<Begin Segment 43>

AI: Well, so here you were, you were majoring in English at the university and struggling to have enough to eat. And what did you think you were going to do next? What you were hoping to do, that would be able to do?

MK: Well, maybe work, by then it was, the occupation was in. So I thought, well maybe if I perfected my English a little bit more I could do some translating, or whatever. So it was the slim, slim hope of that kind of, but working as a Japanese 'cause I was an indigenous person at that time.

AI: You were considered an indigenous Japanese?

MK: Japanese.

AI: People did not, the American occupation --

MK: They never...

AI: -- did not consider you an American citizen?

MK: No, no, no. But then, by talking in the social times, well, I think there were a couple other Nisei gals. I don't know what their circum-, I never was that close to them, but I heard that, well, they were both saying that well, the occupation forces wanting anybody who speaks English, Japanese who speaks English, to help out with the occupation. And, I heard more and more about it. And they said that well, they'd pay us. And I thought, well, this is -- and I thought well -- and I wasn't learning anything at Doshisha, and my father was scraping to send me the tuition. And I felt bad. And they were not too well, health-wise. So I thought, well that's what I'll -- and he gave me permission to leave school and then work for the United States Army station hospital. They took over a Red Cross hospital in Kyoto, one of the largest hospitals, and the army took it over. And so, soon as I applied they hired me and they put me on a switchboard. And I wasn't there even a month and I was sent up to the library. And that was nice because -- and for thirty-six dollars a month. And I met a couple of... not at the same time, but the army librarian. And she taught me how to do the Dewey decimal cataloging. So, for their little library at the hospital I did that, made my rounds to the hospital beds, chatted with the guys, the GIs. So, that was most enjoyable, because, here, at my age, you know.

So the librarian, once she got the job done, well, of course, was promoted and moved up to a bigger area. And then there was another younger lady that came. She, too, was very nice and I was corresponding with them. They're much older, so they're gone but, for quite a while. But I remember Shirley Welshinger, the first librarian, she was a single lady. She triggered something into my mind saying, "Marion you should find a way to go back to the United States." And that was, I said, "Well..." "Have you thought of that?" And I said, well, gee, with the money situation the way... I mean, I never gave it a thought. I thought, well, I can save my money at thirty-six dollars a month. And she said, "Well, if you don't, maybe you can go and live with my mother in Palm Beach, Florida. Gee, coming from Seattle, the only place I knew was Seattle and Idaho. That sounded kinda glamorous because I heard that Florida is a resort place. And she was thinking, well maybe I can go live with her mother, maybe take care of her aging mother. And so I talked to my father and he thought, well, that was a nice, nice lady to -- so one day we decided to go to the Kobe consulate. And I thought we, I might have some problem with my passport. But strangely enough I didn't have any problem. They issued (...) me a passport. And then (...) my father got busy and started finding money. And then Mr. Yamamoto, in Petaluma, California was his classmate during his Japan days, and he was a poultry farmer. And he was going to finance my way. And then, when my relatives in Seattle, Mr. Moriguchi, the one that owned (Uwajimaya), the senior. He heard that. He was furious. He said, "You dare go out of the family and ask for money?" He will finance it. And he had seven kids and they were all younger that I was. But this is the man, (...) he had a bark, but he had such a heart. And so he financed my way. But the condition was that I bring back his daughter who was left in Shikoku, Ehime, in the town of Uwajima. And that's how it (was). (There) was no problem. I mean, she was eight years old. So we made the arrangement and that's how I found my way back after working for the army occupation for so many months, about fifteen months.

AI: You know, I wanted to ask you, when you were working for the army and you were visiting the, in the hospital --

MK: Soldiers? Uh-huh.

AI: Yes, I wonder what their reaction was to you. Here you were looking Japanese and yet speaking perfect English. You were actually American.

MK: Surprisingly, they were very accepting. There was another Nisei lady who was in Japan. She was, had a pharmacy degree. So she worked as, as a civil service pharmacist. And, and I do have some autograph by these GIs, and they were very accepting. That's the neat part of Americans, they're so open. You know, much more than the Japanese. I mean, it's so much easier to go to any American and strike up a conversation than strike up a conversation with a Japanese. They're so formal and proper, enryo and, so, no, I, actually I befriended (GIs) very readily.

AI: And do you think -- and here they were, injured, in the hospital, and so obviously they had some very negative experience in the war. But did they...

MK: I never knew the real details. But the serious ones were sent, shipped out back home. But these were people who probably had broken legs or whatever, their spending some time, they didn't have any major things. But they were just killing their time before they can go back and join their troop. No, I never...

AI: Did they think that you were American or --

MK: I had to do a little explaining. I had to do some explaining.

AI: And then they would understand?

MK: Not the prisoner of war exchange, just saying that I happened to be here. And they weren't that seriously probing, but as long as they knew that I could speak. Well, they were hungry for people who could speak English. So that's why those, even those GIs came to the high school, because they wanted to speak their English. So, actually, inside, it made me feel good because I was able to talk. And working for the station hospital, besides the thirty-five dollars a month, I was given room and board. And so, that was a welcome, because there was a little ryokan that they took over and people like myself were in this ryokan that they had converted. We ate our meals at the hospital with the GIs. So of course I, with my height, I readily gained a lot of weight. During the war in Japan, I mean, in the country home, I remember, with my height I was down to hundred and twelve pounds. And then I suddenly blossomed to hundred and thirty-five or more. [Laughs] And it's quite a difference.

AI: Well, so then here you were with your cousin's daughter, eight years old.

MK: Uh-huh.

AI: And the two of you then traveled together?

MK: Traveled together. And there were no ships coming into Seattle, so we went into the port through (...) Hawaii, Honolulu. We went to San Francisco. And then my father's friend, the one that was gonna loan us the money, he met us at the port. And then there was another arrangement made that I stay until I made the train arrangements, stayed overnight, with a Mrs. Suwada, She was the okoto teacher in San Francisco, a very well-known teacher. Oh, she was the pharmacist's, the Nisei pharmacist's mother, in San Francisco. So we stayed with her for a little while. Mr. Pet-, Mr. Yamamoto, from Petaluma took me to Macy's and bought me a new suit. And I mean, they were so kind, so kind.

<End Segment 43> - Copyright © 2003 Densho. All Rights Reserved.