<Begin Segment 20>

[Translated from Japanese]

TY: Now, when your husband came to Seattle as a priest, did he have a different role than when his was in Fresno? I understand there were five or six ministers in Fresno.

YI: At that time, Reverend Ichikawa was the only one there.

TY: In Seattle.

YI: Seattle had a large membership but there was only one minister. Since then, the number increased. When a new temple was built, there were three. Three people. Minister.

TY: The old one on Main and tenth...

YI: The one on Main Street.

TY: Ten... what was the address? Do you remember the address? Of the old temple. In Seattle.

YI: No, I don't think so. It is there. There is the temple history book there.

TY: At the old temple, Reverend Ichikawa worked alone...

YI: Yes, he was alone in those days.

TY: Then how many people were in the membership? Members?

YI: I wonder how many members were there. The women's organization alone had about one hundred people.

TY: As big as Fresno?

YI: Yes, as big as Fresno.

TY: I heard that the membership grew later. It increased later.

YI: Seattle had quite a large membership. The second generation had grown since we came here. There were three ministers. They were busy. One of them was second generation.

TY: How did he of the second generation become a priest?

YI: I wonder how. Probably because his father was a minister.

TY: Did he study here?

YI: His father came from Japan. From Kumamoto Prefecture. He became a minister. Then his son, a Nisei, became a minister.

TY: By the way, was there any difference between Fresno and Seattle in terms of the surroundings around the temples.

YI: There was little difference. In terms of the system. No temple is very different. In their activities. Of course the teachings were the same. I read the reports, but the women's organizations were not different.

TY: When you lived in Fresno, the ministers went visiting farmers who lived far away.

YI: They went there because there was no temple there.

TY: Same here. Although Bellevue has become nowadays...

YI: In those days there were many Japanese farmers in Bellevue. Also there were many Japanese farmers in Winslow, Bainbridge and Bellevue. (The ministers) visited them once a month. They were the first generation people.

TY: The traveling must have been difficult without the bridge.

YI: Yes, it was. You went by ferry. To go to Bellevue, you rode a ferry.

TY: Did you go, too? Or...

YI: Uh-huh. He rode that. My husband.

TY: Oh, by himself.

YI: Yes. Bellevue has become a huge town now. With large buildings.

TY: If you can avoid a traffic jam, it takes only five or ten minutes by car to get there.

YI: There are two or three bridges. A lot of stores are there now. Japanese stores. So it has completely changed.

TY: So there were many farms there.

YI: When I was living in Seattle, Bellevue was nothing but farms.

TY: Now skyscrapers everywhere.

YI: Once in a while you see a house of a Japanese farmer. Though it was a town, it was nothing more than a small country town.

TY: Now you see skyscrapers everywhere in Bellevue.

YI: All those tall buildings. The other day, a few years ago, I attended a wedding of Satoru's daughter and stayed at a hotel there.

TY: There was a big difference, wasn't there?

YI: I was surprised. It was completely different.

TY: It must have been.

YI: It is same the same in Japan. The area behind the temple of my birth place was nothing but farms in the past. There were rice field and vegetable farms. Now I hear that the area has turned into a residential area.

[Interruption]

<End Segment 20> - Copyright © 1999 Densho. All Rights Reserved.