<Begin Segment 19>

AI: And then what about later, now, after the bombing of Pearl Harbor? Did you get rid of any of your things that --

MF: No, I didn't. No.

AI: So you weren't too worried about that, then? That didn't...

MF: Well, David was born in '39 and Pearl Harbor was forty what?

AI: '41.

MF: '41. '39, '40, '41, he was about two years old then.

AI: And you had some mementoes and things from your trip to Japan, but --

MF: To Japan?

AI: Right, when you went in '31. You had some photos and things.

MF: Oh, I'll tell you what I have here.

AI: Oh, just a moment. Don't show us right now but --

MF: See that wastepaper basket? That's from '31.

AI: So you kept your things --

MF: See, I was staying at this Home Ec. teacher and they didn't have a wastepaper basket so I bought that and gee that's old, huh?

AI: It sure is.

MF: That's the only souvenir that I haven't -- oh I have few little dolls and things but, I have in the bedroom, but those are things that -- well, you know, I knew my grandpa and grandma from my father's side so it was a pleasure to visit them during my spring and winter vacation with them. And I remember they lived in a duplex, right in the middle there was a bathroom and they take baths every other day. And then another thing that I remember distinctly was that a man would come around and pound mochi for New Year out there on the street.

AI: Oh yes, you mentioned that earlier, that, you told us about that.

MF: Yeah. I watched that and the man said, "Oh, you look different." And he said in Japanese, he said, "Are you from America?" I said, "Hai." And he said to me, he said, "Where?" I said, "Seattle, Washington." He said, "Oh, I know where that is." He says, "My nephew goes to University of Washington." Yeah. He was very curious. 'Cause I wore American clothes.

AI: Yes, that is interesting how they would ask you --

MF: Yeah, I was during the winter vacation I was with my grandma and grandpa. And that was about oh, about forty minutes drive on the train from Fukuoka city to Kurume, they call it, a little city. It's a beautiful city. And my fa-, grandpa and grandma are buried there now. And, but they were here eleven years so they knew English. And did I tell you about the spinach?

AI: Yes, you mentioned about the spinach. But you know, another time you had mentioned that your grandmother, that you thought she was kind of modern?

MF: Modern?

AI: Uh-huh.

MF: Oh yeah. My grandfather, my grandmother was very modern. And see, my father and mother were cousins, so Grandma, I have two grandmothers that are sisters. And the sister in Amagi, it's in the country, it's in high up mountain country, and she is so Japanese, so different from, from Fukano to Miyama and I said, "Are you really sisters?" She said, "Yes." But she is so quiet and, but my father's mother, she would, she'd tell me how to dance Japanese dances and songs and she plays the shamisen and so we bought a shamisen for her here. And she would perform at Nippon Kan. Yeah. She was really modern. And my grandpa, he only spoke about one or two words when I'd see him. I'd say ojiisan, I'd speak to him in Japanese but he was very quiet man, very quiet.

AI: It's so interesting to hear about them.

MF: Yeah. My grandfather was, that was my father's father. And my father was quiet, too. My mother was more chatty.

<End Segment 19> - Copyright © 2002 Densho. All Rights Reserved.