<Begin Segment 22>

TY: [Jpn.] By the way, did your husband plan to go back to Japan some day?

MK: [Jpn.] No plan.

TY: [Jpn.] Not at all? Stay in the U.S.?

MK: [Jpn.] Because if I return...

TY: [Jpn.] Yes.

MK: [Jpn.] No, if my husband returned to Japan, he had no property in Japan. Nothing in Japan.

TY: [Jpn.] Oh, really?

MK: [Jpn.] If you don't have land, you cannot make a living. If you go back, you have no food. From the first day. Don't you see?

TY: [Jpn.] I see.

MK: [Jpn.] So, if you go back and have no house, where will you go? Nowhere to go. We have a house here.

TY: [Jpn.] That's right.

MK: [Jpn.] We have everything here. It's easy here. But you cannot tell if you can become rich or not. It depends on a person. Uh-huh. So, it is better for us to stay here.

TY: [Jpn.] Then...

MK: [Jpn.] But some people who are here had some property in Japan. Those people will return. They return.

TY: [Jpn.] Then, that was the reason for those people.

MK: [Eng.] Uh-huh.

TY: [Jpn.] I've often heard that the first generation Japanese worked here for a few years and wanted to return, but...

MK: [Jpn.] Yeah, that's right. That's right.

TY: [Jpn.] It didn't work out.

MK: [Jpn.] No. Some died.

TY: [Jpn.] Yes.

MK: [Jpn.] Some wanted to become rich, but were poor all their lives. Some made money and went back right away.

TY: [Jpn.] I see.

MK: [Jpn.] Look at Yamaguchi Prefecture. There are some gorgeous houses there. Some people from Yamaguchi Prefecture built big houses. So they built them after they returned. But there were those people. Uh-huh.

TY: [Jpn.] So, it depends on a person.

MK: [Jpn.] Yeah. That's right.

<End Segment 22> - Copyright © 2000 Densho. All Rights Reserved.