<Begin Segment 8>

JT: Oh my gosh. So then you returned, you were in Palo Alto, and then you came back to, how did you get back to...

MT: Alameda?

JT: Uh-huh. You didn't get back to Alameda.

MT: Yes, I did.

JT: Oh, when did you come back then?

MT: After we lived...

JT: Oh, in '46?

MT: We lived for a year with this family, the Isenbergs, and then my parents, the Alameda house was, the occupants left, so we moved back.

JT: Do you remember...

MT: Oh, actually, the occupants didn't leave. Actually, the occupants were still there, but I think we stayed in the basement for a while. They couldn't stand to have us living in the... you know, so they moved out.

JT: And during those years, do you remember your mom going to church?

MT: Yes.

JT: Faithfully.

MT: Faithfully.

JT: And she was part of the Issei ladies, the fujinkai. What kind of activities do you remember the fujinkai doing?

MT: Cooking, baking.

JT: Lots of cooking, making sushi. Do you remember going to any church picnics?

MT: Yeah, sometimes.

JT: And they didn't just make, bring sandwiches, what kind of foods did they bring, do you remember, to the church picnics?

MT: Oh, probably like inarizushi, barazushi maybe.

JT: All those goodies.

MT: Like what the bazaar serves.

JT: And do you remember who some of your mom's good friends were?

MT: I think she was really good friends with the Koikes, Mrs. Koike.

JT: Okay. And they just lived around the corner.

MT: On Oak Street.

JT: On Oak Street.

MT: Near the church. Iwamasa, Mrs. Iwamasa, Mrs. Teshima, they were good friends, yeah.

JT: Shiz's mother was Mrs. Iwamasa.

MT: Yeah.

JT: Okay. And what about Aoyagis?

MT: We didn't really know the Aoyagis.

JT: Maybe that was a different age, too. But I do remember...

MT: We know the Aoyagis because that's Kenji's sister-in-law. Kenji's brother married Toshiko Aoyagi.

JT: Okay, Stanley's...

MT: Sister. Was his sister-in-law.

JT: Stan Aoyagi's sister Toshiko married (his) brother.

MT: Right.

JT: I get it. I knew there was a connection but I didn't know exactly what it was. And the Mashiharas are in there somehow.

MT: Well, the Mashiharas were, Dan Mashihara and Kenji were very good friends.

JT: I see, okay.

MT: They were like two peas in a pod until he married me.

JT: I think I heard that.

<End Segment 8> - Copyright © 2021 Densho. All Rights Reserved.