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VY: You talked a lot about all the meals around that table, the dinner table. What ended up happening to that table?

JT: Oh, that was a big, beautiful, oak table with claws, those clawed feet. When Mom and Dad, when Mom passed, well, we wanted to donate a table, altar for the church in her name, in her memory. And Pastor Michael said, "You know, so much has happened around your kitchen table, big oak table, you know, sat like ten, sometimes twelve, with leaves. And that would be a wonderful altar. And we talked about it, we had even contracted to have a table made for the altar. But then we said, "You know, this is perfect, Mom, our table as an altar in the church." Because so many stories of both the Buddhist temple, the Christian church. So we cleaned it up, and in fact, under those oak tables, there's these little ledges. And we found petrified peas under there, because David, one of our brothers, wouldn't eat vegetables, and he stuck peas under. And those peas had to be there for sixty years, and they just came rolling out, it was so funny. I mean, we have stories that... well, anyway. So that table got cleaned up, and it's at the church as an altar table. And I wish it could talk because it knows so much. [Laughs]

VY: That's amazing.

JT: It is.

VY: Wow, that's amazing.

JT: It is, it is. But it's kind of like a metaphor, I think, for the community Alameda, or any small community. It just has so many spirits and things that connect it. And that table symbolizes a lot for us as a family, we had a lot of fights and, oh my god, that go around at the dinner table. But it's part of the community now, and I guess it will stay there, we haven't talked about that. Because the church -- I was talking about the church -- has changed quite a bit. It started as a Japanese church of bachelors, you know, these rowdy bachelors. And then it grew and grew and eventually had added on a social hall. And in those days, in 1927, they built a social hall for $6,500 dollars. And the Buddhist temple across the street had similar history. They had their social hall built the same year for about the same amount of money. So our churches have, kind of, parallels in their founding and growth. And even, not just the growth, but today, they're not what I would call Nikkei, Japanese American churches anymore, because of the demographics. Of course, they're open to all, but the traditions are going, changing. Buddhist church still has their Obon -- well, they haven't for two years -- and bazaars, we have bazaars. So those are kind of the glue that keeps the community going. But church was such a big part of our life, but as a renegade, I called myself, after I got married, I stopped going to church for twenty years. I always say it was because George was raised as a Buddhist, but it was because of the rebel in me. My mom wanted me to go to church, us to go to church. I said, "We're grown up, we'll do what we want," and I didn't go to church. But I found myself back at church around 1988, and I found, I realized later that I somehow was led there because my dad died, our daddy died two years after that. And I think there's a, I needed to be there to have that spiritual support to be able to handle his passing. I believe that because I don't think I could have handled it if I didn't have renewed faith and strength, and I'm grateful for that. I believe in those kinds of things in my life.

VY: Yeah, I can tell, it shows so much.

JT: I know that.

<End Segment 16> - Copyright © 2022 Densho. All Rights Reserved.