David Kiyoshi Tom with leopard shark, courtesy of David Kiyoshi Tom
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David Kiyoshi Tom
David Kiyoshi Tom
Interviewed by Camille Antinori and Rob Bermudez, February 2, 2025
David's family roots spread to almost every part of Berkeley history. His predecessors helped build the local economy in Berkeley despite redlining policies, and even gave their lives here. He credits access to the waterfront and fishing with his own mental and physical health as a kid growing up with ADD in the seventies. He describes adventures with "The Club", an ethnically diverse set of neighborhood kids linked by socioeconomic class, driven around by his progressive, UC-Berkeley educated mom in a large station wagon around the Bay Area, including the pier, and fishing with his dog, Freedom. While his grandparents rarely discussed the internment camp experiences, David and others of Japanese descent in his generation are exploring those memories and histories of resilience, survival and heartbreak with a film project supported completely by volunteers. Dorothea Lange working as a government photographer covering Japanese internment captured his grandparent's wedding photo, taken on the cusp of leaving for internment camps and only discovered by chance years later in the National Archives. Throughout the interview, David reflects on his perspectives and ideas for making the pier and waterfront accessible and safe for kids to enjoy today.
David with scissors, courtesy of David Kiyoshi Tom
Topics (in order):
Topics (in order):
Part I
"The Club" - David's mom driving the neighborhood kids around the Bay Area on adventures
Dealing with ADD through fishing days off from school
Fishing with his dog Freedom, which was freedom
Feeling the need to be alone but not lonely or bored
Taking ownership of our own lives
Waterfront area pretty neglected - open the pier to draw people
Views on parking fees
Memories of area as vibrant
Transformation of former dumps to Cesar Chavez park and where Seabreeze is located
Chinese grandfather on his dad's side was a Paper Son who moved them to Berkeley from San Francisco
Father raised in Chinatown along historic alley
Redlining in Berkeley and Japanese community around 6th and 10th Streets
His maternal grandfather George "Ki" Kiyoshi Uchida as leader in Berkeley Methodist United Church
Uncle Gary Tsukamoto and his brother Ron Tsukamoto, as first Asian American policeman in Berkeley and first policeman killed in line of duty in Berkeley - memorialized at the Berkeley Police Station
Cooking for the Japanese Bazaar Circuit
No Japanese friends, just Black, white and Hispanic
True community linked socioeconomically
Mother first woman to be expelled from Berkeley High for wearing jeans
"Without the pier, I'd be in jail."
Images from the pier - waves coming and then going - stasis
Part 2
Dorothea Lange, the wedding photographer
Grandfather and grandmother receiving degrees from UC-Berkeley and grandfather getting diploma sent in mail to Tanforan internment camp
Joining the Military Intelligence Service (MIS)
Mother and aunt born in Topaz internment camp
No kibei
Harper Street house: his maternal great grandmother (Fujii family) lived there (neighbors cared for place while the families were interned until they came home)
Farmer grandfather (Sam) in Livingston - neighbors kept the farm for him there when he was interned
The No-no's sent to Tule Lake camp
Outdoorsy family
Fishing with his daughter
Future of the waterfront: more user friendly
Dirt bike and motorcycle track across from the Seabreeze
Parents lost their house due to imminent domain when built the North Berkeley Bart Station
Creating safe outdoor space for kids: Get kids outdoors!
Figuring out safe ways to let kids get to marina on their own and ride their bikes in a safe environment
Images from top:
Two wedding photos, David's grandparents, Credit: Dorothea Lange, as found on 50objects.org and https://50objects.org/object/michiko-and-kis-wedding-photo/
Kintsukuroi film release, courtesy of David Kiyoshi Tom
Excerpt from Roots, Removal and Resistance: Japanese Americans in Berkeley, Berkeley Historical Society, accessed 3/7/2025.
Image of Here Lived Map, Berkeley Historical Society, for 2903 Harper Street, Berkeley, California.
The University Laundry on Shattuck and Blake was owned and operated by five Japanese-American families in the early part of the 20th century. Photo: California Japantowns, from Berkeley to consider landmarking old University Laundry building, Frances Dinkelspiel for Berkeleyside, 2/28/2017.
Full interview transcript
Full interview transcript
Interview transcript - Part 1 (PDF)
Interview transcript - Part 2 (PDF)
Citation (APA style):
Kiyoshi, David Tom, Antinori, C., and Bermudez, R. Exploring Intergenerational and Community Connections to the Outdoors. (2024). Interview with David Tom Kiyoshi conducted by Camille Antinori and Rob Bermudez. January 31, 2025. [Pdf] Retrieved from the Berkeley Fishing Memories Oral History Project.
Image: The Fujii laundry at Blake and Shattuck today. Credit: C. Antinori
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