<Begin Segment 73>

JA: And how many trips have you made to Japan during your lifetime?

MH: I have made four trips to Japan because I went with the delegation with a Yao committee three times already and one time was on my own, is what it was. But I enjoyed it very much as a delegation to Yao city and go to Taiwan, Hong Kong, and through those area with the organization, which we take a delegation from Bellevue Sister City. We take about twenty to thirty people together, which we have a wonderful experience.

JA: So the Yao, Japan Sister City has been twenty-nine years now.

MH: Twenty-nine year. It will be thirty years next year, so we will have a big delegation going to Yao, Japan next year because of thirty years. And we're going to Taiwan, which will be fifteen years, so we're all going there, too. We'll celebrate both countries at one time, next fall.

JA: You've been very involved with this organization throughout this time.

MH: Yes. I was the... when it was first organized and one year later I got involved in... you wonder why they asked me to be interpreter. I sometime wonder, but they said, "There is a Japanese lady working for the Bellevue School District. I'm sure she can talk Japanese, go get her as our interpreter." And then after that, I got kind of stuck with that organization, and that's why I practice my Japanese so much and study as much as I can so I know what they're talking about. But when they first came from Yao, Japan, I couldn't get heads or tails what they said because they have their own lingo. Ben language they call it, yes. And Yao is kind of hard to understand, but we managed.

JA: I think you're being modest though, right? You've been a board member of this organization all this time, correct?

MH: Yes, uh-huh. [Laughs]

<End Segment 73> - Copyright © 1998 Densho. All Rights Reserved.