Oral history interview with Jennifer Lanahan conducted by Jerwin Tiu on September 11, 2023 for Reflections: the Las Vegas Asian American and Pacific Islander Oral History Project. Born in Daegu, South Korea, Jennifer Lanahan fondly remembers her childhood growing up in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Lanahan had been adopted at a young age and grew up aware of this fact, but never felt different from her family because of it. Her father, with Irish roots, was a retired military sergeant for the U.S. Air Force. While her mother, with German roots, spent her time volunteering at veterans hospitals. Lanahan spent a majority of her life in Green Bay, eventually obtaining a degree at the University of Wisconsin, Green Bay in Spanish with a minor in linguistics. Shortly after, Lanahan moved to Hawaii to obtain a masters degree in Spanish but pivoted to earning a degree in legal studies at Arizona State University. Growing up in a predominately white community, Lanahan recalls having complex feelings about her Asian heritage. However, after moving to Hawaii for a year and then eventually Las Vegas, Nevada in 2012, she began to embrace her Asian heritage and engage more in different aspects of her Korean culture. After obtaining her law degree from the Boyd School of Law at UNLV, Lanahan went on to work as a litigation attorney for a few years. She now works as a lobbyist and serves as a board member for the Las Vegas AAPI Chamber of Commerce.

Oral history interview with Gene Noboru Nakanishi conducted by Ayrton Yamaguchi, Cecilia Winchell, and Stefani Evans on April 2, 2021 for Reflections: The Las Vegas Asian American and Pacific Islander Oral History Project.

Gene Nakanishi shares his detailed family history from both his father's and his mother's families. He discusses his paternal grandfather's work on the Union Pacific Railroad, the family's internment in Wyoming during World War II, and his father's release from the camp by joining the United States Army Signal Corps. Nakanishi also talks of his maternal grandfather who was of the Bushido ("warrior") class in Osaka, Japan, and his grandfather's work with Christian missionaries. He shares details of his mother's restaurant employment in Los Angeles and her opening of Osaka Japanese Bistro in Las Vegas in 1969. Nakanishi also talks about being born and raised in Las Vegas, his musical schooling at Berklee College of Music in Boston, and his graduate education at Harvard University. He discusses his work as a band teacher for the Clark County School District, his involvement in the Idyllwild Arts Summer Program band camp, and his interests in jazz music.