<Begin Segment 29>

TY: [Jpn.] So you were raised by your grandfather and had no women to raise you. Although you had women as neighbors or friends.

MK: [Jpn.] Well...

TY: [Jpn.] In Japan.

MK: [Jpn.] In Japan?

TY: [Jpn.] Yes.

MK: [Jpn.] My grandmother...

TY: [Jpn.] Yes.

MK: [Jpn.] Because she died before I was born.

TY: [Jpn.] Yes.

MK: [Jpn.] So she couldn't take care of me.

TY: [Jpn.] Yes.

MK: [Jpn.] And my grandfather's four brothers... sons. I didn't know them growing up. Yeah. So by the time I grew up, everybody had left.

TY: [Jpn.] I see.

MK: [Jpn.] So my grandfather and I, two of us, were alone. Besides, we were the only family in the village who came to the U.S. So I felt I was the only one left. So different in the village. Don't you see? Everybody had parents, brothers, sisters, grandfathers and grandmothers. Everybody did. I didn't understand then. I couldn't think that way then. I was a small child. I didn't think that way then, but now I look back the way it was and think they were very lucky. Everybody was so lucky in that village.

TY: [Jpn.] Yes.

MK: [Jpn.] Yeah. But if you don't know you are happy, you are not happy.

TY: [Jpn.] That's right.

MK: [Jpn.] So if don't know it...

TY: [Jpn.] Yes.

MK: [Jpn.] Uh-huh. Yeah. So you have to know it. Yeah. So I think. So... but I don't think I was unhappy.

TY: [Jpn.] I see. Did you ever think you were?

MK: [Jpn.] No. No. Probably because my grandfather loved me very much.

TY: [Jpn.] Yes.

MK: [Jpn.] So I never once wished I were just like someone else.

TY: [Jpn.] I see.

MK: [Jpn.] Yeah. So, although my grandfather didn't say much...

TY: [Jpn.] Yes.

MK: [Jpn.] He loved me completely.

TY: [Jpn.] I hear he didn't speak much.

MK: [Jpn.] He didn't speak.

TY: [Jpn.] I see.

MK: [Jpn.] So I feel like he never spoke all his life.

TY: [Jpn.] Really?

MK: [Jpn.] So when I started working in the greenhouse, I worked in the greenhouse and then went outside. I quit and came outside. When I came out, I thought, well, I had a difficult life. People need to speak. Only when you speak, your mouth starts moving well.

TY: [Jpn.] I see.

MK: [Jpn.] Imagine you don't speak to anybody at all, if you spend all day only with flowers, plants... if you don't speak. In those days, there wasn't any TV or radio. Nothing. You are in a very lonely place. But you don't even know that. You don't think you are lonely. Because you have to make a living. You have to eat. I didn't feel lonely, but...

TY: [Jpn.] Yes.

MK: [Jpn.] But later on I felt so.

TY: [Jpn.] Yes.

MK: [Jpn.] After I quit the work, I thought about many things. I remembered things. I should have done this. I should have done that. I thought a lot. Uh-huh.

TY: [Jpn.] But it was not painful for you when you didn't speak to anybody. Was it because you were used to it?

MK: [Jpn.] No. I was just so busy.

TY: [Jpn.] I see.

MK: [Jpn.] Because, if you don't do it right, if you make one mistake, that would affect our finances. Whether you can sell it or not. Do you see? Because we made a living by selling them. So you have to make high quality stuff. We cannot afford to lose money. We will be in trouble. So an individual's wish to do this or that doesn't count. You just have to do what you have to do at that moment. You just have to do it. So there is no time to think about other things. Of course, if you had a plenty of money, you can hire workers and you can have an easy life. But no Japanese immigrants could do that in those days. Uh-huh. Everybody was in the same situation. Well, there might be somebody who was not the same, who was rich, but I don't know. Uh-huh.

<End Segment 29> - Copyright © 2000 Densho. All Rights Reserved.