Densho Digital Archive - Take Murayama Interview (denshovh-mtake-01-0008)

<Begin Segment 8>

[Translated from Japanese]

TY: Okay. Then, after your family owned a grocery store, you went back to Japan once again in 1930s.

TM: Yes, We went back to Japan again. We thought that this time we could finally settle in Japan, but again, it didn't work. No matter what we did, we had already seen the large scale of America. After seeing that, we just couldn't be satisfied living in Japan, so again, we came back to the U.S. It was a ship. We didn't have airplanes yet back then. Later on, airplanes became available. Not only me, but many people started traveling on the airplanes. It only takes a day on the airplane? Something like that, if you take airplane, right? It doesn't go like that by ship. It takes many more than ten days if we come by ship.

[Interruption]

TY: You went back to Japan and settled in Suginami-ku, Tokyo. Then, after that you lived in Japan for a long time, right?

TM: Yes, we were there for a long time, but once again, it didn't work. [Laughs]

TY: I heard that two of your daughters went back to the U.S. shortly after the end of the war.

TM: Yes, that's right.

TY: But, you chose to stay in Japan?

TM: Yes, I remained in Japan. But, I had seen America, you know. It is so wide and you can do anything. Everybody is relaxed here and I missed it. I wanted to come back here again.

TY: So, you came back to the U.S. once again after your husband and the middle daughter passed away.

TM: Yes, that's right.

TY: You came on an airplane then.

TM: Yes.

TY: One of your daughters lives in Seattle, right?

TM: Yes, she was visiting me today.

TY: That's why you came back to Seattle?

TM: Now, the older daughter lives in Los Angeles. She can't come to Seattle too often. She can't come unless there is something important. I can't ask her to come visit me.

TY: Yes, it's far away from Los Angeles.

TM: Yes.