Densho Digital Archive - Asano Terao Interview I (denshovh-tasano-01-0036)

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[Translated from Japanese]

TY: You arrived in the U.S. in kimono, right?

AT: Yeah, in kimono.

TY: Did you go buy western clothes immediately?

AT: Oh, I went to buy them. Terao's brother's wife, she lived in the U.S., and she came back. The clothes fit me perfectly. I got some, two, two pieces, and she said that if I wanted to wear them I could. Then, she said that I should buy these by myself, so I came to the Main Street. On the Main Street, there was a store called Kanda, a long time ago, it was a tailor shop. I bought clothes there.

TY: Was it a store run by Japanese?

AT: Yeah. There, I bought clothes there because I found my size after they measured my body. Before long, I started thinking it would be nice if I could learn how to use the sewing machine. I learned how to use the sewing machine, and I sewed my own clothes and wore them.

TY: What did you do with the patterns?

AT: The patterns, I bought them.

TY: You bought them. Until then, you were learning hand sewing in the Japanese handicraft class, the sewing class, weren't you? Was it the first time you used the sewing machine after you came here?

AT: No, I had used it in Japan.

TY: You were using it in Japan.

AT: In Japan, I went to a girls' school called Shintoku. There, they had a sewing class. It was a sewing machine class.

TY: They were teaching how to use sewing machines as well?

AT: There, we were rolling the machine by hand, but it was still a sewing machine. I knew how to use it.

TY: Were the machines here more advanced after all?

AT: Yes, yes.

TY: It must have been with the pedal if it's back then.

AT: The one with the pedal.

TY: It was easier than rolling the machine by hand.

AT: We rolled it by hand like this. There were three machines that we operated by foot.

TY: What did you think of the western clothes?

AT: Well, it was nice to wear. It was better than wearing Japanese robes because there was no obi to fasten. I thought it was comfortable. Yeah. Japanese robes, I sent all of them back to Japan when my friend went back. I didn't need them any more.