<Begin Segment 79>

JA: So then, what are your hopes or expectations for the present and future generations of Nikkei?

MH: I have a feeling it's kind of going by the wayside a little bit. I don't think we're going to have as much communication or whatever. It's kind of going by the wayside it seems to me. I don't think, even in Seattle they're not as close. It seemed like even my nieces and nephews that live in Seattle they always just cling to their own family, like their sisters and brothers or cousins or something like that. That's all the contacts they're making and it doesn't seem like... I tell them go to JACL or go do something, do something, but it doesn't seem like it extends that far. And the kids in Bellevue, they aren't going to do anything because there isn't really any Japanese kids, students, or whatever. Unless they're students from Japan, then they're making connections, I notice. Like my grandchildren does with the kids from Japan, because of the Japanese language they're trying to learn. But, otherwise, with their, or they're Sanseis, Sanseis doesn't seem like there is much connections.

JA: So you see a little regret that they won't have the same...

MH: Yeah, I was hoping that they would continue on like we did during our generation, but I don't see it here in Bellevue. I don't see it at all.

JA: They won't have the experiences of the close-knit cultural community that you experienced.

MH: I don't see that at all. I just see that they're making connection with their own family or with their hakujin student friends or something like that, but I don't see it as far as friends. They don't even know the other people's children.

JA: But at the same time, the activities of yourself and your husband, as community bridge builders, has somewhat enabled the younger people to become assimilated in the broader community and make friends of all kinds.

MH: Uh-huh, uh-huh, that's true.

JA: So the community pulse is different now.

MH: Yes, it's quite different now, it is.

<End Segment 79> - Copyright © 1998 Densho. All Rights Reserved.