IKEDA​,​ Atsue

I came to America through marriage from Japan. At that time, I was still in girls’ school, but I left one term early. They still gave me my diploma. When I first arrived, I got terribly seasick and couldn’t eat anything. I stayed inside the whole time and couldn’t touch any food. During the war, we were sent to a camp. We had to throw away our tofu and sold our house for a cheap price, but I didn’t feel it was too hard. Once we were in the camp, we were surrounded only by Japanese people, so in a way, it felt comforting—like being among sisters. Meals were cooked right there in the camp, and they even brought the food to us. We couldn’t be picky, of course, but it was actually quite generous. I later heard that the soldiers were eating about the same food, so it couldn’t have been that bad. My husband and our seven children were all together in the camp. We were there for about a year before being released, still during the war. After that, we came to New York. My husband worked as a gardener, but he passed away in 1966. All of our children are doing well and living independently. One of my daughters lives nearby, but since everyone works, we don’t see each other very often. Still, we all get together for meals during the holidays—that’s my greatest joy. In the past, I used to visit my children’s homes and stay as long as I liked, sometimes a month or two. But now they all live far away, and I’m not in the best health, so I don’t travel much anymore. When I had two small children, I fell ill—just as I was planning to go to Japan. That was the hardest time for me. Even then, I never went to the hospital. I guess I was lucky up until then. I made the arrangements to visit Japan many times, but somehow I never managed to go. Now I’m old, so I’ve decided not to anymore. People tell me, “You should go back,” but by the time I truly wanted to, my parents had already passed away, and my brother too. So there’s nothing left to do but accept it. This interview is part of the DMHJNY's new exhibit Issei: Portraits Of The First-Generation Japanese New Yorkers which is on view here: https://www.historyofjapaneseinny.org/issei/