<Begin Segment 10>

AI: Well, now, I think you mentioned to me at earlier time, another day, that you had some special experiences while you were in Fukuoka in Japan that you were asked to do some interpreting?

MF: Oh yes, I was the interpreter for Charles Lindbergh and Yasha Heifetz, a violinist. My father was very well-known in Fukuoka when he was young. He graduated from business college there and he knew some friends and then they knew that I was coming so they were at the station when I arrived and they knew where I was and everything. And so whenever they had somebody that spoke English then they would ask me to come interpret and so happened that Charles Lindbergh was in Fukuoka for about couple hours, I guess, and his wife. And so they called me and asked me to come interpret and I just got to meet him only about, oh, about an hour or an hour and a half, I think. And we drove from one place to another and that was all I did, was just to meet the dignitaries.

AI: What was your impression of Charles Lindbergh and his wife?

MF: Oh, he was very quiet, very dignified man. And his wife was more sociable. And he said to me, he said, "What is your name?" And I said, "My name is Mitsu." He says, "Oh, that's a beautiful name you have." And that's about all he said. [Laughs]

AI: And Yasha Heifetz was a world famous violinist.

MF: Oh yeah. He was a kind of a stubborn old man. [Laughs] He did -- I didn't think he liked it there.

AI: Did he come to give a concert?

MF: I guess so. I guess so. But some dignitary asked him a few little questions and all he could say is, "No Japanese." That meant he didn't speak Japanese. He says, "No Japanese." [Laughs]

AI: Oh, my.

<End Segment 10> - Copyright © 2002 Densho. All Rights Reserved.