<Begin Segment 26>

[Translated from Japanese]

TY: You came here in 1928 and have lived here for almost seventy years. Yet, did you return to Japan only twice?

YI: Are you talking about me?

TY: Yes.

YI: No, I returned to Japan only once after the war ended.

TY: At that time. Only once when you visited as a group.

YI: At that time only my husband and I went. Our children had to attend school. We arranged for a babysitter.

TY: Yes. Then did you have a chance to see your mother and grandmother again?

YI: Mother?

TY: Yes.

YI: Yeah, my mother was still alive.

TY: How about your grandmother?

YI: My grandmother was gone.

TY: She passed away?

YI: I asked my mother and elder brother to come to Kyoto to do some sightseeing with us. We walked around together, here and there.

TY: Did you have close contact with your family in Japan?

YI: Uh-huh.

TY: How often?

YI: Huh?

TY: How often did you write to them? I am asking about your contact with the family in Japan. Since you came to this country, you hardly returned to Japan.

YI: After the war?

TY: No, before, during and after the war.

YI: Before the war, we returned once.

TY: For two years.

YI: Once.

TY: Yes.

YI: After we lived there for two years, we came back here. To Seattle.

TY: So you kept in touch with your family through letters.

YI: I have been with my family all the time.

TY: I mean, your Japanese family. Your mother, sisters and brothers.

YI: My mother and siblings had been in Japan.

TY: Have you kept in touch with that family through letters?

YI: Yeah. My husband's and mine. With my family and my husband's family, we have been exchanging letters.

TY: Are you still writing to them?

YI: Since my family is dying off, I don't get replies to my letters very much. They are too busy. Besides, their health is deteriorating.

<End Segment 26> - Copyright © 1999 Densho. All Rights Reserved.