<Begin Segment 7>

SS: What were your parents like as people?

HW: Well, my father never liked to put down anybody. He always taught that the father of education in Japan, the guy's name was, last name was Hoshi, first name was Toru, and he says, "Mr. Hoshi always said that when you are communicating with anybody, talking with anybody, say the positive, never use the negative." And that's something that my father really made sure I understood. Which is as simple and as good as advice that I think I can get from anywhere, anytime.

SS: What did you learn from your mother? She must have been a very courageous woman to leave Japan and come to marry a stranger that she didn't know.

HW: Well, she married him as a picture bride see, then, she came over to join him, yes. I understand it's... she was a lady of very little formal education and, but she was very careful about how she did things. What I mean is that when you as a lady of the house, and the father is involved with providing labor, and therefore, you have a place to board people and feed them. She gets up at 4:30 in the morning and makes breakfast for the workers. And not only make breakfast, but make the makings for lunch so that they can pack their own lunch before they go to work. Then have dinner ready when they come back from work. So our job as kids were to come back from school and get the furo, the bathtub, ready. Clean it, fill it up with water and build a fire under it, so it'll be good and hot by the time they finish their dinner, so they can, so everybody can take baths, you know, among other things. And then the kitchen help, so forth. Of course, no washing machines. You scrub clothes, hang 'em up, 'cause Mom can't do it all.

<End Segment 7> - Copyright © 1996 Densho. All Rights Reserved.