<Begin Segment 9>

DG: So did you want to stay there?

BU: Huh?

DG: Did you want to stay in Japan?

BU: No, because what happened. You see, the reason why I went to school is the fact that Pop got sick, Dad got sick, and he had to stay, stay in bed. And it was a prolonged illness, a little over a year, so he said, he said, "Instead of doing nothing, you guys go to school." So all four of us went to school.

DG: So you were there a couple years, right?

BU: Yeah, couple years. And my brother and my older sister, they were there for eight or nine years, eight to ten years, close to.

DG: So then how come you decided to come back again?

BU: Because, you see, Father, Father had a business venture. Later on the Japanese had Olympic Games there in 1958 or something. Well, on that Olympic Game they were supposed to have it way back in 1930 or something, but, you see, with all those things happening with the Chinese, that the Japanese invading China and everything else, they refused to give them the Olympic Game. My father had a, and a friend had a good idea that they were going to make apartments or units for dormitory for Olympic athletes, and they bought the property, and they're building, going to build a, build a dormitory space. Well, when the, when the Olympic Committee refused to give the permit to have Olympic game in Japan that folded so, therefore, he came back. On top of that, I got sick so, therefore, he decided kaero, so he came back.

[Interruption]

DG: We were talking about your period of time when you were in Japan, okay, and that was a couple years, around 1925, '24?

BU: 1927 to '29. You see, I was, we just got there in 1927 when this present emperor was born. They had a great celebration for that male heir. I remember that was a good time. I had a lot of fun.

DG: Uh-huh. So Hirohito's son, huh? Akihito, is that what his name is? Akihiro?

BU: Not Hiro, Hito. Akihito.

DG: Akihito, uh-huh. And then you decided to come back to the United States why?

BU: I didn't, my dad did. My dad said we're going back, so came back after two years.

DG: And you didn't mind?

BU: I didn't mind, neither did my brother, neither did the brother and sister that was there from before.

<End Segment 9> - Copyright © 1998 Densho. All Rights Reserved.