<Begin Segment 10>

AI: So, at the same time that you realized that you were Japanese, how did you feel as an American? Did you, I'm asking about the junior high school years now, while you were at Washington Junior High. Did you have a sense of yourself as an American, American citizen?

MK: Not as strong as I should have, I think. It's because, I think, my visit to Japan, when I was ten years old; that focused on the Japan side of me. And I was comfortable with that. So, the American side would be a little bit more exploring, because, in my home it was still the same Japanese situation, and I didn't have any real strong ties with the Jap-, Caucasian homes. Margaret Thompson, the one Caucasian friend I had, they were not that comfortable. (...) But they were nice people. And there were some Italian families across the street, but their home was not as elaborate. But, my father, though I'm sure he could have afforded it, or... he was a very down-to-earth man and he never... and so, those are things that you kind of appreciated, the important things in life. And so, I think he, he actually instilled more value, I think, than my mother did. Interesting --

AI: In what --

MK: -- interesting enough.

AI: In what ways would he do that? Can you...

MK: Well, he, being the boss, you'd think that, well, he could wear a suit, and sit down like his brother Jin. But he wore a cardigan sweater, and rarely wore a suit, except for funerals and weddings. And was like a social worker. If anybody was having any problems he would butt in and... I think the one that I really was impressed with was when I was born, in '20-, well, '28, let's say. The November of '27 there was a baby that was born with a cleft palate. And the parents were living on the Olympic Bay where they were oyster farmers. And of course, as you can see, they're very isolated. And when my father was making one of the deliveries -- now, this is a man that owned the business, but he personally was delivering the grocery items. And he found the problem that they were having and he's never had any harelip or cleft, seen a cleft baby before (...)... it bothered him so much that when he, he helped them to make arrangements for the baby to come to Seattle and have the operation to be corrected. Well, being that Sumiko was very young yet, and I was born, my mother was pumping (breast) milk to even bring to the Seattle hospital. And, you know, it's not, I don't think she offered it, but it was my father's idea. And so, (when I heard about it, I wondered), first thing came, was I deprived of my mother's milk? [Laughs] But technically, my mother was nursing two babies at that time. And I thought, wow, that is, for a man to think that much of trying to help correct this baby's cleft palate. And this lady (Sumiko) has been in touch with my mother for lifetime. So, these are things that, to me, so human, (and) giving.

AI: Right.

MK: Just very impressive. And then about my father, going to the rounds, to the farms, different truck farmers, if the boys or teenagers didn't quite work out, or even girls, I think, and there was one incident, he would find a place, a schoolboy, or use them in our own store, and, or even send the girls to schoolgirl. I mean, he would help the farmers. Because the farmers were Isseis and they had no way of linking up and they had, were having difficulties in the family, so, so I think this is the kind of thing social workers do. So I thought, gee, (...) he was ahead of his time. I mean, he just did it because he felt it right. So...

AI: So he had --

MK: It took a long time for me to understand this. But, he was a busybody. [Laughs]

AI: Well, and so, as a child, or even when you were in junior high school, you could see how busy your father was, and you could see that people were grateful to him for helping them.

MK: Right. And he was, he was, everyone knew him. And it was -- in a good way. So I thought that was neat.

AI: Well, I don't remember if I asked you if your father was fairly bilingual? Did he speak a lot of English, or, in his business work?

MK: I have some letters that he wrote to me while I was in nursing school later on, but he, for an Issei, yes, I think he was. But in our usual conversation, it was Japanese, though. And I understand when he went to eat at a restaurant or whatever, he had no enryo, hesitation in asking the cook, "How do you prepare that?" So this is why, it wasn't my mother that was making the Thanksgiving turkey, it was my father who, hearsay, he would ask the chef, "How do you cook it?" and he'll come home as if he knows it all, knows how to do it. And he, he cooked the turkey. And in those days, twenty-three, twenty-four pound turkey, I remember. And he would invite anybody that didn't have a home to have turkey. And so our house was open this way to the employees, primarily the employees, because the others had families. But these are things that I thought, you know, is this what everybody does? I kinda thought that that's what everybody does. But, realizing that no, it was just because of my dad. Then my mother would grumble, saying, "Yeah, who does all the preparing of the vegetable, who does all the cleaning up after the mess?" [Laughs] And so, I realized, and Dad got all the credit. [Laughs] But anyway, that was all right. They were a good team.

<End Segment 10> - Copyright © 2003 Densho. All Rights Reserved.