<Begin Segment 4>

[Translated from Japanese]

KS: Then in the 12th year of Taisho [1923], there was the Great Tokyo Earthquake, right?

TT: Yes.

KS: After the earthquake, you decided to come to the U.S, didn't you?

TT: Yes.

KS: What do you remember about that time? About coming to America, about the trip on the boat, any memories you might have.

TT: Well, it was almost like I was in a dream-like state. I couldn't think anything... I felt overwhelmed.

AI: ...what she said earlier about when she was single.

KS: So, at the time, you were nineteen years old?

TT: That's right.

KS: Was it quite rare for a nineteen-year-old girl to come to the U.S. alone?

TT: I guess so.

KS: How did your friends or others react --

TT: But on the boat to America, with three people, we shared a room, me and two other girls. The other two were from Hiroshima. One of them has been a friend since, and lived close by in Los Angeles.

KS: Okay, going back to your story about Tokyo --

TT: Okay.

KS: When you were living in Kichijoji in Tokyo, how did you get your job at the Kabuki-za?

TT: The man who lived next door was working at a job at a sumo wrestler's place. He told me that there was a job with a Kabuki theatre, so, "You come work there," he said.

KS: Did you meet anyone famous while you were working at the Kabuki-za?

TT: Um, it took one hour on the Chuoi-Line to get from Kichijoji to Sakuragi-cho. Every day I went to work at the Kabuki place, until about six or seven o'clock, and then, I'd get back on the Chuo-sen and go home to Kichijoji by train. It was late at night by the time I got home.

KS: So then, when you found out that you were going to the U.S, how did you feel about it?

TT: Well, I didn't know much about America, so, how can I say, there was no way to describe it. I was going somewhere I knew nothing about.

<End Segment 4> - Copyright © 2000 Densho. All Rights Reserved.