Category: Finding Identity

A Child of God (4:00)

Fumiko Ishikawa Langley

Fumiko Ishikawa was pretty much on her own from the age of 14, after her parents divorced. She lived with her father and was not permitted to see her mother. She went to work at the Misawa Air Force Base at the age of 17.   David Langley met her there and before his 21st birthday, decided he wanted to marry her. They both describe their life in the United States as having been defined by their religion. Christianity provided Fumiko an identity and a community – her “cocoon” of Christian friends, as she calls it.   The combination of her lack of a stable Japanese family and becoming a born again Christian with her husband helped her find an identity between the United States and Japan.

A Toe Hold in America (5:28)

Takako (Kay) Funo Trimbur

Her name was originally Takako Funo but her American mother-in-law had a hard time with Takako, so called her Kay. Kay gave up her Japanese identity in other ways, not speaking the language much anymore or cooking the food she grew up with. But she was hampered in feeling completely American because she doesn’t read or write English. Still, she is a loved figure on the streets of her Philadelphia neighborhood, and an essential part of the lives of her children and grandchildren.