<Begin Segment 6>

AI: Well, now I'd like to skip ahead in time again. And now in Seattle, Washington you were attending the University of Washington School of Social Work. And as you mentioned earlier in an earlier conversation, you were one of two Japanese Americans, two Nisei...

TI: Yes.

AI: ...students in the School of Social Work. And at the time you were also an advisor for a college-age group of young Japanese Americans connected with the Methodist, the Japanese Methodist Church here in Seattle. And that's where you met your wife-to-be, Sumi.

TI: Yes.

AI: Please tell us a little bit about Sumi and where she came from...

TI: Right. Well, Sumi was from Hilo, Hawaii. And she came to Seattle to attend and graduate from Garfield High School. So she came here for her senior year and stayed with her uncle on Jackson Street. And because I was an advisor to the college-age group, although I was not much older, but I happened to be someone willing to organize the group. And we had a contest that we ended up with Duz, Duz everything and ended up with the name Duzzers. And we did all kinds of activities. And again, I was spoiled. I had a good time.

One problem the minister had was that Reverend Paul Hagiya (had a problem) -- we wouldn't go home. [Laughs] We stayed at the church. So he had to kick us out regularly from church on Sunday. And most of us were all college students. And it was unique we were able to build up that to fifty students. It was quite an involved process of developing programs and sharing the responsibilities. Having small work groups, (which) did (lead) one activity (every) four or five weeks before (each small group would provide leadership in managing an activity). So it was communal mix, socializing, and building friendships.

AI: And during the course of all that activity and relationship building, you met and got to know Sumi...

TI: Yeah.

AI: ...and then you did, last interview session, you did talk about how you then eventually married her.

TI: Yes.

AI: And tell me a little bit more about her. Now, she grew up in Hawaii.

TI: Yes.

AI: So, did she have any knowledge of the internment of people here on the West Coast or what happened to you?

TI: I don't think so. I don't think she was aware of that. And I'm assuming blackouts or censorship or stuff we were experiencing wouldn't necessarily be shared in the Hawaii newspaper. But being part of a youth group, college-age group, I was able to build a friendship with Sumi and finally decided to get married. The first year at School of Social Work I was a houseboy. And (this) gave me my board and room. And then I had my GI Bill. Then following that, I was (for) a full year was a resident advisor at the UW. So when I finally graduated with my master's degree in social work, I was broke, wanted to get married. And so I heard working at Alaska cannery you can make a lot money, rumor. So I was able to get into a crew of, which was made up primarily of Filipino Americans, one Chinese American, one white, and me, Japanese American. And...

AI: You know, I wanted to ask you about that. You did mention this on our earlier conversation, but I don't think I asked you at that time about the race relations among that team because, of course, this was shortly, still not that long after World War II...

TI: Yes.

AI: ...and the divisions and even hatred between Japanese nationals and Filipino...

TI: Yeah.

AI: ...nationals was very strong. And even sometimes Filipino Americans and Japanese Americans had some feelings. What, was that a problem among your crew?

TI: No. In fact, the work crew appoint, elected me as a shop steward for the union. Then, I didn't do too much on that. But the fact that they respected me as Japanese American to be the lead person with the authorities felt good too, of course.

AI: And what were conditions like, from your point of view as the shop steward? Were there some conditions there that were a problem?

TI: Well, one major problem occurred (when) we were initially allowed to salt salmon. But the manager thought that a big salmon, king salmon was stolen and cut up and salted. So he thought something like that was happening. I didn't think that was happening, but he got so mad he destroyed all these barrels of salmon. Threw 'em all away. That really hurt. Then on top of that, the year was a poor salmon year, so we didn't make that much money, but (I got) enough (money) to get married in the fall of '51.

AI: So you came back and you got married. And then, and last time you related a little bit about that story and how you really had a reception on a shoestring.

TI: Yes. Still recall for $25, we would have (to cover) the costs of having a wedding and a reception. There was, all the Duzzers helped make all these sandwiches. Then we went to Mercer Island to cut the ferns to put them out. And then Sumi's sister in Hilo sent vanda orchids, and so we dispersed them out. And my brother from Portland was a baker, so he baked a cake. And then the minister said we could use the car for our honeymoon. So we really spent about a week using the minister's automobile. He was very gracious about that. We were one of the first couple to marry in the church, young people, and then gradually more and more were married.

<End Segment 6> - Copyright © 2000 Densho. All Rights Reserved.