<Begin Segment 9>

AI: Well, were there any other experiences during that year of school in Japan that you recall that come to mind?

MF: Well, I took -- [laughs] -- tea ceremony and, well, of course she didn't know a word of English. She'd talk to me in Japanese and I understood. But she was very strict. And she says, "Wakarimashita ka." She always said that to me. And I'd say, "hai."

AI: She was asking if you understood her.

MF: Yeah. She was a sort of a elderly person but she was very strict. She said, so that -- she would say... oh, when you take the cup, you supposed to go like this, and go like this. And I would just sip it like this and she says, "No," she said, "go up like this and sip."

AI: So there were very strict, correct ways.

MF: Correct way of doing it. And she was a very ni-, very... she was very strict, but I learned a lot from her. My flower arrangement teacher was sort of, kind of sloppy. But tea ceremony teacher, Mrs. Tamura, she was very, she was very interested in me. She asked me lot of questions about America. And she asked me how old I was, and, and what your mother and father was doing. She was curious.

AI: It sounds like many of the people there were curious about America and Americans, and you as an American, who was also Japanese but also American.

MF: Yeah, well, in those days, people didn't wear American clothes. They all wore Japanese clothes and I was sorta, kinda stood out. 'Cause after school I would buy a bag of chestnuts from a vendor on the street and I would take it home and eat it. But some people would eat it on the street, throwing their shell on the sidewalk and things like that. But I never did that. But it was very interesting how they had those vendors selling things. And they had, they sold sweet potatoes, baked sweet potatoes. Oh, were they good, and they were hot. And after school I would buy a bag of it and then take it home and eat it. But most of the students, they didn't take it home; they just ate it on the street.

AI: It sounds --

MF: But my mother told me never to eat things on the street. Always take it home and eat it. [Laughs]

AI: It sounds delicious.

MF: Oh, it was really good. I just loved it. [Laughs]

AI: Well, you mentioned earlier that you visited with your grandparents, also, while you were there.

MF: Oh, yeah. My grandma and grandfather were here eleven years so I knew them, and they knew English, too, so lotta times I would mix English and Japanese together. And I can remember one time we went to grocery store and we wanted a bunch of spinach. And she said to the man, she said, "Spinach kudasai." And I told my grandma and said, "That's English, desu yo." "Oh, so, so.Horenso." [Laughs] Yeah. I never lived near Grandma and Grandpa but I had to take a train that took about forty minutes to get there. So during my vacation time, summer and winter I spent my vacation with my grandpa, grandma.

AI: So they lived more in the countryside in Fukuoka?

MF: No, it was a fairly a large city that they lived. And it was a duplex and they had a bath right between the duplex. So they take, every other day we used to take a bath 'cause the neighbor next door would take that bath, too. I remember that quite well. And then they, a man, around New Year time he'll come around and make the mochi for you out on the street, they pound the mochi.

AI: For people who don't know what mochi is, can you explain how they did that, what it was and how they did it?

MF: Oh, it was a sort of a wooden, wooden tub. And they'd put this mochigome in there and put a little water in and then pound it with a wooden mallet.

AI: And the mochigome is the special sweet rice.

MF: Yeah, that's for mochi. Uh-huh. We do it here with the electric mochi -- in our family on Christmas, after we had our big dinner we have it at my youngest brother's home for Christmas and we would have mochi, electric mochi made, making.

AI: But in those days they pounded it by hand.

MF: Oh, yeah.

<End Segment 9> - Copyright © 2002 Densho. All Rights Reserved.