we had a child, Marissa, and we only had one child but we didn't know that at the time we would only have one. Whether we wanted to bring her up in Los Angeles, and we were very familiar with what LA kids were like or if we wanted to get her back into the San-- into the San Joaquin Valley. My parents were alive at the time. I have a lot of family in Turlock. I just thought it would be really nice to go to Turlock, so-- But, you know, music jobs, there's not a lot of music jobs, so usually, you know, Turlock has one high school and they have one music person and they were still.
>> Carlene Tinker: Yeah.
>> Diane Honda: So he had friends in Fresno and the new Buchanan was just opening. And so the middle school guy was going to the high school. So the middle school is open. So Larry interviewed for that and got that job.
>> Carlene Tinker: OK.
>> Diane Honda: Which ended up being, you know, of course very good because Turlock is sort-- I mean Turlock is very small and LA, of course, is very large but Fresno was a really good choice in the middle--
>> Carlene Tinker: Right.
>> Diane Honda: -- kind of choice.
>> Carlene Tinker: Right.
>> Diane Honda: And a lot of opportunities for my daughter as she grew up here in Fresno that they would not have had in Turlock.
>> Carlene Tinker: Right. OK. So he gets this job in Fresno, what did you-- what kind of job did you get in Fresno?
>> Diane Honda: Well, so then I entered in-- at this point in time I have had about four-- maybe more-- maybe about 16 years of teaching experience. And so I interviewed-- I registered at Fresno Unified and I interviewed at Fresno High School. And it was interesting because we rented a house in Clovis and so when they did my interview they said, "Where do you live?" I said, "Well, we live in Clovis." And then he goes, "Well, you have no idea what the kids at Fresno High School would be like then." Even though I had taught in LA and those school kids were busted from all over in Los Angeles. And I had a very good idea what--
>> Carlene Tinker: Of course.
>> Diane Honda: -- kids of--
>> Carlene Tinker: Yeah.
>> Diane Honda: -- color and kids of poverty and all of those but-- And so they said no, you know, so I didn't get that job. So then I went to Hoover and interviewed but they said Hoover was a little bit of a setup because some-- a district supervisor was actually going to take that job but they had to interview other people to prove that they wanted her. So anyway, so I was the other people. So anyway, so I went there and, you know, I didn't get that job. And so my husband was good friends with Les Nunes who was the band director at Bullard.
>> Carlene Tinker: Oh yes, I remembered him.
>> Diane Honda: And so he said that they-- he said, you know, "We need a choir director because I'm doing the choir and I can't do the choir and everything and my band program is big and--" So Robert Knapp who was the English Department chair, I really thank him a lot because, you know, he took the chance on someone who had never taught high school English and-- But hired me because I could do one period of choir for Bullard and-- but-- and four periods of English. And at that point in time the newspaper position at Bullard wasn't open. And at that point in time, I didn't even really have time to read, so it was a good thing, at least fiction. You know, and that's what English was at that point in time was teaching fiction. And so, I, you know, give him-- I thank him a lot for that. So from there, you know, my position at Bullard I was there 21 years and it evolved to be the newspaper and yearbook opened up. And so in eventuality I did newspaper. And then at the end of my career, I also did the yearbook and the newspaper. And then I did the choir when Fresno Unified decided to fire all their music teachers. And so Tim Belcher, the principal came to me and said "Would you like to do the choir?" And I said, "Well, actually not." And the reason I moved away from music is because my daughter was now old enough to take lessons and I need-- I needed the afternoon times instead of doing extra rehearsals or going on trips of the choir. I wanted to spend that with my daughter and so teaching English actually fit in better.>> Carlene Tinker: Yeah.
>> Diane Honda: And so he said-- he says, "No." He goes, "Listen, we fired all the music teachers in Fresno Unified. So, you have a music credential, you have some that you have experience," because I did that in LA. And so he says, "So, put it to you this way, I want them to come in to your class. I want them to sing every day. They don't have to go to festival. They don't have to travel. They don't have to do anything. All they have to do is go in in there and sing. And if you don't want to do that, then we're not having any music at Bullard at all." So then I said, "OK, I would do that." But I called myself the interim choir director. But I was the interim choir director for five years. So-- And then they hired a band director that needed another band director so they took over the choir. But anyway, but it was a wonderful experience being at Bullard High School. I met you at Bullard High School. And the students there were actually unlike any of the other student populations I had taught. They were mostly at that point in time mostly upper class white students.
>> Carlene Tinker: Right. Right. And, yes, we did meet there and because of you, my interest in-- or your parents' internment camp and my own internment camp which happens to be Amache. Because of you and your experience with Amache, that's how I got started in learning about my own history.
>> Diane Honda: Yeah.
>> Carlene Tinker: I have that to thank you. What year did you first enter Bullard and you just recently retired?
>> Diane Honda: Yeah, I retired in 2015. And so I started Bullard probably in 1994 or something like that--
>> Carlene Tinker: Yeah.
>> Diane Honda: -- somewhere in that--
>> Carlene Tinker: Yeah.
>> Diane Honda: -- time period.
>> Carlene Tinker: Right. And I was there twice, 1986 to '93 and then I came back 2000 to 2003, something like that.
>> Diane Honda: Yeah. And then your daughter continued.
>> Carlene Tinker: Yeah. And my daughter still teaches there. Now, I'm not sure how this fits in--
>> Diane Honda: Oh, sure I could talk about this.>> Carlene Tinker: Yeah. I want you to share with the viewers here the work that you've done as a journalist and then also as a descendant of Amache people and then also with your uncle. So let's first start with the-- your book.
>> Diane Honda: OK. So when I was in Los Angeles, I did the yearbook and my-- and I did the yearbook. I did probably at least 10 years of yearbooks. And my yearbook rep-- was a gal named [Konnie] Chrislock who became actually a very good lifelong friend. We're still seeing each other. And I was telling her about how my father-in-law had recently passed away. And so that was probably-- or in the early 1990s. But he had left this yearbook or he had this yearbook. And my mother-in-law said, "You're the yearbook teacher, you want to take a look at it? If you want it, you can have it." And so I looked at the yearbook and it was from Manzanar High School and it covered grades 7 through 12.
>> Carlene Tinker: This is your father or--
>> Diane Honda: My father-in-law.
>> Carlene Tinker: Father-in-law, OK.
>> Diane Honda: Ansel Adams was its photo-- was the main--
>> Carlene Tinker: Oh, that's right. Right.
>> Diane Honda: -- photographer. So Ansel Adams in his fame--
>> Carlene Tinker: Well, also Dorothea Lange.
>> Diane Honda: But then we didn't have any Dorothea Lange pictures in here. These were all Ansel--
>> Carlene Tinker: Just Ansel's, OK.
>> Diane Honda: -- Ansel Adams pictures. So, that of course made me very interested. There were pictures of Ansel Adams in here. Then the other photographer that took many of the pictures was Toyo Miyatake who in the Japanese-American community is as famous as Ansel Adams, or even more so because he took many family portraits and those sorts of things. So I was showing that to my friend Konnie and she said, "You know, Diane, you should reproduce this. I work for Herff Jones, you know, we don't do that much during the summer. Maybe you could put this together and we could reproduce it." So the first thing I said, OK. So the first thing I did was I started making slides. I made slides and I did presentations at the National Journalism Education Association Conferences about this yearbook, where it came from, kind of from the idea that your yearbook needs to tell a story. And your stories, you know, need to be prevalent to the year you're there. And so it was-- they were very well received. And the students in these presentations that I would do, it was part of the-- they would be anywhere from 3 to 5,000 journals of students at these--
>> Carlene Tinker: Oh my.
>> Diane Honda: -- and you would have-- they could choose which workshops they wanted to attend. And so mine was one of the workshop and it was almost always attended by about 40 or 50 people.
>> Carlene Tinker: Wow.
>> Diane Honda: So that right there showed me that there was interest. And then I would get other kinds of comments that said, you know, that's a very interesting story. I really like, you know, first of all I didn't know this is what happened. I think one of the things that was most poignant to them are these pictures of the students with their names and the high school they would have graduated from had they not been interned. And so to them, to see these senior portraits and see that these people did not get to go to their senior high school and they were instead put in these camps was pretty telling to them. And so, I got a lot of, you know and lot of things from kids or a lot of interest from the students. And then of course I studied it a little bit more too. And then this guy Ralph Lazo, Lazo is not a Japanese name. And so, you know, I found-- because at that point in time, in the '90s when this came out, there were still people that were living that worked on this book. And he was not living at the time but he was actually a friend of a lot of the kids that went to camp and went and did activities with them. And I guess in the 1940s, people didn't keep track of their children as well because his mom had passed away. His sister was working. His father was working and he decided to go to camp with them. So when they went to camp, he just got on the train.
>> Carlene Tinker: Is that how he got there?
>> Diane Honda: Yeah. And so they said, "You know, Ralph, you can't be on this train because you're not Japanese," and he goes, "It's OK, I'm just going to be here." And then they said, "No, you can't be here." So he went to the back of another car and he just sat there. And so when he got to camp, they just took him in and he didn't have any family. So they put him in-- he was at the time, he must have been about 15 or 16 but they took him in and then they put him in the bachelor quarters because he didn't have a family. And it really wasn't until he graduated high school and he enlisted in the army that they realized he was not Japanese at all. He was Hispanic and Irish, so-- But he was a really good friend and as you see he was a class officer.
>> Carlene Tinker: Yeah.
>> Diane Honda: And so through his friends, I was able actually to write a story about him in the back of this book.
>> Carlene Tinker: Let me interject the question here. Now, these pictures were some that you just picked up from the first yearbook.
>> Diane Honda: Yes.
>> Carlene Tinker: OK.
>> Diane Honda: So the first book for the very-- the authentic yearbook had this in it.
>> Carlene Tinker: OK.
>> Diane Honda: It was the same entry. The cover was made up of a different material that wasn't quite as durable as this. But the inside, we were actually able to scan them or Toyo Miyatake's son, Archie, was able to provide me with new prints.
>> Carlene Tinker: Oh my gosh.
>> Diane Honda: That he printed out for me.
>> Carlene Tinker: And then I understand you-- did you rewrite a lot of that stuff or--
>> Diane Honda: No.
>> Carlene Tinker: -- is any of that original?
>> Diane Honda: All of this is original. All of this is original.
>> Carlene Tinker: Oh, yeah.
>> Diane Honda: So all of these pictures, everything is original.
>> Carlene Tinker: That is absolutely amazing.
>> Diane Honda: And I interviewed Helen-- this is the-- Ralph Merit, he has passed. But this Helen Bannai was in here and I-- so all of these-- and this picture right down here was a picture that Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston who wrote "Farewell to Manzanar".>> Carlene Tinker: Oh, yeah, yeah.
>> Diane Honda: She is in this picture and she-- or she uses that picture.
>> Carlene Tinker: Is she one of those?
>> Diane Honda: No, she's not one of these but she uses that picture as part of her. And she is in the baton club in here as one of the little ones in there.
>> Carlene Tinker: Yeah. She actually went to the high-- same high school my cousin went to after we came back, Long Beach Poly.
>> Diane Honda: Yeah.
>> Carlene Tinker: Yeah.
>> Diane Honda: Yeah. She writes in "Farewell to Manzanar" that was a tough time for her.
>> Carlene Tinker: Right. Right.
>> Diane Honda: Really tough time for her.
>> Carlene Tinker: Right. Now your father-in-law, where were they in assembly center, Santa Anita probably?
>> Diane Honda: OK. So my father-in-law, they were in Monterey but they felt like they would be safer if they were with relatives. So they moved into San Pedro.
>> Carlene Tinker: OK. Yeah. Then they went to--
>> Diane Honda: And they're from San Pedro. I don't know that they went to Santa Anita but they ended up in Manzanar.
>> Carlene Tinker: Probably. Yeah. Because my aunt was a-- she worked in a cannery in San Pedro in Terminal Island, and we all got sent to Fres-- I mean, Santa Anita family center.
>> Diane Honda: OK.
>> Carlene Tinker: So then they split us up. For example, I went to Amache.
>> Diane Honda: Right.
>> Carlene Tinker: Some people went to Manzanar. Some went to Jerome, my cousins. Yeah. so, yeah, I think they wanted to break us up because they didn't think you should be together.
>> Diane Honda: Right. Because it was such a large population.>> Carlene Tinker: Right.
>> Diane Honda: Yeah. So, anyway, so it was interesting. It turns out that these seniors tested out of regular English. So they were put in this yearbook class. And then I actually read more in the last 10 years got a call from the niece of the woman that was the yearbook advisor and how she, you know, what she felt about doing this and why it was important to do the yearbook and how she took it out of camp to have it published. And that was, you know, that's a big deal but actually all the camps did have yearbooks but it was a big deal I think for her to do that.
>> Carlene Tinker: Right.
>> Diane Honda: This is an original picture and this is the same end sheet but it's in black and white.
>> Carlene Tinker: Yeah.
>> Diane Honda: And then this is the-- actually the two yearbooks, so this was the first but the last picture in the second one was this. And that was because they knew they were getting out.
>> Carlene Tinker: Yes.
>> Diane Honda: And so he staged this picture, Toyo Miyatake staged this picture.
>> Carlene Tinker: Oh, that's wonderful.
>> Diane Honda: So I included it because I just thought it was so--
>> Carlene Tinker: Yeah.
>> Diane Honda: -- poignant. And so this was another letter about their experiences written by Helen Bannai. And Helen Bannai's husband was a state assemblyman, Paul Bannai.
>> Carlene Tinker: OK.
>> Diane Honda: And then I was able to interview all but one of the editors to kind of say this is what happened to them. One of them passed away but if you figure that I did this in the '90s and this was done in the '40s that it's pretty amazing that they were still--
>> Carlene Tinker: That they were around.>> Diane Honda: That they were around and they were actually very successful. So I took and have the picture of them in high school and the most current picture which probably wasn't that current but-- that they provided for me and--
>> Carlene Tinker: And there is Ralph Lazo.
>> Diane Honda: And this is the Ralph Lazo story. And then I also did a story on Toyo Miyatake and what he meant to the Japanese-American community. And then this is just a--
>> Carlene Tinker: Now, just a second on Toyo, isn't he one who was-- who illegally brought in the camera and wasn't he the one, I think there's a story about him having a box and he's got his camera inside. And so he is not-- he's sneaking in and his camera was not detected for awhile--
>> Diane Honda: Well--
>> Carlene Tinker: -- or what was the story on that?
>> Diane Honda: What was-- he snuck in a lens and the mechanism to hold the film, and he took the pictures from that box.
>> Carlene Tinker: Oh, is that how--
>> Diane Honda: Yeah. So it was, yeah, it was pretty amazing. And then this is just a background information, because what I really thought this would be in eventuality so, I-- so Konnie gave me that idea while I was still living in LA. But I actually didn't finish this project until I came to Fresno.
>> Carlene Tinker: Is that right?
>> Diane Honda: And when I came to Fresno I hired one of my editors at Bullard to work with me over the summer. And we worked on this and we put this together. I want-- I think it was in 1998, it was in the '90s and--
>> Carlene Tinker: And didn't you also get a grant to do this?
>> Diane Honda: Yes. This grant came. This is the redress letter that was issued to each of the people who were in the camps. This one was signed by George Bush.
>> Carlene Tinker: Right.
>> Diane Honda: And so I did-- Yes, they were what they called Civil Liberties grants. And so, I got a Civil Liberties grants to reproduce this. I sold them to the Japanese-American community by mail order. And then, I sold them at journals and conferences because I went back with these. And then the remainder of them were actually sold by the Japanese-American National Museum which was pretty new at the time but-- So I believe that I ordered about 2,000.
>> Carlene Tinker: Whoa.
>> Diane Honda: Yeah. I mean that's where most of the money went was to purchase.
>> Carlene Tinker: Yeah.
>> Diane Honda: And then I sold them all. And then yeah, they were sold. And then the money that I made from it, I used for promotion.
>> Carlene Tinker: Good.
>> Diane Honda: So the promotion to--And-- But what I discover-- OK, so, this is a companion actually with "Farewell to Manzanar" because in the book "Farewell to Manzanar" she talks about finding this yearbook in the closet. And that, well, it brought back memories. And she specifically talks about that picture, a little baton girl. Even though she wasn't in it she remembered that. And once she was-- explained that to her husband who is an English professor at UC Santa Cruz I think, she-- He said, you know, you need to write that story. So, she with the help of her husband James Houston.
>> Carlene Tinker: Oh, that's how it came about.
>> Diane Honda: Wrote that story. Yeah. And so this is just-- talks about the camps and it also gave resources which probably at this point are 30 years old so, they’re probably not. And these are the people that helped me with it and my student and myself and what I look like and kind of why I did that is what this is all about.
>> Carlene Tinker: And I kind of remembered too that you said something about the font. You--
>> Diane Honda: Mm-hmm.
>> Carlene Tinker: You--Yeah.
>> Diane Honda: OK. So, on here on this back part, all of these spots here was created or right here you could see easier, was created in the '90s. And so what I had in Macintosh box computer, you know, they look like-- they're just a big box. And I don't even know where the font came from, but my student Nick Bruque who worked with us on, I said, you know, we need to find a font that looks like, you know, these fonts here or these fonts here. And so he says, I think I found one, it's called ribbon. And I went what?
>> Carlene Tinker: What is it called?
>> Diane Honda: Ribbon.
>> Carlene Tinker: Ribbon?
>> Diane Honda: Yeah. I mean, and you were talking about in the '90s this was done, you know. And so you couldn't just go on the internet and download--
>> Carlene Tinker: Yeah.
>> Diane Honda: -- fonts. And for some reason it was there from maybe some print. I mean, I don't even know why it was there. I just like to think it was just, you know, it was just meant to be. So anyway, so he found it and he put, he-- we worked on it together and worked on these pages together. And so now, it's been 20-- more than 20 years. In 2015 they told me it had been 20 years since. So I guess 1995 is when we-- since it had been produced and some of the teachers, journalism teachers were saying I need to reproduce it again for the new generation of teachers. But it's actually online. It's online and available in PDF. I think there is all the camp yearbooks are available online on-- as PDFs.
>> Carlene Tinker: Yeah. What a contribution, that is marvelous.
>> Diane Honda: So--
>> Carlene Tinker: Let me set this down over here. Let's continue with sort of your history in the valley. It sounds like quite different from my own experience and my parents' experiences. You grew up in a very nice area, you didn't really feel discrimination, there were-- might couple incidents. I think one time you were-- I think you were shopping and somebody referred to you as a Jap or?
>> Diane Honda: Oh, swimming with my friends in that community pool.
>> Carlene Tinker: Oh, was that what-- yeah.
>> Diane Honda: Yeah.
>> Carlene Tinker: But that's really not, not a big--
>> Diane Honda: Right. It was not really that big but-->> Carlene Tinker: And then even when you were at UCLA compared to my experience, you-- For some reason-- and I think you explained it earlier, that the reason you probably didn't feel a lot of discrimination or racism was because you were in a group of Japanese-American student.
>> Diane Honda: A lot of them.
>> Carlene Tinker: Yeah. And I on the other hand, did not. OK. I came from Long Beach and there were just the two of us. My friend was also Japanese American. I tried to join a sorority. I tried to be a pep girl and it was not going to happen. OK. Because I was supposed to go to a Japanese sorority I was-- And I had not had that experience, so I didn't want to do that. So, my experience was quite different, and not particularly bad but different. OK. Now, let's see, I was going to ask you about your experience with Amache. Your parents as I recall met in Amache which is one of the 10 relocation camps. And I know too that we talked about-- Well, you first of all introduced me to Amache because you went to one of the pilgrimages. What year was that? 1998 or something? Was it about the--
>> Diane Honda: Yeah.
>> Carlene Tinker: -- about that time?
>> Diane Honda: That sounds about, right.
>> Carlene Tinker: Yeah.
>> Diane Honda: Yeah. That sounds correct.
>> Carlene Tinker: Right. And so that kindled my interest and I-- in 2006 I think it was I took a little-- My husband and I were en route to Connecticut where our son was studying and doing a postdoc. And so we took a side trip. And from there it's history. I've been very involved with the Amache Camp. And I think I told you about the Amache field school. And coincidentally you went to these. You want to describe what those field schools are?
>> Diane Honda: Well, first of all, it wasn't a coincidence. You told me about that. So, I didn't find about them independently. Bonnie had a sabbatical. And during her sabbatical she went to visit different colleges and talk. And so she came here to Fresno State. And so I went to that Fresno State meeting and--
>> Carlene Tinker: Was that over-- was that the archeology?
>> Diane Honda: Yeah.>> Carlene Tinker: OK. All right.
>> Diane Honda: Yeah.
>> Carlene Tinker: Yeah. Because of that I-- yeah, she came.
>> Diane Honda: Yeah, and that's because of you.
>> Carlene Tinker: Yeah.
>> Diane Honda: Yeah. So it's not a coincidence. So-- And then while I was there, there were other people [Sab Masada] were there and they talked about how interesting and how this would be so great. And then my-- someone that was actually even older than my brother, Kenny Narita [assumed spelling] from Cortez who became a principal but at that time had been retired, newly retired. He also said, "God, Diane, this is great. We should all go." So I thought, "OK, we should all go." So then, I went home and told my family, "We should all go, this is really great." And my own immediate family were like, "Maybe you could ask your cousins and see what they think." And so I asked my cousins. My daughter actually had gone to the pilgrimage. So she knew where this was, but she was-- said she was busy. And so I went to my cousins at 4th of July because we have quite of a 4th of July reunion in Turlock. And I told them all about it and they just all looked at me like, OK. And then one of my cousin's sons who became an Eagle Scout and he just walked by and he goes, "I'll go with you auntie." And I said, "Really?" I mean, because he just actually walked in and walked out. And then later I asked him again he was, "oh yeah." And then I got the information because I'd signed up. And so Bonnie sent me the information about school. And so I taught-- I called Tyler's mom and said OK. And he was 16 at the time or something, going to be a senior maybe. And I said, "Does he really want to do this?" She said, "Yeah." And then, so I got the plane reservations and then, I said, "Are you sure? I'm hitting the return button right now." And he definitely wanted to go. And so we went together. And Tyler's not someone that I really knew really well because, you know, I knew him of course as a baby and growing up but not spend a week with him. So-- And we got put up in that hotel in-- what's the name of that neighbor in--
>> Carlene Tinker: In Holly?
>> Diane Honda: In Holly--
>> Carlene Tinker: Yeah.
>> Diane Honda: -- I think it was.>> Carlene Tinker: Holly Suites Inn or something like-- it's a very old hotel.
>> Diane Honda: Yeah. It's a very old, old hotel where the hot water comes out of the cold.
>> Carlene Tinker: Yeah, it's bare bones.
>> Diane Honda: Yeah, yeah. And so, anyway, so we both-- so we stayed there and it was very good. It was a very good experience because I look at Tyler being-- Tyler's grandfather is a Sansei.
>> Carlene Tinker: OK.
>> Diane Honda: So, I don't even know what that makes him beyond a Yonsei. Gosei I guess.
>> Carlene Tinker: Oh, his grand-- oh yeah, he might be Gosei.
>> Diane Honda: Yes. His grandfather is a Sansei. Because his grandmother was in-- great grandmother was a Nisei.
>> Carlene Tinker: Yeah.
>> Diane Honda: So, you know, in some ways if-- OK. What will this kid contribute to this? But he actually contributed a lot and he learned a lot. And I think it was a very good trip for him to do. And then of course he was 17, so if you wanted people to cut down brush, or do any of those things.
>> Carlene Tinker: To do that. Yeah.
>> Diane Honda: He could do it and he had the gumption to do those things and digging holes. But he also ran the GPS thing and then that thing that-- or that you hold, right? And then he also ran that thing that shows what's underneath.
>> Carlene Tinker: Right, the ground penetrating radar.
>> Diane Honda: Yes. Yeah, the radio waves.
>> Carlene Tinker: Yeah.
>> Diane Honda: So, he, you know, I think and then he met of course all the kids that were there for the whole summer. So, I think it was a great experience for him and for me as well.
>> Carlene Tinker: Yeah. This is an archeology field school that Dr. Bonnie Clark teaches kids from not just DU, Denver University but all over the United States they get credit. In one month they can go from step one to step-- and step to become an archeologist. It's not concentrating on just one phase, they learn everything. And also, if they wanted to become a museum curator they can also learn how to do that. And she employs a lot of her own students, grad students and they're coming back. And that's how I got started. Not-- I'm not a former student but one of her workshops that I attended at the reunion in Las Vegas I volunteered. And in 2010 I volunteered and I went for two weeks and I've gone every two years since then. So I've done five of them now.
>> Diane Honda: Wow.
>> Carlene Tinker: Yeah.
>> Diane Honda: Wow.
>> Carlene Tinker: So the whole idea is to teach kids how to become archeologist. So you want to show a little bit about your memory book there?
>> Diane Honda: Yes. So this was just us on our way. And the idea when we got there, what we did and what I did is I put this together because-- there were two things. So Tyler actually did a daily video of each day, what we did and how we did it, kind of a vlog they call it, V-L-O-G.
>> Carlene Tinker: Right.
>> Diane Honda: And so, at the end of the day after we took our showers I had to go over to his room and he videotaped us talking about what we did for the day.
>> Carlene Tinker: Oh, how awesome.
>> Diane Honda: And so, the following summer he showed that vlog. I mean, we only did about say five minutes a day. But anyway, showed the vlog to the family. And then we said, "Don't you guys all want to go?" And anyway, they still didn't want to go. They wanted to go to the open house they said.
>> Carlene Tinker: Yeah.
>> Diane Honda: So anyway, so after we went in the summer, Tyler got his Eagle Scout. So, I wanted to present this to him as his Eagle Scout present. And so that's why I put it together. And I also wanted to also chronicle what we did. And so, there's a picture right here for example of my mother's family standing in front of a barrack at camp. And they-- And then this is my mother in front of that same barrack. And then when we were there the archeologist students that were there showed us because we knew where the address was, where they believe that camp was. So this is us standing in front of-- and so, I like to think maybe one of these trees here, it's a stump, because I mean it's 50 years later. But so-- But to me it was-- it was really a great experience because first of all, I kind of experienced the weather and what it's like to be there, what it would be like if I wasn't spending a week there but this is where I had to live, and putting up with that weather which was quite drastic just during the day. It could be raining and thundering and then in the afternoon be nice, or. I mean, it's just-- it's a brutal place to live and even now, not many people live there.
>> Carlene Tinker: That's right.
>> Diane Honda: And so I thought that was a great thing for me with my mother's family. Tyler comes from my father's side. This is where the Boy Scout building was, and so he took a picture with another grandson that was there who is also a Boy Scout. And these guys here were all Boys Scout eagle. They all earned their-- yeah.
>> Carlene Tinker: Oh, it was the [inaudible]. And Cody is the one with a beard.
>> Diane Honda: Yeah. They had all earned their eagle scouts.
>> Carlene Tinker: Yeah.
>> Diane Honda: And so these are just some of the activities that we did. And the more-- And then one of the things that we did while we were there is we visited the Sand Creek Massacre. I don't know if you've gone to that.
>> Carlene Tinker: Yeah, I do.
>> Diane Honda: And it's a Native American site where they were massacred.
>> Carlene Tinker: Yeah.
>> Diane Honda: This is essentially--
>> Carlene Tinker: The army-- Just a part of the army went in.
>> Diane Honda: Yeah.
>> Carlene Tinker: It was not condoned by the government but it was [inaudible].
>> Diane Honda: Yeah. And so this is all the fieldwork that we did just to remind him. And of course as you said in the afternoon, we worked in the museum itself and curating the objects. And so these were just some of the things that we did and saw. And it was really a good-- it was really good. All right. It was-- I don't know how to describe it except-- OK. So this is 2014. I should put that on the front of the book.
>> Carlene Tinker: Yeah.
>> Diane Honda: Anyway, it was really a good experience for us to be there.
>> Carlene Tinker: Yeah.
>> Diane Honda: And to do this. And he went on to UC Irvine and he's in his last year right now.
>> Carlene Tinker: Where?
>> Diane Honda: UC Irvine.
>> Carlene Tinker: Good for him.
>> Diane Honda: And he's very involved in their [Taiko] group.
>> Carlene Tinker: Good.
>> Diane Honda: So he, you know, definitely not just from me. In the summers, I think it's important to talk about actually. In the summers my sister-in-law about 30 years ago started this thing call a Gakko or a school but-- Japanese school. But it wasn't about Japan. She wanted to concentrate on Japanese American history. So, all the kids, K through eight are in classes where for one week, just in the mornings, they learn about Japanese-American history.
>> Carlene Tinker: Wow.
>> Diane Honda: From the time that they're in kindergarten to eighth grade. And I did the seventh and eighth grade class, and Tyler went through that program.
>> Carlene Tinker: Wonderful.
>> Diane Honda: And as did my daughter. And so, that also gave them real-- you know, they think about Gakko and they remember the experiences and the things that they learned at Gakko.
>> Carlene Tinker: Awesome.
>> Diane Honda: So--
>> Carlene Tinker: I want to point out that Amache is in Southeastern Colorado on Highway 50, the Santa Fe Trail. And it's named after the daughter of the chief who was killed, who was massacred at the Sand Creek massacre. Her name was Amache and somebody from Lamar, a nearby town suggested that name for the camp. And the reason why they renamed the camp, which is technically called Granada relocation camp. The reason they renamed it was because the little town just a mile away was inundated with mail for the camp people. And so they couldn't handle it. Obviously there are 7,000 people at the camp and maybe 300 people in the town. So that's why it got renamed. OK. Incidentally, the museum and all of Granada was just pummeled this summer, this past summer with hailstorms. So big that it ripped out windows, knocked out windows in the new barrack that they had just put in a few years ago. Hundreds of thousands of dollars of damage has been done. And they are still working through that. But on the good side, I just got a letter from John Hopper who runs the camp. He is the local high school principal. And he has a special group of students called the Amache Preservation Society. They maintain the camp. Well anyway, across the street from the museum, the bank is giving up their building and giving it to the APS. They are going to continue with the ATM, but will now have a bigger museum.
>> Diane Honda: Wow.
>> Carlene Tinker: And they're going to be able to expand. So--
>> Diane Honda: Wow.
>> Carlene Tinker: -- that there is awesome. It's really good news. Yeah. So, let's move along. One of the things what we didn't talk about was redress. You did show in your yearbook there the letter from George H.W. Bush with-- that was sent to people who got reparations as a result of the 1988 Civil Liberties Act. I think that's correct. And we each, whoever was in the camp, got $20,000. OK. And we-- I don't know, your parents got it I'm sure. OK. There were some of us who-- some of the Japanese-Americans who refused it. But recently to you-- that you brought to mind an article about your uncle, James Murakami. And I think he played a role in this. And I like you to talk about that a little bit for our readers or viewers.
>> Diane Honda: Yeah, my uncle Jim Murakami was the national JACL president when they first started talking about this redress and moving forward. Actually-- and he actually wasn't talk-- yeah. Actually, he was more-- And so he-- actually, I'm going to take that back. He was involved with the JACL at that time. But where he was actually more involved with is the JACL accepting the resisters and what the resisters did into the JACL.
>> Carlene Tinker: OK.>> Diane Honda: And I don't know if that's mentioned to him. But anyway, and the controversy in the JACL between the 442 and the draft resisters from Heart Mountain, and whether they're both considered heroes. And our generation, my generation who were not in the camps who didn't know the men that did either, we look at both of them as heroes to be able to stand up for a constitutional right and say, "I'm not going to go to the military unless my parents are released from their prison camps." And be willing to go to prison for that. That's a heroic thing. But going to the war and fighting in Europe and losing-- many, many, many people lost their lives, that is heroic. So, yeah, when he was president one of the big things was the argument as to which ones were more heroic.
>> Carlene Tinker: Right. Yeah.
>> Diane Honda: The 442s are always looked at as being heroic. But my uncle Jim was a role model to me for being an advocate--
>> Carlene Tinker: Yeah.
>> Diane Honda: -- and activist.
>> Carlene Tinker: Right. And t